Situated at the heart of Castle Bromwich Graveyard are three graves dedicated to the memory of members of the Drakeley family.
No doubt many reading this will not have heard of the Drakeleys, but those brought up in Castle Bromwich and its surrounding area will have been aware of the fair that they ran from land situated in Stechford and how the family that ran it travelled around providing fairground entertainment to many during the summer and sold coal during the winter. That family was the Drakeleys.
The starting point of the Drakeley story is Charles Arthur Street in Aston where, in 1881, twenty two year old John Thomas Drakeley and his twenty three year old wife, Mary Ann nee Bolton, were living with their young son, Thomas. When the Census Clerk encountered them, John Thomas described himself as a Coal Dealer, establishing a Drakeley coal dealing business that was still being operated by his Great-grandchild, Walter Fenner, during the 1990s. John Thomas and Mary Ann were to have nine children in total, two of the brothers, Thomas and Charles, established travelling fairs which they operated independently of each other.
Our first encounter with Thomas and Charles is in 1915 when the brothers were facing charges that they had stolen coal from the Tarmac Company that had been resurfacing the road on Watling Street. It was alleged that Tarmac had left some coal by the road for their engine, but that the brothers came along with their own engine which was pulling fairground roundabouts and took it. The brothers pleaded their innocence, claiming they had no need of the coal as they had their own. But the magistrate was not convinced and fined them both £1.
Thomas Drakeley
Whilst both brothers were involved in the fairground trade, our concern is with Thomas whose final resting place is in the graveyard in Castle Bromwich. He was born on the 4th August 1877 in Cromwell Street, Duddeston, Birmingham. At the age of 17, on 27 August 1894, he married Rose Hannah Green at Aston Registry Office, describing himself as a canal boatman, son of a canal boatman. His first daughter, Rose, was born two years later in 1896, with her birth certificate still describing him as a canal boatman. Over the next four years Thomas appears to have prospered and by 1900 the Birmingham Trades Directory described him as a coal dealer in business at Aston Wharf, Lichfield Road, Aston and at Plume Street. By the mid 1920s his business is recorded as operating from the Railway Wharf at Stechford.
Records show a succession of different addresses for Thomas and Rose Hannah suggesting that the majority of their lives may well have been spent on the canal boats. Their son, Thomas Junior who is also buried in Castle Bromwich Graveyard, was born at 55 Argyle Street, Aston, in 1898, but after the 1st World War the family business was more established and they moved to Treaford Hall. This was followed by the purchase of Tomlinson’s Farm in Stechford and “The Gardens” became a fairground and yard. While documentary evidence is scant, family anecdotes suggest that Thomas first became involved with fairgrounds prior to 1914. There are tales of a flare show in Aston and records of a birth in 1918 on Tom Drakeley’s fairground.
After the war Tom’s fairground business began to flourish and the grounds behind Treaford Hall provided space for the vans of four fairground families and stables for the horses used on coal deliveries. Eventually tom sold Treaford Hall so the land could be used for housing development, but the farm at Stechford provided space to operate a fair at Easter, a yard for his coal business and land for his tenants.
Tom Drakeley died on 22nd February 1937 and was buried in the graveyard at Castle Bromwich. The fair continued to travel with his widow, Rose, heading the helm. During the 2nd world war the equipment was held in storage in the yard at Stechford. After the war the Drakeleys attended a few small fairs with their equipment but the business was greatly diminished and the family profiting instead from their coal business which was in great demand.
Rose died in 1964 and was buried with her husband in the graveyard at Castle Bromwich. The business passed to Tom and Rose’s surviving children but the land at Stechford was compulsorily purchased by Birmingham City Council which has since allowed Bob Wilson and Sons to host an Easter fair on the ground where Drakeley’s fair once was.
This article is based on original research by the Castle Bromwich Youth & Community Partnership and research by Ned Williams on Midland Fairground Families.
