Changes: Jimmy Kray

Revision as of 20:37, 3 February 2020

James William "Jimmy" Kray, commonly known as Farvie by the twins, was the paternal grandfather to Ronnie Kray and Reggie Kray and father to Charles Kray.

The twins worked occasionally with him when they were young, often around the Brick Lane area until he passed away in 1949, when the twins were sixteen.

History

Early life

James Kray was born on the 4th April 1884. He had a sister, Betsy, and lived with George, Albert and Jane, children from his mother Jane Wild’s first marriage. His father, also called James, worked as a cork cutter, a skilled job that was highly demanded at the time. His father had married Jane only three months before James was born. The family started living at 40 St John’s Terrace (called Gorsuch Street after 1909), a small lane between the Kingsland Road and Hackney Road. In his youth, James began working as a cable-maker for an electrical company in the early days of electricity itself.

His parents and the Kray twins' great-grandparents, James and Jane Sarah Wood, were married in Bethnal Green, the same year Jimmy was born. It has been claimed anecdotally that this generation of the Kray family's territorial and aggressive attitude to outsiders amplified in the wake of the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888 but there's no substantiated proof of this.

Teenage years

When he was sixteen, James met Louisa Eliza Turner (born 6 John Street, South Hackney, 18 Sept 1884), an older woman and a docker's daughter who was the twin's paternal grandmother. She became pregnant so the pair subsequently married quickly on the 5th May 1901 at St Anne’s Church, Hoxton, both aged 21 and only a month before the birth of their first child, James John Frederick Kray, the Kray twins' uncle. After he lost his job at the cable-maker’s the small family moved around to different properties and had several more children; John George in 1902, Albert Charles Giles in 1904, Charles David (the twins’ father) in 1907, Alfred in 1909, William in 1911 and finally, three daughters, Elizabeth (born 1916 but died aged two), Dorothy (1919) and Charlotte (1921).

After WWI broke, James aged 30 signed up to King’s Royal Rifle Company on 14 September 1914. He was posted to France and went into battle at Ypres but was wounded in the chest and was subsequently sent back to Britain. He was issued an honourable discharge and shipped back home bearing a Silver War Badge to ensure that he didn't fall victim to beatings from East End men under the impression he was shirking his duty. When the war ended, he started to go around the new housing estates springing up around the neighbourhood, swapping china sets for clothes in good condition. Thus, the business he ran for the rest of his life was born.

Besides his time in the army, Jimmy never strayed far from his roots. His birth record from 1884 shows he started life in Bethnal Green.

Later life

After returning to London, he came back to a large family and began working as a wardrobe dealer, buying and selling on used clothes and other items for profit. He also began bare-knuckle boxing on street corners and fought aggressively making sure his opponent would be constantly on the defensive. This is how he earned his nickname ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray. It is alleged that Cannonball Lee and Kray had met in several contests over the years, although Jimmy Lee always maintained that ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray never got the better of him. His son Charles Kray, often accompanied him whilst he worked, and they set up a small stall on Brick Lane where they could sell on the clothing and other items they had bought. A young Charles would later continue this same profession. Grandfather Jimmy Kray, known to the twins as ‘Farvie’, was a source of boxing stories from his younger days, and young Charlie Kray was fascinated by stories of Hoxton born Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis. Sometimes the three Kray brothers would work with their grandfather Jimmy Kray on his stall in Brick Lane.

Jimmy didn't have much luck professionally however and he struggled for a couple of years, first losing his job at the Cable Makers, and then doing various forms of manual labour, before becoming a flower hawker.

References

Bennett, John. Krayology (2015). Mango Books.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 |image1=File:Jimmykray.jpg
 |also_known_as=Mad Jimmy<br>Farvie
-|born=c. April 1884 <br> Bethnal Green, London
+|born=4 April 1882 <br> Bethnal Green, London
+|died=4 September 1949 (aged 65)<br> Hoxton, London
-|occupation=Boxer<br>Clothes dealer
+|occupation=Wardrobe dealer, flower seller, labourer
-|spouse=Louisa Eliza Turner (m. 1901)
+|spouse=Louisa Turner (b. 1880; m. 1901)
 |status=Deceased
+}}'''James William "Jimmy" Kray''', commonly known as '''Farvie''' by the twins, was the paternal grandfather to [[Ronnie Kray]] and [[Reggie Kray]] and father to [[Charles Kray]].
-}}
+The twins worked occasionally with him when they were young, often around the Brick Lane area until he passed away in 1949, when the twins were sixteen.
 ==History==
 ===Early life===
-By all accounts, Hoxton and its environs, though split vertically by the bustle of the Kingsland Road (a major route towards North London and the northern trade routes), formed a tough and tight neighbourhood. Hardship was a common experience, and there was little to be gained by not being staunch and resourceful. Often, need or frustration would beget aggression, often outside the public house after last orders, or sometimes, alas, in the home. It was into this uncompromising environment that James William Kray was born in April 1884. Compared to some families, where, despite the high infant mortality rates, the number of offspring could run into double figures, James’ own was comparatively small: he had a blood-sister, Betsy, and shared the family home with George, Albert and Jane, children from his mother Jane Wild’s first marriage. His father, also called James, was a cork cutter, a semi-skilled trade that was much in demand, and he had married Jane only three months before young James’s birth. The family had settled down at 40 St John’s Terrace (called Gorsuch Street after 1909), a tiny little thoroughfare squashed between Kingsland Road and Hackney Road, and the street would be home to several generations of the Kray family in the decades to come. Young James began working as a cable-maker for the electrical companies, a secure and important job in the days when electricity was coming into its own as an energy source.
+James Kray was born on the 4th April 1884. He had a sister, Betsy, and lived with George, Albert and Jane, children from his mother Jane Wild’s first marriage. His father, also called James, worked as a cork cutter, a skilled job that was highly demanded at the time. His father had married Jane only three months before James was born. The family started living at 40 St John’s Terrace (called [[Gorsuch Street]] after 1909), a small lane between the Kingsland Road and Hackney Road. In his youth, James began working as a cable-maker for an electrical company in the early days of electricity itself.
+His parents and the Kray twins' great-grandparents, James and Jane Sarah Wood, were married in Bethnal Green, the same year Jimmy was born. It has been claimed anecdotally that this generation of the Kray family's territorial and aggressive attitude to outsiders amplified in the wake of the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888 but there's no substantiated proof of this.
+=== Teenage years ===
+When he was sixteen, James met Louisa Eliza Turner (born 6 John Street, South Hackney, 18 Sept 1884), an older woman and a docker's daughter who was the twin's paternal grandmother. She became pregnant so the pair subsequently married quickly on the 5th May 1901 at St Anne’s Church, Hoxton, both aged 21 and only a month before the birth of their first child, James John Frederick Kray, the Kray twins' uncle. After he lost his job at the cable-maker’s the small family moved around to different properties and had several more children; John George in 1902, Albert Charles Giles in 1904, [[Charles Kray|Charles David]] (the twins’ father) in 1907, Alfred in 1909, William in 1911 and finally, three daughters, Elizabeth (born 1916 but died aged two), Dorothy (1919) and Charlotte (1921).
+After WWI broke, James aged 30 signed up to King’s Royal Rifle Company on 14 September 1914. He was posted to France and went into battle at Ypres but was wounded in the chest and was subsequently sent back to Britain. He was issued an honourable discharge and shipped back home bearing a Silver War Badge to ensure that he didn't fall victim to beatings from East End men under the impression he was shirking his duty. When the war ended, he started to go around the new housing estates springing up around the neighbourhood, swapping china sets for clothes in good condition. Thus, the business he ran for the rest of his life was born.
+Besides his time in the army, Jimmy never strayed far from his roots. His birth record from 1884 shows he started life in Bethnal Green.
+==== Later life ====
-At sixteen, he met Louisa Eliza Turner, and she quickly became pregnant; like James’s parents before him they “did the right thing” and married in a hurry in 1901 at St Anne’s Hoxton, only a month before the birth of their first child, James John Frederick. After James Snr lost his job at the cable-maker’s, things became less settled for the family. Despite the inconvenience of having to move home often, more children followed; John George in 1902, Albert Charles Giles in 1904, [[Charles Kray|Charles David]] (the twins’ father) in 1907, Alfred in 1909, William in 1911 and finally, three daughters, Elizabeth (born 1916 but died aged two), Dorothy (1919) and Charlotte (1921). With the advent of the First World War, James was quick to sign up with the King’s Royal Rifle Company, a role that served his small but tough frame well. He was posted to France and went into battle at Ypres where he was wounded in the chest; he was subsequently returned to Britain.
+After returning to London, he came back to a large family and began working as a wardrobe dealer, buying and selling on used clothes and other items for profit. He also began bare-knuckle boxing on street corners and fought aggressively making sure his opponent would be constantly on the defensive. This is how he earned his nickname ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray. It is alleged that [[Cannonball Lee]] and Kray had met in several contests over the years, although Jimmy Lee always maintained that ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray never got the better of him. His son [[Charles Kray]], often accompanied him whilst he worked, and they set up a small stall on Brick Lane where they could sell on the clothing and other items they had bought. A young Charles would later continue this same profession. Grandfather Jimmy Kray, known to the twins as ‘Farvie’, was a source of boxing stories from his younger days, and young [[Charlie Kray]] was fascinated by stories of Hoxton born Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis. Sometimes the three Kray brothers would work with their grandfather Jimmy Kray on his stall in Brick Lane.
+Jimmy didn't have much luck professionally however and he struggled for a couple of years, first losing his job at the Cable Makers, and then doing various forms of manual labour, before becoming a flower hawker.
-He had returned to a home full of children and, with no immediate prospects, struck out on his own as a ‘wardrobe dealer’, buying and selling on used clothes and other items at a profit. As with many East End men, James was no stranger to the odd fight or two; he took it up seriously as a way to earn extra money on the street and, of course, to build up a formidable reputation. When times were tough and tempers could easily fray, or when villains attempted to take liberties, a good pair of fists would always come in useful. He would often chance his arm at bare-knuckle boxing on the cobbles against all comers, becoming a feared opponent to any prospective adversary, and more so when he had had a few drinks. His method was aggressive, always pushing forward so that his opponent would be constantly on the defensive. Others, taking into account his sheer force and the fact that he didn’t care who he fought or how hard he fought them, referred to him as ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray. Apparently [[Cannonball Lee]] and Kray had met in several contests over the years, although Jimmy Lee always maintained that ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray never got the better of him. His older sons, notably Charles, often accompanied him on his rounds of wheeling and dealing (‘on the knocker’, as it was known), and they set up a small stall on Brick Lane where they could sell on the clothing and other things they had bought. By all accounts it was acceptably lucrative. Young Charles would grow to keep the business going and would never work for a true employer, or ‘guv’nor’, in his life. He would become his father’s son, working hard through the week, relishing his independence at work and at home, and at weekends
+==References==
-Grandfather Jimmy Kray, known to the brothers as ‘Farvie’, was a constant source of riveting boxing stories from his younger days, and young Charlie was enthralled by tales of great fighters like Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, himself a native of Hoxton, and others. Despite Sometimes they would work with their grandfather Jimmy Kray on his stall in Brick Lane, using their break times to dodge through the swarming market crowds and develop their footwork reflexes.
+*Bennett, John. ''Krayology'' (2015). Mango Books.
+[[Category:Civilians]]
+[[Category:The Kray Family]]