Page 23 - Once a copper 10 03 2020
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A SHOCK DISCOVERY
When I chose to include a reference to the Peaky Blinders, my intention was
merely to describe the slum area of Small Heath where I was born, adding
that this was well known as the Peaky Blinder heartland.
Figure 4 The Real Peaky Blinders – Police Museum Image
My eldest brother Peter had compiled an excellent document summarising
our family history going back to the mid 1700’s. His research led him to the
Birmingham Police Museum in search of information about our great
grandfather on our dad’s side. Peter was following up early family gossip that
dad’s grandfather, James Burnett Cain was a bad ‘un with a history of
violence and other crime.
What we weren’t expecting, was a police mugshot and full antecedent
history supplied kindly by the museum.
James Burnett Cain (my great grandfather). Born in 1872, he was the eldest
son of an Irish migrant Henry Cain who came from Tipperary. Henrys' history is
especially interesting since he and his wife, Ellen Campell were hawkers or
gypsies living on the "Black Patch" in Handsworth.
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