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GEORGE GROVES' ORIGINS (1901-23)

Born and bred in St.Helens, Lancashire, England

   George had six of the best on his bare buttocks ! 
        -  [George Groves' sister, Hilda Barrow]

George Groves as a young boy at home at 57 Duke Street, St.Helens

GEORGE ROBERT GROVES was born on December 13th 1901 over a barber's shop at 57 Duke Street, St.Helens in Lancashire, England.

George Groves' birth certificate - his father describes himself as a 'Hairdresser (Master)'

George's father, George Alfred Groves, was a master barber and also a very skilled musician. He was bandmaster of the 5th South Lancashire military band during WW1 and founder of the York Street Mission Band, the first brass band in St.Helens. George Robert's mother, Harriet, was a talented artist and poet who created exquisite silk pictures.

George's mother Harriet (née Saxby) and father George Alfred Groves

As a boy George Jnr worked in his father's barber's shop and competed with his cousin Charlie to see how much lather they could put on their customers' faces. They were both so small that they had to stand on boxes. George’s sister Hilda Barrow interviewed in 1995 said:

Whether the men liked having their faces plastered with lather like the boys did, I don't know, but the boys got great fun out of it!

George inherited musical and artistic talents from both of his parents and soon became a skilled musician in his own right. In his 1973 oral history with the AFI, George said:

They tell me that I tried to blow on the cornet before I could hold it.

When aged seven he joined his father's church band along with cousin Charlie and now they competed to see who could make the most noise! Later George became proficient in playing the French horn and cello and also enjoyed drawing pen and ink sketches.

He went to Ravenhead School in Nutgrove, Thatto Heath and then on to Cowley Grammar School in St.Helens where he excelled himself in his studies. Although his headmaster Mr. Varnish did feel the need to give George the cane once for an inane remark that he passed during an examination. George's sister, Hilda , (who referred in interview to Mr. Varnish as a "sticky customer ") explained:

So George had six of the best on his bare buttocks and they were six of the best! He put everything into those strokes because it was a long time before he was able to sit down with comfort.

George began working professionally at the age of fourteen when he played the cornet in the orchestra at the Hippodrome Theatre in St.Helens. This was twice nightly with a Monday matinee. Before long he began playing at the town's Theatre Royal which boasted a season of drama, musical comedy shows and opera, including the D'oyly Carte Company. George said that the Theatre Royal provided him with a much more "sophisticated education".

His academic education wasn't being neglected as George did his homework in the theatre band room in between numbers. “I worked long hours and very hard”. However, the headmaster of Cowley Grammar did begin to object to George missing classes each Monday afternoon in order to play the Theatre Royal matinees. So George left Cowley and hired a private tutor, Thomas Gregory, from the Gamble Institute who coached him twice a week.

George Groves as a young man aged about 17 years

George studied hard in order to pass the Liverpool University scholarship examination in competition with the boys who'd remained in school. A conductor of a touring opera company did offer him a full-time job playing on the road as a professional musician, but his father put his foot down and insisted that George continued his education.

George successfully passed the examination and was awarded an open scholarship to Liverpool University. He chose to study engineering with a specialism in transmission engineering or speech circuits. "I really don't know why. Because like most young boys I didn't really know what I wanted to do", remarked George in 1973. He graduated from the university in 1922 with an honours degree (see picture above) and as was the custom at that time the university set about finding him a job.

Radio was very much in its infancy at this time but George was aware of its potential and the university placed him with the Peal-Conner Telephone Company in Coventry, a division of General Electric, making wireless receivers. While on leave with his family in St.Helens, he met and fell in love with Olga who was one of the Tiller dancing girls who was 'resting' and staying with her sister in the town. When her troupe obtained a lengthy engagement on Broadway in New York with top entertainer Fred Stone, George was determined to follow her and so applied for a number of positions in the States.

Letter to George Groves from Western Electric Research Labs dated 26/09/1923

He wrote to Westinghouse, General Electric and Western Electric Research Laboratories (soon to become Bell Telephone Laboratories or Bell Labs) in the States and he was interviewed by their Director of Research Harold D. Arnold who happened to be in England. Dr. Arnold was a highly respected engineer, credited with having developed the first practical vacuum tube amplifier in 1915. In the interview which took place in the North Western hotel in Manchester, Dr. Arnold was unable to offer George a job as such, but gave him his card and told him to call into the Western Electric offices if he managed to get to New York.

So George Groves left Liverpool on December 1st, 1923, on the Laconia, (pictured right) arriving in America ten days later. This was just twelve days prior to his 22nd birthday. On the ship’s manifest of ‘alien passengers’ and other immigration documents for the voyage, George is described as 5’6” with fair hair, fair complexion and blue eyes. He stated that he intended to live in America for 2 years. It turned out to be 52 years! Incidentally the Cunard steamship SS Laconia had only been built in 1922 but twenty years later while serving as a troop carrier it was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank with the loss of 1000 lives.

     The Laconia's passenger manifest for its New York voyage dated 11th December 1923

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH ON GEORGE GROVES' ORIGINS IN ST.HELENS

NEXT PAGE - GEORGE GROVES AT BELL LABS AND THE VITAGRAPH STUDIOS IN NEW YORK (1923-26)

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