The Origins Of George Groves (1901 - 1923)
Born over a barber's shop 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!
Picture
postcard of Duke Street, St.Helens c.1910 where
George Groves was born
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, he said:
They tell me I tried to blow on the cornet before I could hold it.
He studied first at Ravenhead Junior School in Nutgrove, Thatto Heath and then at Cowley Grammar School, also 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 Barrow, (who referred in interview to Mr. Varnish as being 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.
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 objected 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 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 United 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 the
latter's 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 invited him to call into the
Western Electric offices if he managed to get
to New York.
The Laconia's passenger manifest for its New York voyage dated 11th December 1923
CLICK HERE FOR MORE RESEARCH ON GEORGE GROVES' ST.HELENS' ORIGINS - INCLUDING THE HERBERT MUNDIN CONNECTION
Next - George Groves At Bell Labs & Vitagraph Studios In New York (1923-26)
