Part 1 - George Groves Origins (1901 - 1923) - Born Over a Barber's Shop
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'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:
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 for the American Film Institute he said:
Left: The Groves barber's shops in Duke and Owen Streets in St.Helens; Right: George with Aunt Jennie
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:
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 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 wrongly addressed to Bernard Grove!
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
