Peaky Blinders - gangs of Birmingham

The archive does not contain a designated Peaky Blinders collection but the following resources may be of consideration if you are studying the topic -

Birmingham calendar of prisoners, 1880 to 1891 and 1906 to 1971 (QS/B/20)

A pre-trial schedule of individuals tried at each session along with a record of their offence. Materials have closed access status if created less than 100 years from the date of issue. Accessible via an appointment in the Wolfson Centre for Archival Research. Contact archives.appointments@birmingham.gov.uk .

Digital versions of the calendars can be located via Ancestry Institution for the periods of 1880 to 1891 and 1906 to 1913. Accessible without an appointment in the Heritage Research Area on level 4 during the library’s core opening hours.

Birmingham newspapers

Archives and Collections service retains titles such as the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post from first editions on microfilm but such resources are without an accompanying index. Access to a digital version of the Birmingham Post 1857 to 1900 with accompanying search facility can be found in the Heritage Research Area. Reports of gang activity are more than likely to be included under terms and phrases such as ‘peakies’ and ‘slogging gangs’.

The register of habitual drunkards, 1903 to 1906

Produced by Birmingham Corporation’s Watch Committee – an early photo fit manual. Call numbers - Birmingham Collection 41.9 and Local Studies Collection L 41.9.

The register is also available on Ancestry Institution under the description Birmingham Pub Blacklist, 1903 to 1906.

Reports of the police establishment and the state of crime, 1875 to 1945.

Call number - Local Studies Collection L42.2. A statistical account of recorded crimes. Title of the publication changes to Reports of the Chief Constable from 1946 onwards.

The Real Peaky Blinders: Billy Kimber, the Birmingham Gang and the Racecourse Wars of the 1920s (2014) by Carl Chinn

Call numbers – Birmingham Collection 42.31 and Local Studies Collection L 42.31.

The Gangs of Birmingham from the Sloggers to the Peaky Blinders (2010) by Philip Gooderson.

Call number – Birmingham Collection 42.3 and Local Studies Collection L 42.3.

The West Midlands Police museum

Visit the West Midlands Police Museum website

A listing of the Police Museum’s holdings, published in 1989, can be found in A Guide to the Archives of the Police Forces of England and Wales in the Wolfson Centre at call number 363.20942.

Page last updated: 29 September 2023