BOOTH/DEWSBURY searching for Notorious smuggler/racketeer Dick Dewsbury?

[M-Lin]

This is my first post so if it's in the wrong place I apologise...

I have been researching my family tree on my mother's side since at least 2008, but with the recent death of my uncle, the actor Tony Booth, I have started to delve into the Booth side of the tree. I have come across a couple of mysterious references to my great-great-grandfather, one from Tony Booth's autobiography "What's Left" and another from his daughter Cherie Blair's "Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street".

From "What's Left":

My grandmother was the daughter of the notorious Dick Dewsbury who owned a small fishing fleet that sailed out of Formby. He had accumulated considerable wealth, not only from his smuggling activities but also from the protection racket he ran. His influence stretched Ayr to Cornwall.

From "Speaking for Myself...":

My great-grandmother's father turned out to be a famous smuggler who ran a protection racket on the side.

My great-grandmother was Jane Dewsbury (referred to once in Tony's book as Virginia) born 10th March 1884. I have a record of her father being a Henry Dewsbury born 1849/52 and his occupation in the 1881 census is fisherman, and in the 1901 census he's both fisherman and employer.

I have searched online and read 2 books that I really wish I hadn't and I cannot find any stories about the "Notorious" or "Famous" Dick or Henry Dewsbury. I'm based in Brighton so my local knowledge of Formby and Liverpool is quite weak, and yes I have tried the Booth museum, but they just looked at me funny...

Have you heard of him?

[[Ray]]

Hi M-lin

WELCOME to Rootschat.

What does Cherie say (not write) about the situation and your queries?

R

[M-Lin]

Hello Ray, thank you, I have a feeling I'll be here quite a bit!

What does Cherie say (not write) about the situation and your queries?

Good question. I haven't spoken to anyone on that side of the family since 2002, and I'm still waiting for a reply to the email I sent to Cherie in 1997...

I was hoping Dick/Henry Dewsbury was notorious enough that I wouldn't need to break a 20 year silence. I'm going to keep looking and reading and maybe contact Cherie in the new year if I find nothing.

Coincidentally, Cherie was to be made the subject of an episode of "Who do you think you are", but the family was deemed too boring!

[emeltom]

It sounds to me as though Cherie is quoting something heard from her father, who was probably told the same family fairy story by his father. Every family seems to have one of these stories, but that is all they seem to be - just stories, made up to liven a boring evening.

In my case an ancestor was supposed to be the eldest son of the Squire of Stow on the Wold, who ran off with the cook and got cut out of the Will with a shilling!

Emeltom

[[Ray]]

Of course it may not be the person who put pen to paper, but a ghost writer.
Re-iterating an old family story? Who knows?

Anyway, Rootschat is not (necessarily) about (in)famous people,
and detail that they wish could stay out of the public gaze,
but about what detail you wish to ascertain about (parts of) your family.

R

[M-Lin]

Wow. Thanks for the encouragement.

[ShaunJ]

Well if Henry was a notorious crook he did well to keep his name out of the newspapers.

Looking at directories, he was a labourer in 1917 (135 Brighton Road). I can't see him in my 1913 Blundellsands and Crosby directory.

[Maiden Stone]

Any smuggling stories in local histories?
Does local history society have any information?

[Gibel]

Smuggling went on more in the 17th and 18th century on the south west Lancashire coast mainly bringing goods in from Isle of Man. I think it's unlikely to have been going on in the latter part of the 19 th century. Have you found any Dewsbury people living in Formby?

I will be in Crosby library on Friday doing a family history help desk. The library holds the local history collection for Sefton MBC which covers Formby. I will ask the staff if they know anything about this Dick Dewsbury the smuggler and get back to you. I remember they had researchers around once looking into the Booth family.