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Messages - Dinkydidy

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 ... 48
28
The Common Room / Re: Issuing GRO PDF certificates
« on: Wednesday 08 July 20 19:43 BST (UK)  »
Got my second death certificate PDF a week after the first one. Still can't quite understand why they weren't processed at the same time, when they were on the same order.  ???

I have a couple more in the pipeline, so will try to be patient.

For those asking elsewhere why people are even ordering them at a time of staff shortages - it's because those of us family history fanatics in lockdown are spending even more time than usual poring over our family trees.

29
The Common Room / Re: George Luckett, alias Dodger
« on: Friday 03 July 20 02:24 BST (UK)  »
Thanks for that susie - a comprehensive and easy to read coverage of the subject.

30
The Common Room / Re: Issuing GRO PDF certificates
« on: Thursday 02 July 20 03:08 BST (UK)  »
I ordered two PDF death certs on 15 June and got one of them on 1 July, so about 12 working days for that. Still waiting for the other one, for a different individual, obviously.

31
The Common Room / Re: George Luckett, alias Dodger
« on: Thursday 02 July 20 03:05 BST (UK)  »
I think it's the press reports that have confused me. They certainly like to mention how much money has changed hands at these events.

Does that mean that bookmakers were therefore always breaking the law? Censuses and certificates for George describe him variously as "gentleman" or "commission agent", so I presume those euphemisms were necessary because no-one could legally describe themselves as a bookmaker?

32
The Common Room / Re: George Luckett, alias Dodger
« on: Friday 26 June 20 19:54 BST (UK)  »
His name is mentioned in connection with gambling on a wide variety of events - horse-racing, foot racing, shooting, prize-fighting, quoit throwing and rat fights (one dog was able to kill its quota of 10 rats in 43 seconds!).

If betting was illegal, (and I'm not clear about that - was it only in certain circumstances?) then the ability to dodge police would have been an occupational advantage. But in that case I would have expected it to be a very common nickname amongst bookmakers.

He was fined a few times, but I haven't found any prison records for him as yet.

33
The Common Room / Re: George Luckett, alias Dodger
« on: Friday 26 June 20 11:35 BST (UK)  »
I wondered about that, but have only seen him mentioned in organising and betting on matches.

34
The Common Room / George Luckett, alias Dodger
« on: Friday 26 June 20 10:37 BST (UK)  »
George Luckett appeared with a number of others at Walsall Police Court to answer a charge of having been concerned in a prize-fight between some Birmingham pugilists in February 1868. The newspaper report describes him as above. I know that Luckett was a former publican and described in a number of other reports as a bookmaker.

My query concerns his alias. Does this imply an unwillingness to pay up, or some other shifty characteristic? I've only seen it mentioned once amongst a number of articles spread over about two decades.

Didy

35
The Common Room / Re: Pigeon Shooting Sweepstakes 1870
« on: Wednesday 24 June 20 12:11 BST (UK)  »
It's apparently still legal in parts of the U.S.A.

Thank you Girl Guide for clarifying things a little. I'll just assume that Mr. Luckett was more interested in the betting rather than the participation side of things.

Although he does appear as the referee in a prize-fighting match in which he holds on to the money.

Didy

36
The Common Room / Re: Pigeon Shooting Sweepstakes 1870
« on: Wednesday 24 June 20 05:41 BST (UK)  »
I think it's the first part of the statement that really confuses me. Mr. Harding seems to be doubly involved. Is he virtually competing against himself? Did he have to change hats (or guns?) when he was shooting Messrs. Wednesbury and Stamford?

Who are the bookies/betters/sweepstake entrants and who are the contestants?  ???

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