Characters of sheffield

When I was a young lad I worked at Freiderichs in the Wicker and I remember seeing a man who worked on the coal lorries and he was always black with the coal. He had his mouth open all the time looking up in the air. He wore wellingtons summer and winter. When he finished on the coal he used to walk his dog which was on a long rope. The rope was that long that the dog would be at the picture house and he would be at Freiderichs. Does anyone remember him?

When I was a young lad I worked at Freiderichs in the Wicker and I remember seeing a man who worked on the coal lorries and he was always black with the coal. He had his mouth open all the time looking up in the air. He wore wellingtons summer and winter. When he finished on the coal he used to walk his dog which was on a long rope. The rope was that long that the dog would be at the picture house and he would be at Freiderichs. Does anyone remember him?

The kids near us used to call him Sherrif, but I once went to a scrapyard and he was working there, his name as i recall was Bill.

When I was a young lad I worked at Freiderichs in the Wicker and I remember seeing a man who worked on the coal lorries and he was always black with the coal. He had his mouth open all the time looking up in the air. He wore wellingtons summer and winter. When he finished on the coal he used to walk his dog which was on a long rope. The rope was that long that the dog would be at the picture house and he would be at Freiderichs. Does anyone remember him?

When I lived on the Manor Estate in the 50s early 60s I used to see a man sat on the back of the coal lorry with his mouth wide open. I asked my mum what was wrong with him, she said he had lockjaw (possibly a wrong diagnosis). He certainly was a character to remember. Also, on the Manor, there used to be a man who pushed a small version of a big wheel around and would give the kids rides for a halfpenny. He lived somewhere on Queen Mary Road, I think.

his name was Billy Wainright he lived on sorby st. off gower st.pitsmoor he had a brother called george i grew up with him he was fun and a nice bloke and knew how to use a shovel he was a very hard worker

When I was a young lad I worked at Freiderichs in the Wicker and I remember seeing a man who worked on the coal lorries and he was always black with the coal. He had his mouth open all the time looking up in the air. He wore wellingtons summer and winter. When he finished on the coal he used to walk his dog which was on a long rope. The rope was that long that the dog would be at the picture house and he would be at Freiderichs. Does anyone remember him?

Yes his name was Billy Wainwright.He worked for a coal merchant on Sorby St. He also used to ride about on a bike with no breaks & used his foot on the front wheel to stop it.We knew him because he delivered coal to our house.

Does anyone remember the Duke Of Darnall? Always immaculate in dress with a flower in his buttonhole. He would direct traffic much to the annoyance of the local police. Then there was Sgt. Bentley, the huge gentle police giant, often to be seen on traffic duty at the top of Snig Hill, opposite Cockaynes. There were others but I never knew their names.

Peter D South Carolina

Harry Taylor, alias the Duke of Darnall has been mentioned on several SF threads, for example the "Pond St Nora" thread - here is Page 5: http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=285&highlight=duke+darnall&page=5

He used to knock about with "Russian Edna". The Duke would direct the traffic in his smart suit, buttonhole and spats, often outside Walsh's in High Street. He was rumoured to be deaf and dumb, but in fact he just didn't like talking to people. A real character - I don't know what became of him. There is a photo on the local studies library website:

http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=s08787

...............there are some wonderful books about characters in Sheffield.

I've been looking for one written about the characters in Ecclesfield, I remember it having a yellow cover and gives brief but humorous accounts of certain people who were usually seen out and about in the area.

There's also a book about characters from the Attercliffe area - don't know if it was the same author but so funny, both old books but would be grateful for any info re: authors' name(s) and titles.

Has anyone read the books by Fred Pass? They had me in tears, I laughed so much.

One of the most humerous characters I ever met in Sheffield was Frankie Baron, he used to go around the pubs with a suitcase selling everything from nylon stockings to toys etc.

Frankie was an ex boxer and had the broken nose and cauliflower ear etc,

he could walk into any pub and have people howling with laughter in no time at all, he used to walk in the yellow tiled pub in Burngreave and shout out, are their any Jamaicans in here, it was full of them.

He also went into a pub down the cliffe and yelled out, any Irishmen in here, he always got a good reception by all wherever he went and people of all races loved him, don't suppose he would get away with it these days though.

RIP Frankie.

I never met Frankie Barron but my dad knew him from his days as a fitter at Firth Browns. Dad used to say to Frankie "I'm not Irish, but my mother was" (which she wasn't, but it got the conversation going - not that Frankie needed much help as he certainly had the gift of the gab). An ex-boxer, Frankie could throw a hard punch when the need arose, and even when it didn't.... He died aged 70 in 1985.