Did Peaky Blinders Character Tommy Shelby Really Exist?

The BBC’s Peaky Blinders series has gained a considerable fan base around the world since it started broadcasting in 2013. Especially the character of Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, has become an icon in itself. In the light of the real events of the period, are the gang in the series, which tells the story of a gangster family, and more importantly, Tommy Shelby really lived?

There is evidence that these people, who ganged up under the leadership of Tommy Shelby and eventually turned into a gangster organization called Peaky Blinders, in the starving city of Birmingham after the First World War, actually lived and exhibited bloody events in England. Let’s take a closer look at this evidence and see if Tommy Shelby and the Peaky Blinders gang are as strong as they were in the show.

It all started in the slum streets of England on the eve of the First World War:

• Criminal record photos thought to belong to Peaky Blinders members

The events in the series Peaky Blinders begin with the return of the Shelby family men from the First World War. In fact, the real Peaky Blinders gang that inspired this series and terrorized the city of Birmingham existed before the war, in the late 19th century, and lost their effective structure with the war.

Unlike the dirty world they live in, the real Peaky Blinders gang dressed very stylishly, walked around being aware of their power, just like in the TV series, but unlike in the TV series, they did not carry razors in their hats. According to a rumor, the gangsters of that period would slash their opponents’ foreheads with a razor during the fight, causing blood to flow into their eyes and they would prevail in the fight. However, there is no known record of the razor attached to the hat.

The members of this gang consisted mostly of young, unemployed, working class people. They were all extremely aggressive and angry types. While the men wore the most elegant clothes of the period, the women of the gang also distinguished themselves with pearl necklaces and silk handkerchiefs. Thanks to this strong dynamism, they monopolized the robbery and gambling market of the region. Since the 1890s, this gang is thought to have been under the rule of a man named Thomas Gilbert or Kevin Mooney. However, there is no other information obtained about this person.

Actual records on Peaky Blinders:

• Actual arrest records believed to belong to Peaky Blinders members

There are real memories of the Peaky Blinders gang, belonging to the father of Steven Knight, the creator of the series himself. Saying that his father described them as “elegantly dressed, strong men”, Knight says that his uncle may also be a member of this gang, although he is not entirely sure.

While there are many more folktales about the gang, we can take some police and arrest records as proof of its authenticity. According to one of these police records; In 1890, a man named George Eastwood, who is drinking ginger beer at the bar, is attacked by a group of teenagers, members of a gang known as the Peaky Blinders, who live in the same neighborhood as him. George Eastwood is mortally wounded in the attack.

According to another arrest record, young people named Harry Fowles, Ernest Haynes and Stephen McNickle are arrested for crimes such as bike theft and shop looting. The criminal photos of these people look like they came out of the casting of Peaky Blinders.

According to a report published in the Birmingham Daily Mail on 21 July 1989; Police Officer George Snipe and his partner are arresting 23-year-old William Colerain, who started a riot while patrolling downtown Birmingham. Soon, members of a gang known as the Peaky Blinders, of which the teenager is a member, arrive to save his friends. In the brawl, a young man named George Cloggy Williams threw a brick at the head of a police officer and was sentenced to life in prison.

Was Tommy Shelby the leader of the Peaky Blinders gang?

Many more records of criminal activity by the Peaky Blinders gang can be found in the West Midlands Police Museum collections. However, there is no information about Tommy Shelby, the leader of this gang in the series, or any record that this character really lived.

The real Peaky Blinders is not a large-scale crime syndicate like in the series. It mostly consists of small, overcrowded groups led by local leaders. For this reason, it is not thought that there is a strong leader like Tommy Shelby and that he is the manager of this gang. Tommy Shelby is fictional like many of the characters and events in the series.

However, we can still say that the Peaky Blinders series hosted many real characters of that period. Characters such as politician Winston Churchill, trade unionist Jessie Eden, rival gang leader Billy Kimber and fascist leader Oswald Mosley are truly people who lived and made a name for themselves in England at that time.

What happened to the Peaky Blinders gang?

• Actual arrest records believed to belong to Peaky Blinders members

The fate of the aggressive, powerful and well-dressed Peaky Blinders gang, which has taken the criminal world of Birmingham city under its control, ended with a bloody final like all illegal organizations. The gang was so disbanded that after the First World War, all that remained of them was the urban legends that remained in memory.

The Peaky Blinders gang has been a major element of criminal activity in Birmingham and surrounding cities for nearly 30 years. However, when we came to the 1920s, a rival gang called the Birmingham Boys took control of this entire region. Although they tried to maintain their influence until the 1930s by merging with other gangs, these well-dressed vagrants had to disappear.

The name of the gang became a slang term:

• Photos are thought to be members of Peaky Blinders

Although the Peaky Blinders gang dominated the streets for a not too long period of time, it has earned a place in British history and even in the slang of the English language, thanks to the uniquely stylish clothing of the members and their extremely aggressive manners.

In the Manchester Evening News report of 1895, the definition of “Peaky Blinders waiting to attack passersby” was used to mean a street gang. In other words, the name of the Peaky Blinders gang has now become used in slang to mean neighborhood bum, street gang, or defeatist. Even the British historian Carl Chinn wrote that this gang was as memorable as the First World War.

We talked about the reality of the Peaky Blinders gang, which inspired the series of the same name with their stylish clothing, bloody actions and unique attitudes, and the character of Tommy Shelby, who is at least as impressive if not real. We hope that events similar to these fictionally successful productions will never happen again in real life.