Frederick David Thomas Emmanuel Harold was born in Swansea in the winter of 1913.[1] His mother was a white woman whose maiden name was Sheard and his father an unknown Black man from the West Indies.[2] When Harold was a child, his family moved from Wales to Hull to begin a new life in East Yorkshire.[3] As a young boy Harold was a keen entertainer and worked as a tap dancer in various variety performances around the country.[4] However, as he was unable to make a sufficient living in the entertainment industry, at the age of 17, he secured a job as a pony driver at an unknown colliery.[5]
The circumstances which led Harold into a life of crime remain unknown. However, by his late teens he had committed several offences.[6] Harold’s ruse was reportedly to stumble into a property or the private rooms of a public house and steal anything of value without being caught. However, he was unable to avoid detection for long. In his early twenties, Harold had served three months in a borstal. On his release, he admitted another crime causing him to be remanded.[7]
In the 1930s, when he was not in prison, Harold moved to various residences in Hull. These included Hatter’s Square, Queen Street, Vicar Lane and later Goodwin Street. He still had a passion for entertaining and worked as a dance instructor in the port city.[8] However, he also worked as a labourer and eventually as a sailor while in this region.
In the 1930s, when he was not in prison, Harold moved to various residences in Hull. These included Hatter’s Square, Queen Street, Vicar Lane and later Goodwin Street. He still had a passion for entertaining and worked as a dance instructor in the port city.[8] However, he also worked as a labourer and eventually as a sailor while in this region.
In 1935, Harold was sentenced to six months hard labour for stealing and a further three for assaulting a police officer named Batty.[9] His original crime was stealing a handbag, purse, a door key and money from the doctor’s house in Hessle Road. When he was brought in front of the court, Harold claimed he knew nothing about the handbag or money and his mother gave a plausible reason as to why he had visited the doctor. She had said that her youngest son, aged 13 had meningitis and needed a doctor so sent Harold to bring him to the house. Thus, claiming he had not gone there to purposefully steal anything.[10] While he was on bail for this offence, it was alleged that Harold assaulted police officer Batty. His younger brother Albert, who lived at Hatter’s Square, featured in the dock for obstructing a police officer during this offence, but it was decided that the blow to the head he had received was punishment enough.[11] Harold claimed that he had been assaulted earlier in the evening and that his hat had been taken. He was told by an officer in the Market Place police booth that he didn’t know anything about his hat, but the pair ended up arguing and Harold left. Batty then heard a commotion and saw him arguing with another police officer, when he went to see what was going on Harold punched him.[12] Harold admitted that he committed the assault, but showed remorse and regret for his actions by insisting that he wished the altercation had not occurred. He was not allowed bail until his trial but was granted legal aid.[13] Harold completed his punishment on 1 February 1936.
On 5 February 1936, four days after he was released from prison, Harold was charged with being ‘found on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose.’ He insisted that he was looking for a lorry driver who had promised to meet him in a hotel smoke room and take him to London. He said the Lily Hotel on Hessle Road was the only one with these facilities and he believed the smoke room was upstairs which is why he was found in a private room on the property. He declared “I am doing my best to leave Hull and go to a place where I am not known,” adding that he wished to travel to the West Indies to see some friends. He was sentenced to three months hard labour for this crime.[14]
Three months later on 27 May 1936, Harold appeared in front of the Police Court after being charged with using obscene language in Mytongate. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and advised the court that when the officer had apprehended him, his arm was “deliberately smashed.”[15] Believing that the police were beyond reproach the magistrate stated that “The police don’t have a ‘down’ on anybody.” The arresting officer P.C. Reeves reported that Harold had become very violent and had resisted arrest. When the Police Superintendent and Reeves had finished giving their versions of events, Harold was asked if he had any questions for the witnesses, to which he replied “Yes. Are there any more lies you can think of while you are about it?”[16] He then claimed he ran away to avoid being hurt. He was sentenced to pay a fine of £1 or spend a short time in prison.[17]
In 1938 Harold was in trouble once again, however this time it was with his brothers, Richard, a 23-year-old seaman and Leslie, a 21-year-old cook. The Hull Daily Mail reported that ‘three coloured brothers appeared before Hull Stipendiary Magistrate on 30 December.[18] Firstly, they were charged with instigating a crowd in Alexandra Street at midnight on 18 December to which only Harold pleaded guilty. Secondly, Harold and Leslie were charged with breaking the windows of a house in William Terrace, Alexandra Street to which only the latter pleaded guilty. Lastly, Harold denied using bad language in a house on the same street. Despite their protestations, all three men were found guilty for the crimes they were charged with. Richard was bound over and Leslie was ordered to pay £2 and 8 shillings in damages and a further 10 shillings for breaking windows. However, Frederick who had reportedly made 32 appearances in court and had come out of prison only seven weeks prior to these offences, was sent to prison for 2 months for damage and ordered to pay half a guinea for using bad language. In response to his sentences, Harold said that he had been trying to turn his life around and on the night in question there had been comments about his family’s colour.[19]
On 22 March 1939, Harold featured at Leeds Assize court where he was tried for assaulting Hilda Anderson. The case was brandished sordid because the prosecution argued that Harold went to a café with Mrs Lassa and it was there that the couple met Mrs Anderson and all three were going back to her home for ‘relations’. However, when they arrived at her residence Harold accused Anderson of stealing money from his jacket pocket. She denied it, so he struck her breaking her jaw and causing head injuries. It is possible that Mrs Lassa tried to intervene, and he attacked her too. During his trial the prosecution talked about his family life and long list of criminal convictions. Harold received the sentence of 18 months imprisonment for the assault.[20] By this time, Harold had a strained relationship with his family. It was reported that they were afraid of him. During his trial at Leeds, the judge disclosed that he had received a letter from Harold’s mother and that she wrote whenever her son was in trouble.[21] However, it was stated that even she had washed her hands of him days prior to his appearance in court.[22]
In the late 1930s, Harold had a career change and became a sailor. When he was charged with stealing 12 brooches and other jewellery from Mrs Majorie Streatfeild, (the wife of Major G. H. B. Streatfeild, the recorder of Huddersfield in November 1940), he was described as a seaman of Clifton Terrace in Hull. It
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was alleged that Harold broke into the Great Northern Railway Hotel in Leeds and took the items which were worth around £500 from Streatfeild’s room.[23] Harold was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on 22 January 1941, at the Leeds Quarter Sessions.[24] After the verdict had been given, it was stated by the police that Harold was “a moral degenerate, an unscrupulous scoundrel, a terror to women, a clever and persistent thief, and a menace to society.” However, in a passionate appeal Harold insisted that ‘his colour had always been against him. He turned to crime only after he had been kicked out of his home night after night when he was 16 and that he had recently been bombed and injured at sea.’ Within a couple of days, Harold had also been sentenced to 10 weeks hard labour which was to run concurrently with his 18 months sentence for stealing because he had assaulted the chief engineer of a ship on which he served. Once again in a lengthy appeal, Harold said he had committed violent offences, but it was because people racially abused him. He said, “I am an intelligent person, and if people insult my colour then they insult everything I hold sacred, and I am duty bound, to make them apologise of do something about it.” He went on to state that the chief engineer had ‘said things about “niggers,” and he got mad.’[25] He asked to go to sea and have his sentences quashed but his appeals were refused.
In early 1940, Harold moved from Hull to Mount Preston in Leeds. However, his life of crime continued. In 1944, Harold appeared in court again accused of several crimes including larceny.[26] In the summer of 1950, it is believed that Harold was residing in Liverpool where he was caught receiving stolen goods. However, his getaway was halted by a girl who hit him with a stick.[27] Sadly, we have no further information about Harold after this date.
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Footnotes
[1] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
[2] It is possible that Harold’s father was also called Frederick Harold. A man of the same name who was described as ‘coloured man’ featured in court for biting a police officer in June 1922. See Hull Daily Mail, 9 June 1922, p. 7
[3] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1.
[4] Ibid, p. 1.
[5] Ibid, p. 1
[6] An article in the Yorkshire Post reveals that Harold began a life of crime in 1928 when he was 15 years old. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 23 January 1941, p. 5.
[7] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1.
[8] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February and 27 May 1936, p. 1
[9] Hull Daily Mail, 25 April 1935, p. 9
[10] Hull Daily Mail, 21 February 1935, p. 1 and 24 April 1935, p. 5
[11] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p. 14
[12] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p. 14
[13] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p, 14.
[14] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1
[15] Hull Daily Mail, 27 May 1936, p. 1
[16] Ibid, p. 1
[17] Ibid, p. 1
[18] Hull Daily Mail, 30 December 1938, p. 7
[19] Ibid, p. 7
[20] Hull Daily Mail, 22 March 1939, p. 12
[21] Hull Daily Mail, 22 March 1939, p. 12
[22] Other crime reports include: Hull Daily Mail, 27 May 1936, p. 1
[23] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 30 November 1940, p. 6.
[24] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 23 January 1941, p. 5.
[25] Hull Daily Mail, 25 January 1941, p. 3
[26] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 20 July 1944, p. 6
[27] Birmingham Daily Gazette, 24 June 1950, p. 2
[1] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
[2] It is possible that Harold’s father was also called Frederick Harold. A man of the same name who was described as ‘coloured man’ featured in court for biting a police officer in June 1922. See Hull Daily Mail, 9 June 1922, p. 7
[3] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1.
[4] Ibid, p. 1.
[5] Ibid, p. 1
[6] An article in the Yorkshire Post reveals that Harold began a life of crime in 1928 when he was 15 years old. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 23 January 1941, p. 5.
[7] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1.
[8] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February and 27 May 1936, p. 1
[9] Hull Daily Mail, 25 April 1935, p. 9
[10] Hull Daily Mail, 21 February 1935, p. 1 and 24 April 1935, p. 5
[11] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p. 14
[12] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p. 14
[13] Hull Daily Mail, 15 March 1935, p, 14.
[14] Hull Daily Mail, 14 February 1936, p. 1
[15] Hull Daily Mail, 27 May 1936, p. 1
[16] Ibid, p. 1
[17] Ibid, p. 1
[18] Hull Daily Mail, 30 December 1938, p. 7
[19] Ibid, p. 7
[20] Hull Daily Mail, 22 March 1939, p. 12
[21] Hull Daily Mail, 22 March 1939, p. 12
[22] Other crime reports include: Hull Daily Mail, 27 May 1936, p. 1
[23] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 30 November 1940, p. 6.
[24] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 23 January 1941, p. 5.
[25] Hull Daily Mail, 25 January 1941, p. 3
[26] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 20 July 1944, p. 6
[27] Birmingham Daily Gazette, 24 June 1950, p. 2