The Albany Hotel and Rugby Union in Coventry (1908-1919)

Whilst researching my family history, I discovered that in the 1901 census my grandmother was working as a domestic servant in the employ of John Henry Bates, a Wine and Spirit Merchant living at 18 Regent Street. I decided to do a bit of delving and uncovered some fascinating links to the sporting history of Coventry. John Henry Bates was born in Hull in 1865. His father, a dock labourer, had died before he was 6 years old and he was brought up by his mother Jane A. and step father Alfred Taylor, a house(?) painter. At the age of 16 he was a Commercial Clerk in Hull but by 1881 he had married Betsey (n

It's funny how things can lead off in some surprising directions. I decided to look into John Henry Bates life in Coventry before he became landlord of the Albany. There does not appear to be much about him whilst he was a Wine and Spirit Merchant, so I decided to look into his family. He married Betsey Amelia Ostick in Hull in 1887 and soon moved to Coventry. His first daughter Jessie Winifred was born in 1889 (baptised 11th April 1889) whilst they were living at Grosvenor Street, Maud was born in 1891 (baptised 7th February) and Florence Amelia was born in 1892 (baptised 28th August 1892). Their son Sydney was born on 23rd May 1897 (baptised 14th June 1897) and they were now living at "Westmere" Regent Street. Jessie Winifred married Percy Charles Major in 1910. Percy Major was a member of the Major family of Smith, Major, and Stevens (SMS Lift Company). The company was founded as Archibald Smith and Co in Princes Street, Leicester Square London in 1770, becoming Archibald Smith and Stevens in the 1880 making elevator lifts. In 1909 Percy's father Charles Major joined the company and it moved from the Janus Works in Battersea to Northampton eventually becoming part of Express Lifts. In the early 20th century it was manufacturing lifts to go all around the world and some of its notable lifts are still in existence in Auckland and Singapore. When John Henry died in 1935 he left his estate to his widow Betsey Amelia and daughter Jessie Winifred Major. The 1939 Parish Register shows Percy and Jessie living at "Ashtrees", Duston, Northampton with Betsey. Betsey died on 17th March 1944 at Ashtrees. His second daughter Maud's, story is more tragic. Prior to the commencement of war, early in 1914, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers were billeted in Coventry. A number of the Battalion lodged with a Mr C Andrews at 17 Gosford Street. In March 1914 one of these soldiers Lieutenant Timothy Sullivan from Cork married Maud Bates at St Osburg's church. The 1st Battalion was one of the units virtually wiped out in the Gallipoli landings in April and May 1915. A letter from Quartermaster-Sergeant S Ahern to Mr Andrews published in the CET on 7th June 1915, tells the fate of the lads billeted at 17 Gosford Street. Lieutenant Sullivan was fatally wounded and was buried on the beach. Lieutenant Watts (Tim Sullivan's best man at the wedding was wounded - he had "seven wounds in addition to six through his pack, but I hear that he is still living" and all of the others were dead or wounded. He goes on to state that of the original Battalion numbering around 800 only 400 were still alive of which only 5 were not wounded. The battalion was so depleted that it was subsequently merged with the 1st Batallion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was known as the "Dubsters". Maud remarried James Baillie Sneddon in 1920 and the electoral roles show they lived first in Longbridge, Birmingham and then Binley through the 1920s. However by 1939 Maud is a patient at a sanitorium in Stroud and she died on 19 December 1958 at St Andrews Mental Hospital in Northampton. Florence Amelia Bates married Frederick Cummings, a Company Secretary, in 1915. They had two children Peter, a Chartered Surveyor and Vera a technical drawer, Frederick died on 20 May 1963 at Gulson Hospital and Florence died on 2 March 1970 at 48 Styvechale Avenue. I am struggling to find information on Sydney Bates after 1911 but he may have died in 1930 (aged 32). John Henry himself retired from the Albany Hotel in October 1919 and transferred the license to Herbert Brown. He seems to have lived a quiet retirement at 19 Albany Road until his death in 1935.

And a further update: A bit more trawling has led me to discover that prior to taking on the licence of the Albany Hotel, John Henry Bates was the "Rep" for John Thompson and Son Limited which became John Marston, Thompson, and Son Limited in 1898 and then Marston, Thompson, and Evershed Limited in 1905. A lot of his dealings reported in the papers seem to involve the transfer of licences to Marstons Pubs and attempts to block licenses for other breweries such as Atkinsons (later to become Mitchell and Butlers); hence his dealings with the Old Turks Head and the Old Ball Inn amongst others. The proposal to build the Albany Hotel was first put forward by Marstons in March 1903 and would involve the surrender by Marstons of the licences of the Old Turks Head in Warwick Lane and The Pilgrims Rest in Ironmonger Row. It was opposed by their arch rivals Robinsons Brewery of Burton-on-Trent (later Ind Coope) who owned the Royal Oak in Earlsdon. The application was submitted each year at the Brewster Sessions (there are detailed newspaper reports of each submission), until the application was eventually granted in April 1907, with two licences being surrendered - The Blue Pig in Gosford Street and the Sun Dial in Lord Street. The Albany Hotel finally opened in May 1908.

A bit peripheral but I have a photo of members of the Small Heath branch sat outside the Albany. Two Birmingham clubs, Birchfield Harriers and Small Hath Harriers set up branches in Coventry with the single intention of poaching the Godiva runners before WW1. It took Jimmy Winter until 1922 to put a stop to this activity. Jimmy Winter was by this time the licensee of the Rising Sun Hotel. The Midland Counties change of law demanded that no club could set up a branch within 5 miles of an existing club . Small Heath cut its loses and closed down the branch abandoning the Albany after more than a decade in 'residence'. But Birchfield Harriers being Birchfield Harriers, turned its branch into 'Coventry Birchfield Harriers' an independent club. Well that's what it said on the tin!! However, post 1922, whenever an athlete with potential joined Coventry Birchfield Harriers, they soon metamorphosed into a Birmingham Birchfield Harrier!! Not quite in the spirit of the new athletics' law. Coventry resident, Olympian, and city sports shop owner was one such athlete - despite living most of his life in and around Coventry, the City of Coventry has never acknowledged what a great athlete Billy Green was. He continued to be a second claim member for Godiva for many years, officiating at Godiva's sports' events etc. and no doubt partaking of a little liquid refreshment in the Albany. The Royal Munster Fusiliers and two other regiments, used the Butts for more than one of their cross country races, for which Godiva always gave silver medals, the presentations taking place at the Albany after the competitions ...and few celebratory drinks?? By the mid 1920s, Godiva Harriers Godiva had accepted Lady members, had a men's cycling group, and a women's cycling section, as well as a very good set of Walking competitors. The disparate interests of athletic activity meant that the organisation of the club was becoming unwieldy. In the interests of efficiency, the membership was split into different, semi independent sections controlled by a General Committee and it was the Harriers male section which used the Albany Hotel as its headquarters, the Rising Sun being the de facto Godiva Club Headquarters. And surprise, surprise, the Albany was still used for refreshments after training for very many years until the Coventry Athletic Track was built on the Westwood Campus of Warwick University in 1984, where Godiva Harriers built its first independent headquarters.