Peeping Tom

Great update, Anne! I have seen that shot of the image in The Rainbow but hadn't realised it was the same thing! A friend of one of my sons’ dad has taken over The Rainbow so I'll try to confirm if they still have it!

So it looks like all 3 Toms are probably still in existence.

Hi Helen. A CET article in 1969 mentions 5 Toms. No 1 is the oldest, That is the one that was in the King’s Head and later in the Leofric. This is the one in the Herbert. Believed to be from the 17th century. After the Kings Head was bombed it was stored in Bank Vaults and then in the offices of Band Hatton Solicitors. Mr G W Moore, a senior member of the firm, later loaned it to the Leofric. No 2 was in the Railway Inn, Bull Yard, made of sandstone. It was stored in the museum store in Much Park Street. It had a broken head. May be a copy of no 1. I believe this must be the one at the Broadgate end of Hertford Street. No 3 is a plaster cast of no 1. Was in timber framed premises on Smithford Street owned by Mr David Cooke, tobacconist. After the demolition of the property (it says 40 years ago so 1929) it was given to Mr C J Hodson and put into the vestibule of his shop, Charles Ager at 6 Smithford Street. It says it was still with the firm in 1969 but I can’t find out any more. No 4 was again copied from no 1 and had been in the family of Mr Frank West of Southleigh Ave for over 100 years. Haven’t found any more about this one. No 5 is the Bishop Street one already discussed They are a little confusing so I hope I have got them right! I understand you may want to move this to it’s own topic !

I understood Peeping Tom became blind when he set eyes on Lady G. None of them look very startled, let alone blind.

I don't know Dreamtime, a few of them look like they've been bitten on the botty by Godiva's horse. Anne, I didn't know about the copies and I only saw the images of Toms peeping out of windows. The first at the top of Hertford Street, the second at the bottom and the third on Bishop Street. A final Tom is the one in the clock.

Hi Helen. Yes, I was surprised there were more. I just thought the information was interesting. There is a bit more information on Coventry Society. I don't think there is much chance of finding the one in the private collection but I have just looked at "Coventry Collections" and it looks like the Agers one is in the Herbert somewhere. The one that was at the bottom of Hertford Street in the Peeping Tom is the one now over the Broadgate entrance. It is amazing any of them survived at all!

Anne The oldest was in the tobacconist at the corner of Smithford Street and Hertford Street (even before Hertford Street was built) but that building was demolished and the new Kings Head replaced it and acquired the old Tom. He's the wooden one with a body and legs and was probably a repurposed statue of a St George. He got repainted periodically and given different hats. He was in Cathedral Lanes until recently but has been given to the Herbert and is on display in his natural wood form. As he seems to have been in private ownership, he could have passed through various hands and locations. The second one was the one that started at the Peeping Tom at the bottom Hertford Street and that, as you say, is probably the one over the Broadgate entrance. That or a copy may have spent time at the Herbert. So there may be 3 (plus the clock) and the others may just be different sightings of them. Original Tom.

I have had a reply from a kind gentleman at Agers shoe shop and he says his father gave the bust to The Herbert about 20 years ago. It is listed on Coventry Collections as a Bust of Peeping Tom, a copy of the head & shoulders of the full length wooden statue, probably from Charles Ager's shoe shop and before that David Cooke's tobacconist that was demolished in the 1930's. This was a plaster cast copy of the original. Articles in the CET say it came from the King's Head when it was rebuilt but that was about 1880. Neil says the picture he posted a couple of days ago was when the statue was taken away to have the head copied. I wonder if this was when the copy was made.

This is the oldest image I know of - 1799. Followed by - 1829 And this - mid to late 1800s As far as I can gather they're the same building and the same Tom. This was the version in the new Kings Head. This last one is of him outside somewhere. He got about a bit.

I was just interested in working out the history of the copy that finished up in Agers, Helen. Was it made for a purpose? Why was it made and when?

If the building with Tom was a shoe shop, might they been converted/sold out to Agers just a few doors down, at the same time as the plot was sold to the hotel? Maybe they made a copy then? Dunn & Co were a tobacconist I think and they were underneath Tom at the King's Head for a while. Alternatively the copy might have been made after the war and the real Tom moved from store to store until he ended up in Cathedral Lanes?

Tom was at Peeping Tom House, 70-73 Smithford Street, which was also the Dorothy Cafe. This was the premises of Mr David Cooke, tobacconist. An article in a 1934 CET says: “Visitors have been introduced to the old house in large numbers if only by reason of the fact that an effigy of Peeping Tom removed from the old Kings Head when it was rebuilt in 1880 has peeped from the ancient gables throughout the intervening years, whilst between the gables is a fine figure of a red lion which formerly adorned the Old Red Lion Inn, Hertford Street”. (We have looked at that in the Smithford Street topic). The building was an old wattle and daub building with oak beams. Tom was then given to Mr C J Hobson of Ager’s shoe shop, which was the other side of Smithford Street, and is now in the Herbert. Looking through the CET it seems even in the past they have not been able to tie Tom down. See Neil’s post 312 in Smithford Street topic.

Just for reference, Cooke’s tobacconists has its own thread here.

Not a tobacconist, but the famous menswear retailers

My mistake MR, thanks. Though I still have a feeling that there was a tobacconist in that spot.