Jimmy Kray

**James William "Jimmy" Kray**, commonly known as **Farvie** by the twins, was the paternal grandfather to Ronnie Kray and Reggie Kray and father to Charles Kray.

The twins worked occasionally with him when they were young, often around Bethnal Green until he passed away in 1949, when the twins were sixteen.

## History

### Early life

James Kray was born on the 4th April 1884. He had a sister, Betsy, and lived with George, Albert and Jane, children from his mother Jane Wild’s first marriage. His father, also called James, worked as a cork cutter, a skilled job that was highly demanded at the time. His father had married Jane only three months before James was born. The family started living at 40 St John’s Terrace (called Gorsuch Street after 1909), a small lane between the Kingsland Road and Hackney Road. In his youth, James began working as a cable-maker for an electrical company in the early days of electricity itself.

His parents and the Kray twins' great-grandparents, James and Jane Sarah Wood, were married in Bethnal Green, the same year Jimmy was born. It has been claimed anecdotally that this generation of the Kray family's territorial and aggressive attitude to outsiders amplified in the wake of the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888 but there's no substantiated proof of this.

### Teenage years

When he was sixteen, James met Louisa Eliza Turner (born 6 John Street, South Hackney, 18 Sept 1884), an older woman and a docker's daughter who was the twin's paternal grandmother. She became pregnant so the pair subsequently married quickly on the 5th May 1901 at St Anne’s Church, Hoxton, both aged 21 and only a month before the birth of their first child, James John Frederick Kray, the Kray twins' uncle. After he lost his job at the cable-maker’s the small family moved around to different properties and had several more children; John George in 1902, Albert Charles Giles in 1904, Charles David (the twins’ father) in 1907, Alfred in 1909, William in 1911 and finally, three daughters, Elizabeth (born 1916 but died aged two), Dorothy (1919) and Charlotte (1921).

After WWI broke, James aged 30 signed up to King’s Royal Rifle Company on 14 September 1914. He was posted to France and went into battle at Ypres but was wounded in the chest and was subsequently sent back to Britain. He was issued an honourable discharge and shipped back home bearing a Silver War Badge to ensure that he didn't fall victim to beatings from East End men under the impression he was shirking his duty. When the war ended, he started to go around the new housing estates springing up around the neighbourhood, swapping china sets for clothes in good condition. Thus, the business he ran for the rest of his life was born.

Besides his time in the army, Jimmy never strayed far from his roots. His birth record from 1884 shows he started life in Bethnal Green.

#### Later life

After returning to London, he came back to a large family and began working as a wardrobe dealer, buying and selling on used clothes and other items for profit. He also began bare-knuckle boxing on street corners and fought aggressively making sure his opponent would be constantly on the defensive. This is how he earned his nickname ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray. It is alleged that Cannonball Lee and Kray had met in several contests over the years, although Jimmy Lee always maintained that ‘Mad’ Jimmy Kray never got the better of him. His son Charles Kray, often accompanied him whilst he worked, and they set up a small stall on Brick Lane in Bethnal Green where they could sell on the clothing and other items they had bought. A young Charles would later continue this same profession. Grandfather Jimmy Kray, known to the twins as ‘Farvie’, was a source of boxing stories from his younger days, and young Charlie Kray was fascinated by stories of Hoxton born Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis. Sometimes the three Kray brothers would work with their grandfather Jimmy Kray on his stall on Brick Lane.

Jimmy didn't have much luck professionally however and he struggled for a couple of years, first losing his job at the Cable Makers, and then doing various forms of manual labour, before becoming a flower hawker.

## References

* Bennett, John. *Krayology* (2015). Mango Books.