Uncovering the Past

Ever since the Eccentric Club has been revived in 2007, we have been appealing to the members of the public to give us a helping hand in collecting whatever little is still left of the euphemera and memorable objects related to the old club, to its everyday life and history.

A great deal of what was inside the club at the time of its liquidation went to an auction house, some private treasured objects of a number of members went missing and were never recovered. We are in possession of a list of paintings, books, sculptural pieces and various gifts presented to the club over the decades which it is our hope to eventually trace back and re-acquire.

But we are equally happy to receive old photographs, The Eccentric Club magazines, medals, trophies, souvenir publications and anything else, however large or small, from those of you who may care about the good deed we are doing by putting together this mosaic of history of the undeservedly forgotten organisation which helped so many charitable causes...

One of the first such donations we have recently received came from Mr Frank Bull of Hesle in North Humberside - it is "The Eccentric Club Minesweepers' Dependants Fund Souvenir Brochure" published assumingly in 1943 to boost the moral and to raise the funds for the victory. [Members of the Eccentric Club may download it here scanned to a PDF format]

Mr Bull has also sent us a 1943 magazine "His Majesty's Minesweepers" which came into his possession with the brochure. Mr Bull, who had also served in the Royal Navy in the 1940s, found both publications amongst various papers of his Mother-in-Law's estate and believes that they belonged to his Brother-in-Law who was in the Fleet Air Arm.

The brochure is very interesting in a number of ways. Its preface is written by W.J.B. (Walter J. W. Beard, one of the oldest members of the Club Committee then), telling the story of the Fund and the background of the fundraising campaign for which it was published:

"The Eccentric Club has always been famed for its help to Charity — and nothing it has done has appealed quite so much to popular imagination as its efforts for Minesweepers' Dependents. The Eccentric Club Minesweepers Dependents Fund was actually founded during the last war by two members, both Admirals, Cuthbert Caley, and Douglas Brownrigg, and "Jerry Cripps" was then, and still is, Hon. Secretary.

The fund soon got to work again in this war, and at its inaugural meeting, with Tommy Miles as Chairman, Bill Bennett as Vice-Chairman. Neil Christy and Bill Gavin (the oldest member of the Club) supporting with generous subscriptions, a target of £50,000 was aimed at. That the sum of nearly £30,000 has already, been collected says much for the hard work put in by the officials of the Club, of which the Earl of Lonsdale is President. No less a sum than £20,000 has already been handed over to Trustees, who are all persons with local knowledge the producing side of the fishing industry at such ports as Fleetwood, Grimsby, Hull, Aberdeen, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, under a declaration of trust dated March 20th, 1943. This provides at certain Ports the Widow and dependent Parents are paid a quarterly sum mentioned in the Deed. There is no "Officialdom" in the distribution of the money, and it is good to know that local ports also raise money to help the fund—no part of the community realises its value quite so much as those on the "spot."'

The Eccentric Club is proving by all this that, in the Home of Bohemianism the thought is as always, for the "other fellow," and behind the gay, carefree demeanour of its members there is not only that thought, but something very practical to back it up—all done with that sincerity of purpose which makes it worth double. Nothing has served to show more completely and powerfully the fine spirit and benevolence of the "Eccentrics" than the creation and maintenance of the Minesweepers Dependents' Fund."

Most of the other texts in the brochure are signed by a mysterious "T.O'F" - but an autograph on the front cover reveals the author's identity: "All good wishes, Talbot O'Farrell".

You will not find his name in Wikipedia or even the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, though less than a century ago the man was a star of the stage, the music hall and even the silver screen!

Often believed to be an Irish-born singer, Talbot was actually born in Yorkshire in 1880 and initially pursued a career of a policeman in Hull. In 1902 he made his first appearance in London on the stage of The Metropolitan Theatre in Edgware Road, and very soon he was earning there a salary of £4 a week. He was loved for his sentimental and humourous performances, acted in no less than six movies between 1932-1942, had two daughters and a son with Minnie O'Farrell, a daughter and heiress of an influential West Riding industrial family and an active member of the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings (three times she was a "Queen"), a sister organisation of the Grand Order of Water Rats which shared its premises with the Eccentric Club. Talbot, known for his old-fashioned eccentric attire and a top hat, was also a "water rat", and, as such, frequently participated in the Eccentric Club projects, including the Minesweepers' Dependents Fund... Talbot died some years after Minnie, in London on the 2nd of September 1952. Today he is only known to those interested in the music hall acts of the early 20th century.

You can listen to him singing here, or watch him singing and performing here.

The Eccentric Club thanks Mr Bull for such an interesting donation and for helping us to preserve this part of British history, the history of the Eccentric Club.