Historian and Coventry Society member Malvern Carvell tells us about the life and times of Alfred Harris the well-known Coventry businessman and quiet philanthropists. Malvern writes…..
With the unveiling of the relocated Coventry Cross, I thought it might be a good time to tell the little known story of Alfred Harris (1888-1976) of The Coventry Boy Foundation who funded and fought to get the cross erected in the 1970s. It’s quite a long read but I hope you enjoy it?
Alfred Harris was born in 1888 in the Holbrooks area, the son of Albert Fred Harris, an engine driver (this is most likely a stationary engine as he is later described as a stamper in an ironworks) from Foleshill and Clara Ann née Shaw from Keresley. Alfred attended school in Keresley and became firmly attached to the village, particularly when he discovered that his mother’s ancestors had previously lived at Penny Park House. He started work as a turner in a motor works and married Mary Jane Griffiths in 1907. Alfred’s fortunes started to change when he set up The Park Garage Company Limited in 1919. The company operated a fleet of coaches and the initial marketing targeted clubs and organisations to take coach trips for outings and events. The Garage was based in Holbrooks Lane close to Foleshill Railway Station. The business expanded rapidly and Alfred was able to purchase his “ancestral” home, Penny Park soon after – he was living there in 1921.
He had three children Beulah Mary (1908-1979), Alfred Herbert (1912-1983) and Thomas Frederick (1914-1970). In 1928 he and William Oubridge of the British Piston Ring Company set up a company, Whitmore Park Estates Limited, to buy the now disused National Filling Factory in Holbrooks Lane. The Factory had been built by White and Poppe in 1915 and was one of a number of factories set up to fill shells for use in the war. The Coventry Factory was initially numbered 10, but after a series of explosions, the factory was renumbered to 21. After the war the factory was taken over by British Piston Ring. From 1928 a new factory was built and the surrounding land was developed to build the Whitmore Park Estate. He also set up Parkville Estates Limited to develop the land round Penny Park and made a considerable fortune through house building.
In August 1929 an event occurred which seriously changed Alfred Harris’s outlook on life. At around 11:15pm on Tuesday 13th August, his eldest son, Alfred, who was aged 18 at the time, was involved in a head-on motorcycle collision on Holbrooks Lane opposite the Courtaulds works close to the level crossing. The rider of the other vehicle, a motorcycle combination, Leslie Milliner, age 21, of 36 Highland Road sustained severe head injuries and died soon after. Alfred suffered injuries to his thigh, scalp and multiple cuts and abrasions and spent several weeks in hospital. The inquest was initially adjourned for 8 weeks and when it was eventually heard on 30th September, Alfred was still in hospital and unable to appear. A doctor spoke on his behalf and stated that he had been brought into the hospital unconscious and had no recollection of the accident. Other witnesses could not identify whether anyone was at fault and both vehicles had been travelling at moderate speeds and a verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.
Leslie’s funeral took place on 19th August 1929 and among those thanked were Connops Printers’ where Leslie worked and Mr and Mrs Alfred Harris. However, it seems that Alfred Harris also helped the family financially. The grant of probate was made on 4th March 1931 to his father William Milliner. His estate was valued at £505 5s (around £40,000 in today’s money). Also, very unusually a further grant of probate was made on 1st July 1943, benefiting Leslie’s brother Harold and sister Liliian, for a further £500. Leslie’s mother had died on 6th April 1942 and his father William died in early 1943. It would appear that Alfred had looked after the whole family at least financially.
Through the 1930s and 1940s Alfred worked extremely closely with Coventry and Warwickshire Youth Social Services and was involved in several projects to enhance youth services in Keresley and Coventry. His main project was to build a community centre in Keresley and together with several others, particularly Mr. P Handley, Chairman of Warwickshire Community Council Youth Services and Mr W. N. L. Richardson, secretary of the Warwickshire Community Council, he formed a Friendly Society called “Men of the Barn”. He also worked with various business organisations and Coventry Rotary Club to try to promote an alternative route to apprenticeships in the city via the College of Design.
In 1938 he stepped up his attempts to raise funds for the new community centre. His home of Penny Park had extensive grounds and contained an old medieval barn (the barn is still there today). He started using the barn to host meetings and as a small community centre (it could only hold about 40 people but he was able to hold fetes in the garden, which featured brass bands playing in a bandstand which he built as well as other musical artists). In September 1938 the guest was the famous comedian Ronald Frankau who was appearing at the Hippodrome that week (Frankau was the grandfather of Nicholas Frankau who played Flt. Lieut. Carstairs in ‘Allo ‘Allo).
In December 1938 the barn was visited by the Duke of Kent as part of a trip to Coventry. He also created the story of the famous ghost of the Old Barn, apparently passed down to him via his grandmother, whose family had lived there many years before. There was also a ghost of a dog. The fetes were also supported by the Mayor, Alderman Stringer and the local M.P., Capt. Strickland.
The war put a temporary end to fund raising but after the war he renewed his appeals and often found himself at loggerheads with the Rural District Council and City Council, who seemed to have been very much against a community centre. In July 1948 he stood as a councillor for Keresley District but was narrowly defeated, but continued to fight for a hall. It was not until 1969 that he finally gave in and handed the £2,582 that had been collected since 1937 over to the Official Custodian for Charites and closed the fund, blaming general apathy on the part of many parties.
As many of his fellow members of the “Men of the Barn” had died or moved on Alfred found himself alone and on 29th July 1964, he lost his wife of 57 years who died at Gulson Rd Hospital. In January 1965 he anonymously set up a new charity “The Coventry Boy Foundation”. The charity was administered by his solicitor Mr E. H. Footit of Browett’s. Even before founding the Coventry Boy he was involved in making a sizeable donation to Coventry Cathedral for the “Christ in Glory” tapestry by Graham Sutherland. The dinner for those involved in the building of the cathedral held on 31st May 1963 to commemorate the completion was attended by Mr Footit.
The first donation from the foundation was a small silver Coventry Boy presented to the Mayor Alderman Harry Weston in 1965. This was followed by a larger statue presented in 1968 and the “Fisherman and the Nymph” statue which is in the lake at Coombe Abbey. He also funded the fountain in Shelton Square (since gone) and extensive tree planting around the city and in 1973 he donated £25,000 to the National Trust towards the restoration of the South Stratford Canal. He also contributed to many churches around the district.
In his retirement he took up travelling, visiting places all over the world including Communist China. In 1974 he met Kitty Faye-Pedersen, a widow originally from Norway but living in the US, whilst on a world cruise. The two were married in Oslo by the Bishop of Norway. Some of her ancestors had been Burgomasters of towns in Norway and upon their return he was able to get an invitation for her to be introduced to the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Dennis Berry.
His final act was to fund the reinstatement of the Coventry Cross, which began in 1971 (although this had originally been mooted by John Bailey Shelton in the 1930s). He died on 27th March 1976 at Penny Park leaving an estate of £224,857 (around £2m today). The Coventry Cross was unveiled on 23rd April 1976. The ceremony was attended by his widow, Kitty; Alfred never got to see the finished cross. His identity as the Coventry Boy was revealed immediately after his death; in total he had donated over £100,000 to the city and surrounding area over the years. The charity continued until 1997 when it was formally wound up.
This article was published on 13th July 2023 on the Visit Historic Coventry Facebook page by Malvern Carvell. It is republished here with the kind permission of the author.
There is more about Alfred Harris on the CovSoc website here.