FORUM

Hi
I'm looking for information on Arthur Burrows.

My partner has discovered she's related to Arthur Burrows. It's rather complicated, because Arthur Burrows had many children and apparently he hadn't married all of their mothers.
She has read the Braithwaite book and discovered other information about Burrows, but hasn't obtained a photograph or heard any first hand stories about him.

Can anyone here help us?

Some societies frown on the idea of marrying all your children's mothers.

Hello Jonno,

Although I did not know personally anyone associated with Burrows, my first ever post on this forum was answered by a user “Burrowautomatics” 13 years ago, a fountain of knowledge and seemed to helpfully help others with information and parts, that was Michael Jordan who sadly passed away not long after that. He ran the amusements down in Margate back in the day and I understand was the grandson of the family still in the business.

A few years back another member posted about a Burrows Automatics sign from the 1920’s/30’s which sold at the Elephant House, lovely item. If you search this site you will see references to Burrows, including flyers from their London and Brighton days. I am sure others will add who have been around this hobby longer than me.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2678&p=43480&hilit=Burrows#p43480

Thanks for the reply. I'll have a look around for the posters you mentioned. I've already discovered a bill sent to Burrows.

We've heard about Mr Jordan, I believe it will be too late to find very much about Arthur Burrows after all this time. 'er indoors found this article about him from the 1920s.

Nic Costa wrote a piece titled 'Sir Arthur - one of the first shop showmen', for the World's Fair - Coin Slot which was republished in More Automatic Pleasures the Coin Slot Revolution, p99.

Many thanks. The book has been added to the 'vast' list. This family history lark is looking expensive!

I just saw this in another post and wondered if the address might be of interest in your searches

Nic Costa article on Arthur Burrows from 1981 Coin Slot/The World's Fair.

Wasn't a looker was he?..... Must have had a sparkling personality.

moonriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:57 am Wasn't a looker was he?..... Must have had a sparkling personality.

Must have had a sparkling personality.

Well the article refers to him as "flamboyant" and having a "love of alcoholic beverages " but only one of these shows up in his photo

I believe we've discovered how/why he became Sir Arthur Burrows.

There's a large statue in Brighton of Sir John Cordy Burrows. He was a 3 times mayor of Brighton who had died in 1876. I'm certain Arthur would have been well aware of Sir John. He wouldn't have got away with claiming to be a relation in Brighton, but when he travelled to America, which he did regularly, I believe he claimed to be a relative who'd inherited the title or he alluded to being a Knight. The Americans would have lapped it up and with no way of knowing otherwise he was laughing. Arthur Burrows was affluent enough to get away with it too.

coppinpr wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:11 am I just saw this in another post and wondered if the address might be of interest in your searches.

Thanks for this.

gameswat wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:53 am Nic Costa article on Arthur Burrows from 1981 Coin Slot/The World's Fair.

Thank you very much. First time we've seen a photograph of Sir Arthur. I'm pleased to say, 'er 'indoors doesn't look in the slightest like him, but her father...

moonriver wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:57 am Wasn't a looker was he?..... Must have had a sparkling personality.

At the last count, it appears he fathered around 10 children. If I had that many kids, I'd have looked like that too.

Arcades & Slot Machines, as ever, has informative paragraphs on "Sir Arthur" or "Ginger" (as he was also known) and Burrows Automatic Supply Co. Ltd. We learn that he was originally a cobbler who ran amusement and picture machines from a shop at Villiers Street, and had railway vending concessions before setting up the Sports Arcade in Brighton. The 1927 legal action against him (in that newspaper cutting) was dropped as he kept them guessing by shifting his machines to Plymouth, Manchester and Leeds. Although he was constantly pursued by the authorities in Brighton, he wasn't above dobbing in his rival operators on the pier.

coppinpr wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:11 am I just saw this in another post and wondered if the address might be of interest in your searches.

I'm guessing Belgrave Road was a convenient seafront home address at one time. Over time he operated from over half a dozen addresses, including
New South Coast Showrooms, Grosvenor Rooms, 75, West Street, Brighton, showrooms at 64, Middle Street, Brighton and most notably Bartlett's Passage and 71-81 Fetter Lane in London (still a fine bit of Victoriana, currently a Japanese restaurant).


The old trade paper Billboard is good for snippets of coin-op history (see last paragraph of the long piece).

It's a good few years back now, but I'm fairly confident that Belgrave Road address was the location I met Michael Jordan at? I was buying some spares off him and he shared with me huge volumes of original advertising of numerous machines. He told me then he was very ill and although I bought spares off him for a good while later, due to distance, he just posted them onto me and we never met again in person.

Thanks again for the replies.

If that was Burrow's shop in Fetter Lane, it was really upmarket. I say if, because that part of London has altered so much, there's always the possibility the numbering has changed. Apparently some of the numbering in West Street, Brighton was changed in 1938.

I believe Michael Jordan's mother was Arthur Burrows' daughter, Lydia. There's the usual mystery around the relationship as Michael's father can't be found. They may have married abroad.

I'd like to know how the owner of a slot machine business managed to travel to and from America in 1944.

Burrows didn't always win in court. In 1927 he pleaded guilty to three charges of contravening the Betting Act (diddler machines again) was bound over and ordered to pay costs of the prosecution, not exceeding £50.

Sadly, he was back in court in 1933, following his wife's suicide. "...automatic machine salesman, Arthur Alfred Burrows, of Middle Street, Brighton, speaking under great emotion, attributed his wife's death at a Brighton inquest on Monday to the fact that he had been hounded out of the town..." She appears to have swallowed a bottle of bleach.

In 1940 he made the news again. Arthur was a passenger in a car that had an accident. He was claiming £2,100 from the driver. That was a huge amount at the time, enough to buy a couple of houses. The driver was his own son. "...the father is Mr. Arthur Alfred Burrows, sixty, of Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London, W.C., managing director of an automatic machine company, and the son, Mr. Robert James Burrows, of William-street, Herne Bay..."

Ridgemount Gardens is an upmarket block of flats, that sell for around £1m in today's market. Arthur was doing very well for himself.

The above are partial newspaper clippings. I've not got the rest of the stories.

jonno wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:50 pmI'd like to know how the owner of a slot machine business managed to travel to and from America in 1944.

He(and his son) simply booked a passage and got on one of the many liners crossing the Atlantic! There were hundreds of liners operating around the world in 1944. Only 33 were commandeered by the navy for continuous use during the war (many others were rented by the Army as needed to ship troops).
Crossing the Atlantic during the war had its risks of course but the odds were very much in favor of a safe crossing. Only 177 liners were lost worldwide during WW2, 65% of these were from Axis power countries (Japan lost all but 1 of the passenger fleet).
Of the 22 liners lost in 1944 seventeen were Italian, German, or Japanese another 2 were destroyed by bombing while empty in port. None suffered a large number of casualties Only three suffered a major loss of life the following year (1945) (all axis) of the rest the average loss of life was less than 10 lives.
So not without risks but pretty safe

I never thought it would be 'business as usual' in 1944. Burrows must have been planning ahead, to when the lights went on again.

I've found a photograph of Arthur Burrows and 2 of his daughters.

https://mp.arcade-museum.com/Marketplac ... 30-015.pdf

The Arcade Museum has a collection of "Coin Slot Magazine" from 1974 - 1983, in fully searchable pdf scans. There are several articles about Arthur Burrows and adverts for his machines. There's plenty of other articles that I expect will interest users of this site.

https://coinslot.arcade-museum.com/

Cute daughters, although the one on the right is wearing shoes only a Grandmother could love.

J Peterson
Stepping out in America