Memorabilia recalls Tom's time at the top

He grew tomatoes, kept pigeons and entered flower shows, and he also played football for England.

Now Tom Grosvenor's football memorabilia has been handed in to Rex Johnson Jewellers in Dudley where staff have had it framed and will keep it in the shop.

Among the items are three England caps, an England shirt and gold medals from when he played for his country. Cartoons from newspapers of the day talk about Tom, whose name was Arthur Thomas Grosvenor, and his wonderful football skills.

One says: "His control of the high ball with his foot had to be seen to be believed." Another says: "Whenever the forwards turned on the heat, Tom controlled the air."

David Walters, who is a valuer for Rex Johnson Jewellers on Birdcage Walk, says they were stunned when the memorabilia was brought in.

"It is not the kind of thing you see every day," says David, 47. "It is great to see these items because they tell you a lot about football in the 1930s. In those days footballers were expected to sew their numbers onto their England shirts and they didn't have as much money as they do today.

"Each time they played for England, the footballers were offered a gold medal or the equivalent in cash — more often than not they took the cash." However, twice Tom decided to have a medal to mark his time playing for England and both are dated from 1933. A newspaper article, entitled 'At home with Tom Grosvenor' shows pictures of the player with his prize winning bull terrier Pete, playing crib with his mum and giving his dad a hand growing tomatoes.

As well as playing football it seems that Tom enjoyed swimming and looking after the pigeons he had at his Netherton home. Tom was born on November 22, 1908 and died aged just 63 in 1972 after working at Controlled Heat and Air Ltd in Smethwick.

Born in Netherton, Grosvenor started his football career at Vono Works in Cradley Heath, where he worked, and then he was with Stourbridge before moving to Birmingham City in 1928, after unsuccessful trials with West Bromwich, where his brother Percy played, and Wolves.

His early career was disrupted by injury, which included cartilage problems in 1929, a dislocated elbow in 1931 and a broken leg in 1934. In all he made 115 first team app-earances for Birmingham and played three times for England in 1933, scoring twice.

Peter Lewis, programme editor at Birmingham City FC says: "He was basically a creator of chances for others and scored only 27 goals in his career.

"Joe Bradford, in particular, profited from his creative skills in the mid-1930s and Grosvenor's form around this period was recognised by England and the Football League."