The Family Home
Edmund Crane was born on 21st November 1886 and was the firstborn of eight children. Edmund was one of two brothers and three sisters that survived; Daisy died at age ten and two other children were stillborn.
Raised by their middle class parents in a variety of modest Birmingham houses. Edmund and his brother both left school at 14 to help their parents with their various struggling cycle business endeavours.
The family had an uncertain and insecure life. They moved house six times in fourteen years and the family business, The Petros Cycle Company, which assembled bicycles, struggled for survival.
Insolvent and Bankrupt
In 1899, Petros was declared insolvent and Jack, Edmund's father, was declared bankrupt. Subsequently, with his mother Edith as acting proprietor, the family made a living by assembling and selling cycles until she too was bankrupted in 1910.
Young Edmund
At the age of four, young Edmund showed early signs of his determination and ambition. Having just been punished for some childish misdemeanour, his fists clenched and shaking with anger, he vowed to his parents that one day he would be Mayor of Birmingham.
As a young boy, Edmund had a disarming smile but could sometimes be rather abrupt. He particularly disliked being interrupted if his attention was otherwise engaged. He was sitting at a railway station one day reading a book and waiting for the train to arrive. After a while the station master, seeing the lone figure on the platform, approached him and pointed out that his train had come and gone. Edmund looked up, gave him a cool stare and remarked that he still had a chapter to finish!
Determined
He could also be very determined. When his parents decided to take a short holiday, he pleaded to be allowed to go with them but was told he must stay at home. His father piled the bags on the Brougham and, with his wife, set off for New Street railway station in Birmingham. When they arrived they found Edmund perched on the top of their luggage!
Edmund and his brother Harry shared a tandem bicycle. They were out on it one day when they came to a steep hill. Harry said the only thing to do was to get off and push. Edmund disagreed, so Harry, who was seated behind, decided not to pedal in order to force his brother to give up halfway, but despite the extra load, Edmund managed to get them both to the top.
Edmund and Harry went to Handsworth Grammar School where Edmund developed an interest in football. This was an interest he never lost.
Handsworth Grammar School celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2012 but has since closed.
Goodbye School
In 1900 Edmund left school at the age of 14 to start work in his father’s business, assembling and selling bicycles. It was the turn of the century and the bicycle business had become very competitive with myriads of bicycle manufacturers and not enough customers. The advent of motor vehicles only added to the problem and Edmund’s parents’ struggled with The Petros Cycle Company. This had a profound effect on the twenty year old Edmund in 1906 who now felt he had to fend for his parents and younger sisters.
But it wasn’t until 1910 that Edmund, together with his brother Harry, formed Hercules Cycles. The brothers had watched the mistakes made by their parents with Petros Cycles and vowed that their company would not go the same way. Hercules was to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world.
Nicknames
Crane male family members and their 'nicknames'
Edmund's father - Edward John Crane - Jack
Edmund - Edmund Frank Crane - Ted
Edmund's younger brother - Henry Arthur Crane - Harry
Edmund gets Married
Edmund married Naomi Tamkin on the 22nd May 1911 at the age of 25. At the time of their engagement Naomi had just completed her training at the Birmingham branch of the Trinity college of Music. Prone to deep bouts of depression, she was an artistic and sensitive girl who enjoyed the company of those with similar interests. Edmund wanted her to support him and run their home. It was a most unlikely pairing.
Nevertheless Edmund and Naomi set up married life in a modest two-up, two down semi in Russell Road, Hall Green. Russell Road ran parallel to the main Stratford Road where the trams rumbled past on their way into Birmingham.
Daughter Joan
In 1918 Naomi gave birth to the couple's only child, Joan. It may well have alientated Naomi from Edmund that was clear to those around him, including his family, that he had hoped fro a son. Joan identified with and adored her mother and when her parents divorced after Edmund became aware of Naomi's infidelity Joan and her father were at odds with each other.
Joan was dependant upon her father's goodwill and generosity having married Cedric Johnson much against her father's wishes. She was determined to find a way back into her father's favour.
So she produced three sons, Brett, Peter and David which had the effect of reducing the hostility between father and daughter and enabled her to live comfortably in a large house in Lapworth with four servants. Edmund held the same suspicion about his own daughter's mental stability as he had concerns about Naomi. Both Naomi and Joan suffered from chronic anxiety and depression which would have been identified as bipolar today.
While her children enabled her to be back in favour with her father she was effectively disinherited from his will and her children were left the majority of the after Jersey's legal requirements had been met. He never trusted her again even though Joan never introduced her own three boys to Naomi, their grand-mother. Having no sons of his own, Edmund doted on his grandsons and made it clear to his daughter that he wanted them to continue the empire that he had created.
Joan never forgave her father for having 'treated her mother so badly'.
Edmund Crane was born on 21st November 1886 and was the firstborn of eight children. Edmund was one of two brothers and three sisters that survived; Daisy died at age ten and two other children were stillborn.
Raised by their middle class parents in a variety of modest Birmingham houses. Edmund and his brother both left school at 14 to help their parents with their various struggling cycle business endeavours.
The family had an uncertain and insecure life. They moved house six times in fourteen years and the family business, The Petros Cycle Company, which assembled bicycles, struggled for survival.
Insolvent and Bankrupt
In 1899, Petros was declared insolvent and Jack, Edmund's father, was declared bankrupt. Subsequently, with his mother Edith as acting proprietor, the family made a living by assembling and selling cycles until she too was bankrupted in 1910.
Young Edmund
At the age of four, young Edmund showed early signs of his determination and ambition. Having just been punished for some childish misdemeanour, his fists clenched and shaking with anger, he vowed to his parents that one day he would be Mayor of Birmingham.
As a young boy, Edmund had a disarming smile but could sometimes be rather abrupt. He particularly disliked being interrupted if his attention was otherwise engaged. He was sitting at a railway station one day reading a book and waiting for the train to arrive. After a while the station master, seeing the lone figure on the platform, approached him and pointed out that his train had come and gone. Edmund looked up, gave him a cool stare and remarked that he still had a chapter to finish!
Determined
He could also be very determined. When his parents decided to take a short holiday, he pleaded to be allowed to go with them but was told he must stay at home. His father piled the bags on the Brougham and, with his wife, set off for New Street railway station in Birmingham. When they arrived they found Edmund perched on the top of their luggage!
Edmund and his brother Harry shared a tandem bicycle. They were out on it one day when they came to a steep hill. Harry said the only thing to do was to get off and push. Edmund disagreed, so Harry, who was seated behind, decided not to pedal in order to force his brother to give up halfway, but despite the extra load, Edmund managed to get them both to the top.
Edmund and Harry went to Handsworth Grammar School where Edmund developed an interest in football. This was an interest he never lost.
Handsworth Grammar School celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2012 but has since closed.
Goodbye School
In 1900 Edmund left school at the age of 14 to start work in his father’s business, assembling and selling bicycles. It was the turn of the century and the bicycle business had become very competitive with myriads of bicycle manufacturers and not enough customers. The advent of motor vehicles only added to the problem and Edmund’s parents’ struggled with The Petros Cycle Company. This had a profound effect on the twenty year old Edmund in 1906 who now felt he had to fend for his parents and younger sisters.
But it wasn’t until 1910 that Edmund, together with his brother Harry, formed Hercules Cycles. The brothers had watched the mistakes made by their parents with Petros Cycles and vowed that their company would not go the same way. Hercules was to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world.
Nicknames
Crane male family members and their 'nicknames'
Edmund's father - Edward John Crane - Jack
Edmund - Edmund Frank Crane - Ted
Edmund's younger brother - Henry Arthur Crane - Harry
Edmund gets Married
Edmund married Naomi Tamkin on the 22nd May 1911 at the age of 25. At the time of their engagement Naomi had just completed her training at the Birmingham branch of the Trinity college of Music. Prone to deep bouts of depression, she was an artistic and sensitive girl who enjoyed the company of those with similar interests. Edmund wanted her to support him and run their home. It was a most unlikely pairing.
Nevertheless Edmund and Naomi set up married life in a modest two-up, two down semi in Russell Road, Hall Green. Russell Road ran parallel to the main Stratford Road where the trams rumbled past on their way into Birmingham.
Daughter Joan
In 1918 Naomi gave birth to the couple's only child, Joan. It may well have alientated Naomi from Edmund that was clear to those around him, including his family, that he had hoped fro a son. Joan identified with and adored her mother and when her parents divorced after Edmund became aware of Naomi's infidelity Joan and her father were at odds with each other.
Joan was dependant upon her father's goodwill and generosity having married Cedric Johnson much against her father's wishes. She was determined to find a way back into her father's favour.
So she produced three sons, Brett, Peter and David which had the effect of reducing the hostility between father and daughter and enabled her to live comfortably in a large house in Lapworth with four servants. Edmund held the same suspicion about his own daughter's mental stability as he had concerns about Naomi. Both Naomi and Joan suffered from chronic anxiety and depression which would have been identified as bipolar today.
While her children enabled her to be back in favour with her father she was effectively disinherited from his will and her children were left the majority of the after Jersey's legal requirements had been met. He never trusted her again even though Joan never introduced her own three boys to Naomi, their grand-mother. Having no sons of his own, Edmund doted on his grandsons and made it clear to his daughter that he wanted them to continue the empire that he had created.
Joan never forgave her father for having 'treated her mother so badly'.
Jack and Edith Crane 1868
Sir Edmund Frank Crane
(1886–1957)
"The Bicycle King"
(1886–1957)
"The Bicycle King"
This site seeks to identify the characteristics that made Edmund Crane a very successful businessman
Naomi Crane
Edmund Crane at 21
Bill and Naomi in Ballingham 1938
Kitty and Edmund 1938