Bertie Mee , Arsenal manager and the Mee family of Bulwell


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 On a couple of Nottingham related Facebook sites there has been mention of Bertie Mee , the former Arsenal manager , who was born Bulwell in 1918 . It's not clear what road he was born on but two  years later in 1920 , the family were living at 63 Repton Road , Bulwell. 

 

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Prior to management he was a footballer playing for Derby County and Mansfield . After an injury he later trained as a physio before taking up the caretaker-managers job at Arsenal taking over from Billie Wright  .  More here on his wiki , ( though they call him "Bertram" but can't see any evidence that that was his name , every official reference calls him Bertie )  .

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertie_Mee

 

He took Colin Addison to Arsenal from Forest

 

He had a much older brother called George Mee , sometimes called Georgie Mee or "Little Georgie" born 1900 also in Bulwell . George was a much better footballer and played for a number of teams in the 1920s and had a record 200 consecutive appearances for Blackpool before moving on to Derby . 

 

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His wiki here  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgie_Mee

 

Whats not mentioned is that George was also an entertainer :

 

 GEORGE MEE AS VOCALIST George Mee, Derby County's popular left-winger, sang solos at a concert given by the band of the 5th Battalion. Sherwood Foresters to help the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, held at the Drill Hall, Derby, last night. 
05 May 1930 - Derby Daily Telegraph - Derby, 
 

 GEORGE MEE TAKES TO THE STAGE UNREHEARSED SONG AT SUNDERLAND THEATRE , HUGE SUCCESS . BIG AUDIENCE MYSTIFIED By "BASEBALL " GEORGIE MEE  The Derby County left winger, took to the stage at Sunderland when the Rams visited that town in quest of League points 

30 December 1929 - Derby Daily Telegraph .
 
Later he took on a hotel/pub in Blackpool , no doubt entertaining the clients .

 

Bertie and Georgie's parents were an Edwin Mee born 1875 Derbyshire . Mother was Gertrude Alice Wyld. They married in 1898 at Daybrook.

 

1911 they are living in Arnold with George born 1900 , plus sisters , Clarice Ivy , born 1901 and Beatrice Ivy , b1910.

 

1920 Electoral Register and Edwin and Gertrude are living at 63 Repton Road , Bulwell .

 

1929 father Edwin is a mental ward attendant at Bagthorpe and they are still at 63 Repton Road .

 

1939 at they are living at 12 Roderick Street .

 

1948 Edwin and Gertrude celebrate their Golden Wedding and living 110 Beckley Road ,  Broxtowe , according to the news article below that mentions son's , Georgie and Bertie .

 

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Another member of the family carried on the footballing tradition . George Mee , son of the above played for Forest

 

 Forest Sign George Mee. the young Nottingham Forest  inside forward, son of the other George Mee. of Derby County and Blackpool fame , has signed professional form for the Forest. He was one of the five colts who shone in the team which beat Walsall . In seven Notts Amateur League games he has scored 23 goals .

20 October 1941 - Nottingham Journal 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice piece David............often wondered if a girl i was at school with Coleena Mee,, was related,,, i went to Henry Whipple and Padstow schools on Bestwood estate which was classed as Bulwell back then.

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Somewhere on here I posted a photo of Nottingham Boys football team that my Dad played in, early 1930s.  Another boy in the team was Bertie Mee’s cousin, I recall he had really sticking-out ears :biggrin:

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1 hour ago, TBI said:

Bertie Mee is shown as Herbert on birth records. 

Stand to be corrected but you may have the wrong one .

Though Bertie was born 25th Dec 1918 his birth record appears in the 1st QTR of 1919 as Bertie .

His death in 2001 is also recorded as Bertie . 

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11 hours ago, DAVIDW said:

Stand to be corrected but you may have the wrong one .

Though Bertie was born 25th Dec 1918 his birth record appears in the 1st QTR of 1919 as Bertie .

His death in 2001 is also recorded as Bertie . 

Yes you're right, my mistake David. No Bertram recorded anywhere and somehow missed that. 

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13 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

Nice piece David............often wondered if a girl i was at school with Coleena Mee,, was related,,, i went to Henry Whipple and Padstow schools on Bestwood estate which was classed as Bulwell back then.

 

Not impossible Ben . Appears she was born 1945  , Colleena A Mee  .

Her father was probably an Ernest Mee .

George and Bertie Mee did have a brother called Ernest who signed at one point for Mansfield .

Unfortunately there are a few too many Ernest Mees in Notts to pinpoint which one was Colleena's father (without buying certificates !).

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54 minutes ago, DAVIDW said:

 

Not impossible Ben . Appears she was born 1945  , Colleena A Mee  .

 

Thanks David, Colleena in my class was born 1945,, we all were..................Nice quiet Girl,,think i saw her a couple of years ago on Heathfield estate

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My original piece contains a slight error . George Mee was actually born in Arnold in 1900 (not Bulwell) . He attended the Primitive Methodist Chapel Sunday School as a boy there and returned in 1931 to give a concert  . The family at one time lived on Front Street .

 

GEORGE MEE ENCORED AT SCHOOL CONCERT George Mee, the Derby County footballer, was one of the artists at concert given by the members of the Primitive Methodist Church Sunday School, Arnold, last night. He was born in Arnold, and attended the Sunday School as a boy .....

04 December 1931 - Derby Daily Telegraph -

 

I suspect he liked his entertaining more than his football , throughout the early 1930s he can be seen in Blackpool summer shows as a regular on the bill of the Rocklands Pavilion there .

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18 hours ago, DAVIDW said:

 1911 they are living in Arnold with George born 1900 , plus sisters , Clarice Ivy , born 1901 and Beatrice Ivy , b1910.

 

That was on High Street (but no number given).     Earlier, in 1901, they were living at 11 Front Street, Arnold.

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/10/2019 at 11:49 PM, LizzieM said:

Here’s the photo of Nottingham Boys side, Bertie Mee’s cousin, his name was also Mee (another Bulwell lad)  standing top right and my Dad bottom left.  

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  LizzieM.    My grandad Lesley mee was the cousin of George Wilfred mee (georgie mee) and Bertie mee    There father was Edwin Mee, his brother was isiaha Thomas mee who was my great grandad.  we thought we was the last of the line of mees  didn’t know about that side of the family  got a genealogist trying to find out more   Are you related to Bertie  

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Hi Jeffmee, no I’m not related to any of the Mee family, it’s just that my Dad told me many years ago that the boy on the photo was a cousin of Bertie Mee.  Hope you have success tracing your extended family, it’s quite an unusual name so good luck. 
That photo was Nottingham Boys team in 1935.  

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For what it's worth.. there was a whole family of Mee's living on Southglade Rd., Bestwood Est... when I was a lad.

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Again for what it's worth, there was a Mee family living in Hucknall in the 40s - 60s. I don't recall much about them but I think they had a shop.

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I knew two Mee family’s. One lived on Elstree Drive in the 1950s. The other one lived on Laurie Avenue Forest Fields in the 50s and 60s. I was friends with the son Brian. His elder sister Sylvia attended Forest Fields Grammar School.

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8 hours ago, DJ360 said:

For what it's worth.. there was a whole family of Mee's living on Southglade Rd., Bestwood Est... when I was a lad.

Yes Col, one in my class Coleena,,think now live on heathfield estate,,

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I worked with a John Mee at SPD, on Glaisdale drive. He came as a warehouseman for a number of years.

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I'm pretty sure I worked with a Brian Mee when I first started at Wilson Ford Rewinds at their Parkside Works in the early 70's. Not sure where he lived.

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My brother still has our 10 volume set of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia.  I used to love reading them.

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14 hours ago, Jeffmee said:

 My grandad Lesley mee was the cousin of George Wilfred mee (georgie mee) and Bertie mee    There father was Edwin Mee, his brother was isiaha Thomas mee who was my great grandad.  we thought we was the last of the line of mees  didn’t know about that side of the family  got a genealogist trying to find out more   Are you related to Bertie  

 

There are several people on Nottstalgia who are experts at digging up family history and connections. I'm sure you'll get more information here before long.

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