Background
Perry was born in Park Lane, Tipton (then in Staffordshire, now West Midlands) of canal narrowboat parents Timothy and Sarah Perry, the third of five children, and baptized at Street Martin"s, Tipton on 1 August 1819.
Perry was born in Park Lane, Tipton (then in Staffordshire, now West Midlands) of canal narrowboat parents Timothy and Sarah Perry, the third of five children, and baptized at Street Martin"s, Tipton on 1 August 1819.
He ran a beer house in Spon Lane. He died at home in Bilston of alcoholism and pulmonary congestion on 24 December 1880 and was buried at Street John"s Church, Dudley. A bronze statue by Bill Haynes stands in the Coronation Gardens, Tipton, yards away from the Fountain Inn public house, which was once his headquarters.
The statue was unveiled on 3 May 1993.
His remains were removed from Street John"s Churchyard and placed in the footings for the statue. The Fountain Inn received Grade II listed building status in 1984 on recognition of its association with Perry, who regularly fought fellow boatmen on the many local canals in order to be first through the lockgates.
