Beecrofts in Blantyre.....

Martin63 · Post by **Martin63** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 11:19 am

My great grandfather, John Beecroft, was born in Kilsyth in 1865. He was the son of James Beecroft who was born in Hawick in c. 1844 and Sarah McNeil who were married in Glasgow in 1863. John Beecroft married Margaret Kilpatrick in July 1887 in Blantyre. By 1901 they had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.

John Beecroft's family moved to Lesmahagow in the 1900s and later Bo'ness, probably just before WW1. They were a mining family and there are still some family members in Bo'ness.

John, the eldest, had several brothers and sisters according to the 1881 census - Elizabeth born c.1868, Cecilia born c.1872, Isaiah born c.1874, Mary born c.1875 and James born c.1878. I'd like to try to obtain more information on them and ideally get in contact with their descendants.

Anyone with information on the Beecrofts who stayed in Blantyre and the family in general please do get in touch.

Martin

Duplicate post deleted - TD

Post by **Liz Turner** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:54 pm

Martin

Sorry you've not had a reply, but it's worth "refreshing" your post from time to time as new members join up all the time.

Cheers!

Liz

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:52 pm

Hi Martin

I did a free search on scotlandspeople and there weren't too many Beecrofts around in Scotland between 1840 & 1890.
Census 1841 0
Census 1851 0
Census 1861 0
Census 1871 10
Census 1881 24
Old Parish Records Births & Christenings 1840 - 1854 0
Old Parish Records Banns & Marriages 1840 - 1854 0
Statutory Register Births 1855 - 1890 23
Statutory Register Marriages / Banns 1855 - 1890 7
Statutory Register Deaths 1855 - 1890 16
Not many marrriages but quite a few children. It looks as though they only came to Scotland between 1860 & 1871.

I would take out an overdraft and download all the records since they are probably all related anyway.

Russell

Martin63 · Post by **Martin63** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:59 pm

Thanks Russell. There are Beecrofts (spelt Becroft) in the 1851 census. You're right in saying there are very few in Scotland. I did go through the records in Edinburgh last year at New Register House and if there's a Beecroft in Scotland then effectively it's one of my lot!

If anyone knows of the Beecrofts in Blantyre and their descendents I'm very keen to hear more.

Best wishes

Martin

mac · Post by **mac** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:14 pm

Martin

There is a photo of Jimmy Beecroft on page 133 of 'A Blast From The Past' (see www.blantyrepast.com) He is person on right of group wearing a 'soft hat'

Jimmy was a member of the Blantyre council for many, many years and was a great activist on behalf of the local mining community.

As far as I know, there are still some of his descendants living in the Burnbank, Hamilton area (which is a couple of miles from Blantyre). One of these is called <edited as person is living>, which would appear to fit in with the family names given by you.

You could possibly locate him via B.T. Directory Inquiries.

regards

mac

<please note: see http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6601 for reason for edit. LesleyB>

Martin63 · Post by **Martin63** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:03 pm

Thanks Mac. That's a great book by Andrew Paterson. I'm intrigued to find out how you know it's Jimmy Beecroft in the photo as there's no mention of names on the caption. Page 74 of the same book has a photo of the miners houses at Merry's Rows where the Beecrofts lived in the 1890s.

I Beecroft came up on the BT website - another good tip!

With very best wishes

Martin

mac · Post by **mac** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:10 pm

Martin,

Almost everyone who lived in Blantyre in those days (including me) knew Jimmy Beecroft due to his Parish Council work and because he was a great 'champion' of the local people.

I also know AP well.

Hope you are successful in making contact with I Beecroft.

kind regards

mac

Martin63 · Post by **Martin63** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:44 am

Thanks Mac. If you'd let me buy you a drink next time I'm up in Scotland I'd love to meet you to hear more about Jimmy Beecroft. My uncle in Bo'ness would be fascinated too I know. His mother (my grandmother) was Margaret Beecroft before she was married. She had a brother, John Beecroft, who was a goalkeeper with Blantyre Vics. We have a photo of him in his goalkeeper's jersey somewhere.

Would Jimmy Beecroft have died in 1965 around the age of 88?

Best wishes

Martin

JoyceL · Post by **JoyceL** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:50 pm

There is a J Beecroft listed in this article as one of the explorers at the Udston Colliery disaster in 1887 - maybe your great grandfather?

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com ... ticle.html

Regards
Joyce

Martin63 · Post by **Martin63** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:17 am

Thanks Joyce. Yes, that's almost certainly John Beecroft who worked at Auchinraith.

Best wishes

Martin