Footballers

By Kay McMeekin

Footballers move around a lot.

A lot of local players went to Preston North End in Lancashire, England which was founded in 1880.

John Graham  payed for Preston North End in about 1890 and his brother William Graham played for Preston North End and Newcastle United

 Thomas McCall Smith  Thomas Hamilton also went to Preston North End in the 1920s and 1930s.  They all returned to their roots in Ayrshire.

David Reid McCulley 1895-1962 a grocer in Cumnock played for Ayr United but his professional career was cut short by an ankle injury.

Davy Wells from New Cumnock played for Auchinleck Talbot then Ayr United in 1970 aged 17.

a young Bill Shankly

Bill Shankly born in Glenbuck in 1913 is still a household name!  A memorial in the old Glenbuck on the site of the Shankly house attracts Liverpool fans on pilgrimages from all over.

As a player: Cronberry Eglinton 1931-32,Carlisle United 1932-33,Preston North End 1933-49, Liverpool 1942 as guest and Scotland 1938-39 (5 caps)

As a manager: Carlisle United 1949-51, Grimsby Town 1951-54, Workington 1954-55, Huddersfield Town 1956-59, Liverpool 1 Dec 1959 - 12 Jul 1974

Bill died in Liverpool in 1981.

His brother James B Shankly played for Portsmouth,Sheffield United and Carlisle

John Shankly played for Glenbuck Cherrypickers, Greenock Morton, Carlisle United, Luton Town, Portsmouth, Alloa, Kings Park, Larne

David Thompson McCartney (26 December 1875 – 8 December 1949) was a Scottish professional footballer, best remembered for his time as a centre half in the Southern League with Northampton Town and Watford. He also played in the Football League for Glossop and Chelsea. When he retired, the family emigrated to Australia on the Samaris arriving November 1910. He went back to mining at Aberdare South Colliery.

Andrew Johnstone McCall born Cumnock 1908 played for Cumnock Townhead Thistle, Ayr United, St johnstone in 1935 and Huddersfield in 1939 and after. a few months to Nottingham Forrest. He rejoined Ayr United in 1940. He played for Clyde then Dundee He was manager of Dundee 1958-9.

Ayr United, Andy is front 2nd from right

Eric Caldow - professional footballer and Scotland internationalist, was born 14 May 1934 and raised in Skerrington, Cumnock and attended Cumnock Academy. Eric first played for the Cumnock Academy Football Team at right-back. His first Junior Football Team was Muirkirk but he was soon signed by Glasgow Rangers and played for them until 1964.

Eric was capped for Scotland 40 times from 1957 to 1963. His first cap was on 6th April 1957 against England at Wembley in front of a crowd of 97,520 where Scotland lost 2-1. He played for Scotland on the 6th April 1963 against England at Wembley - where he broke his leg. 

Eric received a civic reception in 1961 because of his fame as a Scottish internationalist. He managed Cumnock Juniors for a short time in 1978.

After leaving Rangers Caldow then played for one season with Stirling Albion before moving south to become player-manager of Corby Town in 1967. He returned to his native Ayrshire to become manager of Junior side Hurlford United in 1970 and three years later was appointed manager of Scottish League side Stranraer. Caldow left Stair Park in 1975 and his last involvement with football was as a scout for Queens Park Rangers.

Caldow was inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007. He died in 2019.

George Burley, born in Cumnock in 1956, had a distinguished career as a player and manager. He joined Ipswich Town in 1972. He made 18 appearances playing for Scotland and was the Scotland manager 2008-9. 

A relation of his Craig Burley born 1971 was also a successful footballer  playing for Chelsea, Celtic and Preston North End amongst others. He is now a sports pundit for an American TV channel EPSN.

The McCartney brothers David and John went to Australia.

Cornish tin, copper and lead miners

By Kay McMeekin

Miners from Cornwall

(Compare with Staffordshire miners)  https://langscotsmilecumnock.blogspot.com/2023/09/1870s-influx-of-miners.html

Cornish miners first came to Ayrshire around 1866 - 1867

 3rd Statistical account of Scotland: Ayrshire by John Strawhorn and William Boyd 1951 page 523

"In the 1860s there arrived in Galston a group of Cornish tin-miners as strikebreakers including Chynoweths, Burleys and Lukes, who still figure among the local families. Some of these were Methodists and held meetings which attracted some following. The original Methodist groups has not survived but a group which hived off from them formed themselves in 1871 into a company of Open Brethren whose present day successors number about 60."

I haven't found any other evidence of strike breaking. 

But I did find an article in the Glasgow Herald 12th November 1866 that  Baird of Gartsherrie  was recruiting miners from Cornwall to come to work in mines in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. There was a local shortage of miners and many had gone (to West Lothian) to be shale miners, whereas in Cornwall there were many out of work (tin and copper) miners. They were offered an engagement of 12 months and accommodation. But for every married couple, they had take two single men as lodgers as accommodation was in short supply. The wages were favourable compared to Cornwall and some 6-700 men had arrived in the last fortnight.  Hurlford Colliery was the only Ayrshire place mentioned in the article. It does mention that they were Wesleyans and most had brought a large family bible with them. (Were these same conditions offered to to West Midlands miners?)

In Ayrshire,  the first of the Cornish miners were in Loudoun and Galston  parishes. 

Examples:

James Phillips a lead miner from Illogan and his wife  Catherine Bunney were in Loudoun (Galston) Ayrshire by March 1867 but in 1881 census they had returned to Cornwall where he was working as a tin miner with 6 children aged 1 to 14. What a journey that must have been. They weren't there for long as James was born in Ayrshire about 1882. In 1888 they were in Skares Row, Cumnock. James was mining coal. He remained in Skares until his death in 1924.

Burley siblings in Loudoun rows, Galston by the early 1870s. Some of these families moved on to Cumnock.  eg Arthur Burley 

Hancocks from Cornwall arrived in Cumnock 1872/3

The parents James Hancock and Eleanor Deeble were in Glengyron Row by August 1873 (death of their youngest daughter Jane).

They had been married in 1848 in Callington, Cornwall and they were in Caldbeck, Cumberland in the 1871 census. 

Some of the Cornish miners stopped off in the north of England or moved back and forth as can be seen by the birthplaces of their children. 

eg Richard Penrose and his family were in Durham in 1880, New Cumnock in 1882,  Durham in 1884,  Cumnock in 1886 and 1888, Durham 1890, Northumberland  in 1895 and 1897, Cumnock in 1899 - 1905. He died in 1918 in Durham and his wife Kate Jose in Cumnock  in 1926. What a lot of upheaval and with kids in tow!

Other Cornish names in Ayrshire include: Fisher, Folley, Luke, Moyle, Pooley, Sheer, Smetherhem, Trembath