boxer bruce woodcock

[ali607]

Hi, I am investigating a story passed down the family that we are related to the boxer Bruce Woodcock. My grandma told my mum and uncle this when they were growing up and they believed it for a while til one day someone said something to make them think it wasnt true. However i now think there could be some truth in it...Back then they didnt know this but since doing research in the last couple of years iv found my grandmas mum was harriet WOODCOCK(maiden name) and so it seems more probably that there was perhaps a chink of truth in what she was saying - iv found this to be the case with most of what my gran said!
There was some secrecy on the Woodcock line; my gran used to talk to an old lady whom she called 'grandma woodcock' when my mum was little (she called ppl grandma like 'auntie' although theyre not aunty at all - of course my mum never thought anything of it - we now know it was actually either my grandmas  own mum(!) and she kept it secret OR it was her auntie.

What i wondered was if anyone knew whereabouts Bruce Woodcock came from? Was he a Yorkshire man?

Thanks
Alison

[Christopher]

Hiya Alison,

Bruce Woodcock was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on 18th January 1921.

Christopher

[ali607]

ah thank you - wonder how i could find out about his parentage

Thanks
ALison

[Christopher]

ah thank you - wonder how i could find out about his parentage

Thanks
ALison

Hiya Alison,

I imagine there'd have been an obituary in several national newspaper around the time of his death, 21th December 1997  Go to the nearest Newspaper Library and look at broadsheets like the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and the Times.   

Chris

[Garethboxing]

If it's any help, Bruce was a railwayman, who worked at the Doncaster Plant Works.
When he retired, he and wife Norah ran the Tumbler pub in Edlington.
Bruce died on December 21, 1997.
As for finding about his parents - you know where he was born, you know his date of birth, so you can always obtain a copy of his birth certificate....

   Gareth

[Christopher]

Alison,

If you want copies of the Doncaster papers there's an Inter Library scheme in the UK.

Ask at your local library for details.

Chris

[Garethboxing]

Hi Alison,

   A little bit more info I've found - he was trained (at least as an amateur) by his father, whose name was Sam.
   He also had a son and a daughter, presumably alive today.

   Regards, Gareth

[ali607]

ooh thanks very mcuh...
alison

[Gotcha]

HELLO...I've always been told that we are related to Bruce Woodcock to but to date I've not found anything on his family either...on Ancestry.com under Family Trees...there is one entry that says his fathers name was George...thats all I've been able to find...I see that by one of the replies that fathers name was Sam...can't find that info anywhere...
Gotcha