The story of the Beveridge Families

[joybev]

The Beveridge name is a pretty common one in Scotland. Some may have been noble and wealthy.My line came from Dalgety Crossgates Fifeshire. They were coal miners, as wer their ancestors. The history of coal mining is not pretty. Coal miners and their families (wives and children) were OWNED by the coal mine which resulted in them being called mining serfs. Up until the end of the 18th century when the mining serfs were set free. But the coal mine owners, (Aristocrats) still didn't allow them to leave as they said they owed money for the food and housing that had been provided. Any mining serfs that escaped were brought back, beaten and put back to work in the mines. the whole family, husband, wife and children had to work in terrible conditions. I would like to seek out the owners of these mines and know who their descendants are. My ancestors, John and Margaret Beveridge and their 5 young children left Scotland in 1868 and went to Australia where they lived in Bendigo. John and his sons worked in the deep gold mines there.

[hdw]

I was at Edinburgh University from 1964 to 1968 and knew a chap called Beveridge from Kirkcaldy who was my age. There's a Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy.

I had ancestors in the Methilhill area, near Kirkcaldy, who were miners in the early 1700s and are mentioned in the Rothes Papers. Yes, they were serfs and could be loaned out by their master to another mine-owner.

The fisherfolk were hardly any better off. The original fishermen in the village of Auchmithie in Angus were called Cargill, and when they accepted an offer from the town council of neighbouring Arbroath to go and fish there, their feudal superior the Earl of Northesk came after them and locked them up in his dungeon for their cheek.

Harry

[crayspond]

Interesting replies  - I did eventually see the book and wasn't that impressed to be honest. Maybe because I couldn't find anything connecting to my branch 🙂
My branch were weavers and originated in Inverkeithing then Dunfermline then Glasgow. My ggfather  went to the US and had another family. I have contacted them and they were fascinated to learn of the history and were unaware of his son who was left behind.
 I managed to get back to 1715 in Fife with verified documents but before then is guesswork - I even went to a local lds church to look at microfilm but without luck I've given up. I would say the name was more common in Fife but people move around now so it pops up everywhere! The Swedish story was very interesting - my John Beveridge is actually spelled John Belfrage in 1715. I've just ordered a DNA testing kit so who knows maybe Sweden will pop up.

[hdw]

Here's something about Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy. Apparently it was gifted to the people of the town in 1892 by local industrialist Michael Beveridge.

https://www.mypark.scot/parks/beveridge-park-kirkcaldy/

Harry

[Henry7]

There was a large linen damask weaving factory at the south end of Dunfermline, the St. Leonard's Works of Erskine Beveridge & Co, started in 1851.  It has now gone, but the elegant office block remains, converted into flats.  The founder, Erskine Beveridge, a local celebrity, was a photographer and an antiquary in his spare time; there's a book about him by Hugh Walker, but I haven't seen it.

Older local people (such as my grandfather, born 1875) always pronounced the name as "Berritch" but I suppose that has died out now.

The life of coal miners in Scotland, as described by joybev, seems to be little known to most people.

They'll know all about the battle of Bannockburn and Mary Q of S and B P Charlie, but the fact that many Scotsmen and their families were physically owned by other Scotsmen (slaves in all but name) until 1799, when we'd all been singing 'Britons never never never...' etc for fifty years, seems to have been discreetly forgotten.   

[Rosinish]

Erskine Beveridge owned a lot of property on North Uist, Vallay, Scolpaig, Griminish, Balelone & Kilpheder including Vallay House (huge) which he had built although I'm unsure about the other properties.

Lots of online info. & interesting reading too.

Annie

[hdw]

I'd forgotten about Erskine Beveridge. He wrote "The Churchyard Memorials of Crail" (I'm quoting the title from memory) which is a fascinating study of a very old and interesting churchyard and its headstones.

The name Beveridge was sometimes written Berridge, reflecting local pronunciation.

Harry

[Connor Rowley]

Hi to everyone,

Does anyone have or know how to obtain a copy of this book?
The full title is

The Story of the Beveridge families of England and Scotland (1923) by Sydney A Beveridge.

Regards
Ailsa

I realise that this response is a little bit late.... By like a while, but for anyone else looking, the book is available through the national Australian archives. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/547672