160 Years Ago Today.

[The Moonlighter 3,624]

On the  7th May 1856 Founder William McBeath was born.

William McBeath was born in the village of Callander.  His dad Peter owned a general store on Callander’s Main Street , the family home was above the store which is now  The Waverley Hotel.

 
William had an older sister, Jane, and an older brother, Peter.  Another boy was born after William but he, like so many other children of the time, died in infancy.  

Tragically, his dad Peter McBeath died in November, 1864.  Shortly afterwards, his wife took William and his sister Jane to Glasgow to start a new life. 

By the time of the 1871 census, the McBeaths were living at 17 Cleveland Street…………the same address as five members of the McNeil family, including brothers Peter and William. 

It was at the beginning of 1872 the four boys had the idea to form a football team. 

A few weeks later William was to play in that first ever match v Callander.

Rangers player William Dunlop wrote in 1881:

“Their first game was a terrible spectacle with  the ball suffering an incredible amount of abuse” William McBeath was given man of the match and then spent a week in bed recovering due to his exertions’’.

William McBeath was Rangers first ever President from 1874-75.

 In 1884 at the Club’s ‘Annual Hop’ his friends and fellow Founders honoured William for the role he played in its conception and presented him with a gold badge. This was at an event held in the St.Andrews Hall which is at the rear of today’s Mitchell Library in Glasgow. 

A report on the presentation in the Scottish Athletic Journal in 1884 also stated that William McBeath enjoyed dabbling with paint and canvas! It read:

” Mr. McBeath, many of his old friends will be happy to learn, is doing well, and still cultivating these tastes for high art which made his company so pleasant to the more scholarly of his companions”

By 1878, William was a commercial traveller.  He had moved to the Crosshill area of Glasgow after marrying a Jeannie Harris. Within a year, the family had moved to Bristol in what was almost certainly the most settled and happiest period of William’s life.   

Sadly, the remaining period of William McBeath’s life is clouded in mist.   What happened to cause a breakdown in the happy family life of the McBeaths is uncertain.  William’s son Norman was sent to Glasgow to live with his grandmother.  Norman McBeath died in Glasgow, aged eighty-three, in 1973.  He unfortunately had not married.

William last year’s make for unpleasant reading.  He moved from town to town, found himself in court on charges of fraud (of which he was acquitted) and married for a second time.

The deterioration in William McBeath’s life continued until his death in a workhouse at Lincoln in 1917.  He was certified ‘’imbecile”.  The evidence of his state of health suggests he had actually suffered from Alzheimer’s. Medical terminology back then was brutal to say the least.

William was buried in an unmarked, pauper’s grave in Lincoln Cemetery but there is a happy ending to his story. 

 During his research for his book, “The Gallant Pioneers”, Gary Ralston found William’s final resting place.  The grave is now marked with a fitting stone which was paid for by the worldwide Rangers support and placed there by a group of fellow supporters.

[The Moonlighter 3,624]

http://rangers.co.uk/news/features/founders-trail-blog-2/

[MASONICTHEHEDGEHOG 2]

We really are "The People."

So proud to be a Rangers supporter when I read stuff like this. Great to see his final resting place marked appropriately.

[The Moonlighter 3,624]

34 Vernon Street and 57 Cranwell Street.

William McBeath lived at both of these address's during his time in Lincoln.

 

[Thermopylae 15,287]

Excellent post ... we have perhaps underplayed the origins of our club down through the years but I'm glad to say that is changing  

[TopCat 4,511]

Excellent post OP. Thanks for sharing. 

[Inigo 32,675]

18 minutes ago, The Moonlighter said:

34 Vernon Street and 57 Cranwell Street.

William McBeath lived at both of these address's during his time in Lincoln.

 

 

Where are those guys that painted the kerb outside that sellic dive when you need them?

[Shibbo Liff 15]

The Moonlighter's posts on our founders and their lives can be both heart warming and heart wrenching.

This one falls into both categories.

Your work is appreciated, my good man.

[GrizzlyBear72 261]

Thanks for posting....great to see our Founding Fathers being honoured so fittingly!                                                   What a life, what a man....taken so cruelly at 61....We Are Rangers....he started it all....to William McBeath ....raise a glass and stand tall!!

[The Ibrox Derry 9,021]

The research these guys do is truly unbelievable and a great credit must go to them for the time they spend studying our historical past. A real labour of love. Keep up the tremendous work and many many thanks from a humble Rangers supporter.

[HenleyBear 17]

Great post, I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for sharing.

[Beaujolais 1,371]

Brilliant post- many thanks.

[GOAT 30,449]

I know Callander, and the Waverly really well. 

Although my whole families from Glasgow, my mums side owned a caravan in Callander, so we would be up there most summers or holidays.  Then about 1993ish, my gran, granda and uncle bought a house in Callander where they've been since.  Sadly my granda passed away in 1996 and my gran is now in a home up there due to her bad dementia.  His ashes are actually scattered behind where the caravan used to be at a tree where he used to go and have a smoke away from my gran.  

I've not been up there as much as I should or used too in recent years, but I had no idea Callander played such an important part in the clubs start.  

I remember watching the 1993 League cup up there in the snooker club when McCoist scored the overhead kick to win it.  I mind dancing on the snooker tables, the place was mixed half Hibs, half bears.

I'll need to get back up there and visit my gran before she dies.