Jimmy Braid....
"Jimmy Braid"
Ploughman's son to Champion Golfer.
Foreword.....
The winter of 2007 in Earlsferry was long and to help pass the time, Maggie and I decided to do her maternal Family Tree, the Earlsferry Websters; and managed to trace her family back to 1751 where we got stuck with three William Websters... all cousins. However we had found out that the Websters had been a Royal Burgh of Earlsferry family for centuries....as Ferry fishermen and weavers. As a matter of interest the 1751 William Webster lived in Earlsferry, but worked in Newcastle! Family history had got a grip of us and, to pass the winter of 2008 we decided to take a look at the life of Earlsferry’s most famous son.... Jimmy Braid the golfer. To help us with this we bought a copy (1st Edition slightly dilapidated but all there) of Jimmy Braid's book 'Advanced Golf'.and a copy of Bernard Darwin’s book (1st Edition) “James Braid”. Sadly Maggie never lived to complete the project; she died on 18th August 2009. It was not until the 10th anniversary of Maggie’s death that I decided to finish what we had begun.... as a tribute to Maggie. So in the late summer of 2019 I unearthed the research we had already done and then got ‘stuck in’ and dug deeper and wider. What I have done is try to write this as Maggie had it in her mind; Jimmy Braid, as seen by a native of Earlsferry.
Ivy Cottage was bequeathed to Maggie by her Grand Uncle, William Webster (born Earlsferry 18th November 1882) ... (Uncle “Blot” for some never to be found out reason.... he had even been known by that name at Williamsburgh School so presumably that’s where it originated) .... was a golf professional, first training as a club maker with Forrester, then ‘Pro’ at Rosemount (Blairgowrie) before going to the USA in the early 1900’s to become a ‘Pro’ there. Dave Spittal, foreman at Nicol’s of Leven was over in the USA, with the firm, exhibiting at the US Open Championship, and saw William Webster’s name on the board in the Clubhouse where the Open was being played. He told me the name of the Club but I have long forgotten it. When the Great War broke out William (“Blot”) Webster went north to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army, eventually being sent over to serve on the Western Front. He survived the War and when demobbed came back to Earlsferry, bought Ivy Cottage, and worked as a club-maker with Scott until he retired. He was a member of Earlsferry Town Council, had a rowing boat moored at the Cockstail (he is on one of the set piece post cards of the 1930’s). He and his friend, the local Professional Tom Reekie, would go out to Shooter’s Point at Shell Bay and bag a few ducks for the pot. “Blot’s” sister, (Maggie’s Granny) and her husband lived in Ivy, as did Maggie’s mother and Maggie (born 1941). ‘Uncle Blot’ died in 1956, and Maggie inherited ‘Ivy’. Being born into Earlsferry (her actual place of birth was Forth Park Maternity Hospital in Kirkcaldy) she was a ‘Ferry lassie’ with an innate interest in all things golf and most fanatical about Earlsferry, as all who were born into The Royal Burgh, still are. Maggie spent 65 of her 68 years in Earlsferry.
Golfers the world over will have heard of James (Jimmy) Braid and his exploits on the golf course.... and of the golf courses that he designed. We want to try to include a ‘snapshot’ of what life was like for the Braid family before James became famous. As I come from the same background as Jimmy Braid, there is a bit about life as a worker of the land in the 19th century, especially ploughmen, or 'horsemen' as my Dad, and Jimmy's dad were.
Jimmy Braid’s father James (hereafter James Snr): was born on the 26th November 1837 (the year that Queen Victoria acceded to the throne) in the Parish of Cameron, his parents being John and Christian Braid (nee Halkerston/Miller).who had been married on November 11th 1831 in Largo Parish.
Jimmy Braid’s mother Mary Harris: (a linen handloom weaver), the daughter of Alex and Catherine Harris (nee Ireland) was born in Kilconquhar Parish in 1832. Both ‘grandfathers’ worked as ploughmen.... as did one of his Great Grandfathers ... the other being a miner; Jimmy Braid came from a typical, hard working class background.
Farm work.... in the 19th century.
For the ‘working classes’ in 1800’s, the main sources of employment for males in the East Neuk of Fife, was farming, fishing and, in a few areas coal mining, weaving , boat building, and house building .... or making stuff required for either; machinery or boats etc. There was a ‘building industry’, but nothing like it would be after the railway opened up the East Neuk at the middle of the century. Prior to the railway, if your father worked on a farm, sons would work on a farm : daughters, in most cases, housemaids in one of the ‘big houses’ or farmhouses in the district.... which is, in most cases, what their mothers had been. That is the life that James Braid’s father was born into in 1837.
On leaving school at 13 a boy would start work on a farm in the position of ‘orralaud’, or general dogsbody, doing all the menial tasks around the farm, living in the farm bothy with other unmarried farm labourers eating his meals in the farmhouse kitchen. Working life in the countryside was in the hands of the landed gentry and farmers, with workers including farm ‘servants’, living a subsistence life; their working conditions set by the land owners. However, circumstances beyond the land owners control were beginning to affect the farming community by the 1840’s; the new Industrial Age was well underway and emigration, along with better paying jobs in industrial centres was attracting farm servants away from the land: land owners, in an effort to compete with this new threat, to what had been a sure and steady source of cheap labour, began to build two roomed cottages for their married servants. Fifeshire had been a front runner in the building of cottages (cottar houses) and by the middle of the century most farm workers in Fife were married men, living in cottar houses with their family. The cottar house came with the job (tied) which meant that, should the husband become unable to work through injury (or death) the family had to move out to make way for a replacement worker. They had a few options; either move in with neighbours or other family members or, in the very last resort go into the poor house. The wage of an Agricultural Labourer or Farm Servant in 1850 was £14 per year or the equivalent of 29p per week: that would be £1790 per year, or, roughly, £35 per week in today's money.
The first record I found of James Snr working, was as a ‘farm servant’, age 22, on Sypsies Farm near Crail (now ‘The Cow Shed’). While working there he met, and married, a housemaid Margery (Marjory) Bonthron from the neighbouring farm of Wormiston. They were married on 14th June 1859 and their daughter, Jane Pride Braid, was born on the 1st September 1859.
Two years later, at the 1861 census James(Snr), (now a ploughman), Margery and Jane are living in a cottar house on North Rires farm (Balcarres Estate) in Kilconquhar Parish. Rires had seven cottar houses and a modern farmhouse and farm buildings. I should point out here that moving from one farm to another was a regular thing: the workers and employers meeting at local “Feein’ Markets”.... the early and crudest form of ‘Employment Exchange’. The agreement between ploughman and farmer was verbal, a handshake and the giving of arles (a small sum of money).... and binding. ‘The Feein Market’ was a day out for the farmer and the farm servant and usually involved the consumption alcohol. A couple of weeks before the ‘feein market’ a farmer would go round his ‘servants’ asking “are you goin’ tae bide?”....if he didn’t ask a servant that question it, meant that particular farm servant was looking for a job at the feeing market. Terms were six months long; the summer term from May 28th to November 28th.... and ... the winter term from November 28th to May the 28th.
The next record we have of the family is, sadly, the death Registration of Margery who dies three weeks after a difficult (stillborn) birth at ‘Elie’ (Elie Parish) on July 7th 1865. At this time James(Snr) is registered as a ‘Ploughman, Elie’ so Marjory died in the cottar house on whichever farm within the Parish of Elie James Snr was working on at the time. She was 29 years old. Maternity Hospitals were in the future, though ‘lying in’ houses, (a room in a midwife’s house for example) were coming in.
James Snr now has to make arrangements for his six year old daughter Jane to be cared for when he is at work. As I mention earlier, this could be achieved by moving in with parents/relations: but the best, and logical, solution when one of the parents dies leaving the other with a young family, was to find another wife/ husband. And this often happened, and is what eventually happened in this case, because, 15 months later, on the 13th October 1866, James Snr marries Mary Harris (a linen handloom weaver) from Kilconquhar Parish at the ‘farm of Grange’, Earlsferry. In the Census of 1861 Alex Harris (a ploughman) is living in a house on Grangehill farm, with his wife Catherine (Nee Ireland), daughter Mary (James Snr soon to be wife) and Mary’s 3 year old illegitimate son Alexander Philp; The wedding ceremony of James Braid Snr and Mary Harris would take place in the bride’s family house/cottage, with James Snr and his daughter Jane moving into the house at Grangehill.
Three and a half years later “James Braid Jnr” (Golfer to be) is born. James, the son of James and Mary Braid (nee Harris), made his presence known at 11.30 p.m. on February 6th 1870 in a cottage in Liberty Place belonging to a family friend .... or a midwife; perhaps both. The reason as to why he was born in a cottage in Liberty Place and not the family home at Grangehill was most likely one of convenience: The family home at Grangehill was too crowded for the birth to take place there. The birth was registered in Kilconquhar (Earlsferry was in Kilconquhar Parish at that time). We all know where we were born and even why we were born outwith the family home... i.e. in a Maternity Hospital; so there is no reason for us to think that Jimmy Braid didn’t know where he was born.... and why he was born there.
As I mentioned earlier, when James married Mary he, and Jane (daughter by first marriage), moved into Mary’s room(s) in her parents’ house; where Mary was living with son Alexander (illegitimate – sad but that’s what is written on Alexander’s Birth Certificate). I know we might find it odd today but getting married and moving into the bride’s home (or the other way round) was not uncommon in those days, in the farming and wider working class community. After the birth of Jimmy and at the ‘1870 May term’ James Braid Snr sought employment, with a cottar house as part of the agreement, and moved to Falkland Parish where the family, consisting now of James, Mary, Jane and James Jnr, remained for a couple of years, eventually moving back to live in a cottar house on Grange Farm, Earlsferry in 1872 or 3. Alexander remained at Earlsferry with his Grandparents, Alex and Catherine Harris.
'Rent 'free' accommodation for married ploughmen, the cottar house, with garden ground, was the norm by the 1870’s.... the monetary reward was £17 per year (working a 10 hour day) at that time, so free accommodation was a big help with the perpetual struggle of trying to make ends meet.
In the 1871 Census, the family are living in Falkland Parish; James is working as a ploughman at Newton of ‘someplace’ but the last word is illegible, but probably 'Falkland'. James Snr is age 32, Mary 38, Jane 11 and James Jnr 1..... Mary’s son Alexander is living at No 82, Chapel Green Road with his grandparents: with whom he lives, until leaving home to start work at thirteen or fourteen years old. By the time of the next census (1881) James Snr is still working as a ploughman at the Grange Farm Earlsferry with only James, Margery and James Jnr living in the cottar house, Jane has left home and is working in the nearby ‘Kincraig House’ (Russell) as a housemaid. I ‘lose’ Jane after this. I presume she got married and her name changes which makes searching a bit harder. I like to think that she produced offspring and that descendants still living around the East Neuk. I might do some more research on her later. The family appear to have moved back to Earlsferry (from Falkland) in 1872 or thereabout because James Jnr’s (hereafter Jimmy) first memories of golf were of playing with a small club outside the family house. In “Advanced Golf” Jimmy says “The tendency towards golf seemed strong, and the natural result of it, seeing what were my parents circumstances in life, was that I should be a caddy - during the school holidays only”; carrying clubs (caddying) for visitors playing the course. The course at this time consisted of nine holes on the Earlsferry Links and three on Melon Park. By the age of 8 (1878) Jimmy is an adept golfer and won his first competition in the Junior Caddies competition: three times round the three holes on Melon Park, in 54 strokes.... a brilliant, and encouraging, beginning to his golfing ambitions.
Working on a farm in 1870’s: After the Farmer and the Grieve (Foreman) the ploughman or horseman was the top of the ‘working’ ladder. There was 1st horseman, 2nd horseman, and so on, cattleman, orraman depending on the size of the farm. It was a short ladder, really short if it was a small farm. A ploughman and his ‘pair’ were a ‘team’ and expected to do two ‘yokings’ per day (10 hour day) in the summertime, less in the darkness of winter. The ploughman didn’t work fewer hours in winter, it meant that the horses spent less time in harness and being yoked up..... one for the morning yoking, the other for the afternoon if it was a carting yoking, dung spreading for example. A ‘yoking’ didn’t start until the horses were yoked to a cart, plough or other farm implement. They had a break of two hours for lunch; the horses needed the two hour rest and had to be fed and watered in this break. This left the ploughman with an hour for his lunch break ... the time travelling to and from the field and caring for his pair was included in the two hours. You have to remember that he got up at 05.00 to feed and comb his horses, clean out the stall then have his own breakfast, harness his horses and be at the field by ‘yokin’ time.. He would also have to give the horses their supper in the evening: it was a long day.
The cottar house came with a big garden on which the worker would grow vegetables, flowers etc. Water for the household would be carried from the nearest well. The family toilet was in a shed at the bottom of the garden; a hinged wooden toilet seat, (made by a local joiner) above a bucket that would be emptied into a hole dug in the corner of the garden when required. Our family’s first house with internal flushing toilet was on Balcarres Estate (1950).
The wife worked longer hours than her husband (not perhaps quite so physically challenging), baking and providing meals at the right times (that was important), doing all the housework, washing the clothes etc (by hand), knitting, feeding the poultry, looking after the children, had babies .... nursing said babies, older girls would assist their mother as soon as they were able: it was a hard and worrisome life of survival of the family unit. Extended families helped and supported each other when needed.
Although we think the hours long now, it was, to the farm servant families of the 1870’s, ‘the norm’.... and, by all accounts there was a high degree of camaraderie among farm servants, in spite of the long working day they always had time to have a laugh. Most of them were entertainers in some form or another; their main form of enjoyment of an occasional Saturday evening singing ‘cornkisters’ (bothy ballads) to the accompaniment of the fiddle, melodeon or mooth organ..... normally accompanied by a wee dram or three. My Dad was the singer and ‘moothie’ (mouth organ/harmonica) player. Sunday was their one day of rest from work ... but they were expected to go to the kirk. One horseman was delegated to look after the horses on Sundays (he’d be excused the kirk). The horses had to be fed, combed, and talked to every day. This brings me to ......
‘The Horseman’s Word’. In the first half of the 19th century it was the dream of most boys after they left school to work on the farm, that they would one day become a ‘horseman’ with their pair. But it was the established horsemen on a farm that would decide which particular farm servant was suitable to become one of ‘chosen few’, and be invited to become a member of, ‘The Horseman’s Word’, a Secret Society, started in the Northeast of Scotland in the late 18th century.... which spread all over Scotland and into England the following century. ‘The Word’ gave a mystical status to the job of ‘horseman’.... but what was ‘the word’? My Dad got ‘The Word’ at “East Toun o’ Tarland” in November 1932. He had to provide a bottle of whisky, a loaf of bread and had to wear his nicky tams for the initiation ceremony: which took place in the middle o’ the nicht’. He never told me about the initiation ceremony nor what ‘the word’ was but he did say the horseman and his ‘pair’ were “as one” a team of equals based on ‘trust and respect’.... and that you learned about old fashioned ‘secret’ ways with horses. That was all he told me about it. He, my Dad, joined the Masonic Order, as many Horsemen did, after the tractor brought the demise of ‘the horse wi’ the four white feet’. Farmers preferred their horsemen to have ‘The Word’.
Jimmy Braid the Golfer. For its size, the village of Earlsferry, and its Thistle Golf Club, has had a surprising number of prominent golfers who perfected their golfing skills on the village golfing tract on Earlsferry Links, but the most famous of them all would be.... Jimmy Braid. Jimmy would win ‘The Open’ five times, was runner up in ‘The Open’ four times, won the ‘News of the World’ Match Play 4 times... and the French Open once, all this achieved in the 17 years from 1897 to 1914. He was also a renowned golf course architect, designing, or altering, over 200 golf courses in Europe, Ireland and the UK.... even in the USA.... the USA ones being done by mail. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.... let’s start at the beginning.
Jimmy’s parents had both strongly objected to his desiring to ‘get into golf’ as a way to making a living, and insisted he get a proper job ... a trade. Up till the mid 1800’s boys were expected to follow their fathers onto the land.... and girls into ‘service’. That changed with riches being accrued (by some) because of the Industrial Revolution and the coming of the railways to East Neuk (and other parts of Scotland) thus opening up the area to development and improvement: and a choice of jobs! Now no father wanted his son(s) to follow in his footsteps .... ‘getting a trade’ was a big step up from the servitude of being a ‘farm servant’ .... and apprenticeships, in all trades, were available, in abundance.
That said, it’s not surprising that James Jnr would want to play golf, Douglas Rolland, a cousin ten years older than Jimmy, and the Simpson brothers, all ‘Ferry Boys’ senior to ‘JB’ by a few years, honed their early golfing skills on the common ground of Earlsferry Links. (Douglas’s mother Isabella and Jimmy's’ mother Mary were sisters, Isabella being ten years older than Mary....both ladies lived to the ripe old age of 93.
Obviously Jimmy's parents prevailed, as had Douglas Rolland’s because both boys served apprenticeships before entering into a golfing career. Jimmy left school at the age of thirteen to become an apprentice joiner in the nearby village of Colinsburgh, travelling to and from work by way of walking, a distance of two miles, in a slightly straighter line than the road we would take today, a combination of the road and convenient footpaths. This was no hardship (it might have been in the winter time) as walking was the only way to get from A – B locally for the working classes: but it left very little time for golf, except in the longer summer evenings and Saturday afternoons. However Jimmy managed to combine the discipline of work with his hobby and joined ‘The Earlsferry Thistle GC’ in 1885, at the age of 15 and was soon a playing off scratch and winning competitions; and playing for the Thistle team against other club teams from Leven and St Andrews.
In the early 1880’s the Braid family moved into the village (The Royal Burgh of Earlsferry). In the 1891 census, James Jnr is living at 54 High Street Earlsferry with his parents, and still working as a joiner at Colinsburgh. His father is now a forester.
In 1891, Jimmy moves out of the family home in Earlsferry and goes to work in St Andrews, as a journeyman joiner. He was soon playing golf with, and learning from the big names of golf at that time notably the Kirkaldy brothers Hugh and Andrew. However the St Andrews job involved being sent out to jobs in different parts of Scotland, including Glasgow so he didn’t get as much golf as he longed for ...and moved to a job in Edinburgh where he played on the Braid Hills municipal course and joined the Edinburgh Thistle. His golf rapidly improved and he was soon back to his winning ways .... and became a local celebrity when he won the Braid Hills tournament, open to all golf clubs in Edinburgh and Leith. It was in Edinburgh that he met Ralph (Charles) Smith an Earlsferry friend (and former club maker with Forrester) who was now the head club maker with the Army and Navy Stores in London. Ralph offered him a job as a club maker with the ‘Stores’. Being away from the influence of his parents James took the job and worked there from 1893 - 1896. Up to this point in time he had never made a whole golf club – but he was good with wood and surprised even himself at how good his first club was. It was now that he realised his parents insistence that he ‘get a trade’ had given him the woodworking skills required to make golf clubs.... and realise his boyhood dream.... to become a ‘professional’ golf club maker/golfer. At the Army and Navy Stores Jimmy was employed as a club maker, playing golf whenever he could on different courses around the London area... and, .... this must have come as a slight shock to our Jimmy from the auld fashioned ‘Ferry’; golf was played on a Sunday, so the two ‘Ferry Boys’ (Jimmy and Ralph) could play on a Saturday afternoon and on a Sunday! Sunday golf wasn’t played over the Ferry Links until the 1960’s. Working as club-makers they were ‘unattached professionals’ i.e. they weren’t ‘Pro’ on a Club Golf Course, but they had friends who were on courses such as Chiswick and Chingford .... and other clubs in the London area.
I should explain to non golfers that in those days a Professional attached to a golf course (and his Assistant Professionals) were the ‘green keepers’ who looked after the course, taught newcomers the game, made, sold, repaired and altered golf clubs in the shop/workshop; and was responsible for seeing that the Members of the ‘Club’ enjoyed their course and golfing thereon.... and that ‘their course’ was among the best in the country. From what we read about Jimmy, he would become the ‘ideal’ Professional.
Army and Navy Stores, London - The Army and Navy stores was a co-operative founded in 1871 by Army and Navy Officers so that commissioned, and higher ranking non-commissioned officers, could purchase equipment etc at the best possible prices. For instance golf balls (Gutties) were being sold at 11/- (shillings) for a dozen in the ‘Stores’ in 1883. (11/- would be about £58 in today’s money): important equipment for a serving officer in 1883.
It was not long after Jimmy joined the Army and Navy Stores that he played his first match as a professional ... i.e. for a ‘purse’, in 1893. His cousin Douglas was the professional at Limpsfield (near Chartwell, (Winston Churchill’s country retreat from 1922 - onwards), a nine hole golf course and invited Jimmy and Ralph to play himself and a partner, one round in the morning then another after lunch. As far as I can make out Jimmy and Ralph won on the last green. At that time professional golfers played matches against each other at various courses around the UK for ‘purses’. Those matches drew big crowds especially if any of the ‘big names’ were playing.... and Douglas Rolland was one of the big hitters having been runner up in The Open in 1884; and would be again in 1894. About the only Annual ‘open’ tournament at that time was ‘The Open’.
The following year, 1894, Jimmy decided to enter ‘The Open’ which was being played at Sandwich, the first time ‘The Open’ had been played outside Scotland. He finished 10th equal; his nervous first round of 91 having let him down. The next time he played in ‘The Open’ was Muirfield 1896 where he finished sixth.
Golf circa 1880 – Earlsferry Links .... Golf has been played on the Earlsferry Links since the 15th century. The Royal Burghs of Fife had been doing a lucrative trade in wool with the lowlands of Holland : Veere (pronounced ‘Ffeera’) a coastal town in Southwest Holland was the staple port for the Scottish traders. The vessels would sail down the East coast of England then across to Veere. After the disastrous floods of 1953 the Dutch implemented a huge dam operation which means Veere is no longer on the north sea coast but can be reached by boat via the canal from Middelburg. Maggie and I visited Veere as part of the 750th anniversary celebrations of this trade.
What has trade with Holland got to do with golf on Earlsferry Links you may well ask? Not only pan tiles came back as ballast on the return journey, (in fact a few of those did travel as ballast along with the knowledge and skill to manufacture our own), a new game was also one of the ‘imports’, though not exactly as the Dutch played it. The Dutch game, ‘colf’ was played on ice... but our local fishermen/sailors were not only hard working sailors, they were adaptable. They did not have the frozen canals of Holland but they did have the Common Ground of Royal Burghs.... and it was easy enough to manufacture a ‘stick’ to hit a ‘ball’ with. It wouldn’t be a golf course as we now know them, but a few ‘greens’ on the common ground was the small beginning from which sprung the massive worldwide golf business of today.
Prior to 1830 the main implements used to ‘make’ the course would have been the scythe, a heavy roller, rabbits and sheep. Rabbits were good at green keeping ... they cropped at the front end, produced fertilizer at the other end... and the bit in between made an excellent stew. They were a useful piece of kit! By 1830 the ‘lawn mower’ had been invented, because landed gentry wanted bigger and ‘the best’ formal laid out gardens with big lawns. The demand was such that it wasn’t long before horse/pony drawn machines to cut large lawns, were produced.... along with 'boots' for the ponies/horses. Alexander Shanks of Arbroath was a forerunner in this field...., and not far away. Meanwhile the scythe, in the hands of an expert, (and there would be plenty of those around The Ferry), could make a reasonable job of trimming a green. The local greens that Jimmy (Braid) and his golfing friends played on in up until 1877 would have been scythe cut.... but, with the game attracting the attention of an increasing number of people Golf Clubs were cropping up all over the place with their middle and upper class members looking for a better quality of ‘green’ .... the first mower used to cut the local Earlsferry and Elie greens, is reputed to have been bought in 1877. As a matter of interest in 1883 a horse drawn four foot wide lawn mower cost £143 -0s -0d (the equivalent of £9,464.41p in today’s money); a hand pushed 24 inch mower cost £7-3s-0d (£473.22p in today’s money). Most of us would recognise the hand pushed mower.... it looked more or less the same as the Atco mowers of pre- electric days.
It was between 1880 and the Great War that the game of golf was to make huge leaps forward, both in the choice of equipment required to play the game: the transition from the long nose to the bulger shape of wooden club, and from the gutty through to the composition ball (Haskell) and the implements needed to provide a decent playing surface. Golf was about to come of age .. and Jimmy Braid, along with Harry Vardon and JH Taylor, soon to become known as ‘The Triumvirate’, was going to be a big part of that as the old century drew to a close and a new one beckoned. And what a century it would turn out to be for the Royal and Ancient game.
The ‘Triumvirate’ – ‘Braid, Taylor and Vardon’ reigned, more or less supreme from (and including) 1894 through to the Great War winning sixteen of the twenty one Open Championships in that time: 1894, 1895 - JH Taylor, 1896,1898 and 1899 - Harry Vardon, 1900 - JH Taylor, 1901 - James Braid, 1903 - JH Taylor, 1905,1906, 1908 - James Braid, 1909 - JH Taylor, 1910 - James Braid (5th), 1911 - Harry Vardon, 1913 - JH Taylor (5th) and finally in 1914 Harry Vardon won his sixth ‘Open’. The other five ‘Opens’ were won by; 1897 - Harold Hilton, 1902 - Sandy Herd, 1904 - Jack White, 1907 - Arnaud Massy (France) and in 1912 by Ted Ray. Although between them they won many more competitions and were in demand for exhibition matches all over the UK I have used ‘The Open’ as an example as to how dominant they, The Triumvirate’, were in the game at that time.
Romford - Golf Club ..... 1896 was an important year for Jimmy in many ways. He became the professional at Romford, his first ‘course’, though he had been an assistant to his friend Ralph Smith at Hastings for a short while after leaving the Army and Navy Stores. Jimmy was at Romford for eight years, and they were a fruitful and happy eight years, because it was while at Romford that he met his wife Minnie Alice Wright from the nearby Parish of Upminster. ‘Minnie Alice’ and James Braid were married on the 18th November 1898 (Ralph Smith was his best man). Both his sons, James and Harry, were born here; and he won his first ‘Open’(at Muirfield) in 1901 while ‘pro’ at Romford. He would leave Romford as a happily married family man and a ‘time served’ golf course pro.... a real ‘dream come true’ success story for the boy from Earlsferry.
“Romford was one of the best London golf courses when Jimmy was there” writes Bernard Darwin (grandson of Charles Darwin and acclaimed golf writer) in his book “James Braid”. He, Bernard, had many fond memories of Romford, one of them being that it was where he first met Jimmy Braid.
Walton Heath Golf Course..... In the meantime things were beginning to happen not very far away from Romford, at a place called Walton on the Hill. Cosmo Bonsor, who was a successful businessman, a Director of the Bank of England, Chairman of the South Eastern railway, and MP, among many other important positions in a long and distinguished life time, lived at Kingswood Manor Estate not far from Walton on the Hill. In 1902 Cosmo Bonsor bought the Walton Manor manorial rights, where he, and other interested parties, was attracted by the possibility of creating a golf course on the local Walton heathland; he would use his brother in law, Herbert Fowler, as the course designer. Cosmo Bonsor was created a Baronet in 1925 (London Gazette Jan 27th 1925).
William Herbert Fowler (Businessman and Golf Course Architect) .... was born into a wealthy Victorian family, had been a partner in a bank in Somerset, then a business man, and at one time had been the Mayor of Taunton. But it was not for any those achievements that he would become famous.... in fact he was never a very successful businessman. Herbert Fowler was about make the major career change from businessman to golf course designer: .... and he did so with a flourish with the ‘Old Course’ at Walton Heath. It set him off on an illustrious career as a Golf Course Architect, eventually going on to design courses around England, and the USA.
Meanwhile in Romford, someone was interested in the new golf course at Walton Heath .... our Jimmy. By the time Walton Heath was ready to ‘open’ in 1904 Jimmy had already won ‘The Open’ in 1901, and the ‘News of The World British Match Play’ in 1903; it was an ‘in form’ Jimmy Braid that applied for, and was accepted as the first Professional at Walton Heath Golf Club in April 1904.... he would remain there until he died in 1950. Only a few weeks after becoming the ‘Pro’ at Walton Heath, James tied second equal with JH Taylor in ‘The Open’, played at Sandwich that year (1904). Jimmy would win ‘The Open’ four times, the French Open once, and the British Match Play another three times before the Great War.... while at Walton Heath.
Walton on The Hill ...... John (‘JB’ my grandson) and I visited Walton on the Hill and Walton Heath Golf Club on 22nd December 2019 travelling from Sussex in John’s car. For days previous to our trip to Walton, Sussex had experienced the rains you would expect of a Scottish summer. A lot of water all over the place and the road we had intended taking, the A23, was flooded so we had to divert and reached Walton on the Hill by way of the Dorking Road.... which turned out to be the perfect way to get to where we wanted to be.
This was a visit that Maggie and I had intended making but with her deteriorating health that ‘plan’ had to be put off. As I mentioned earlier it was ten years after her passing (2009) before I decided to pick up, and finish the research we’d been doing and make the visit to Walton. I knew it would be an emotional visit .... even researching on my own has been an emotional journey.
home.Having ‘Googled’ my way round Walton on the Hill via Street Map view, we had no problem finding the three places we wanted to visit in Walton on The Hill: ‘Earlsferry’ the Braid family home, St Peter’s Church and Cemetery, and Walton Heath Golf Club.
“Earlsferry”, .... is a cosy looking two storey family home at the Junction of Meadow Walk and Dean Lane. Maggie would have been ‘over the moon’ had she been here; that was my thoughts as I popped a Christmas card through the letter box. It was at this time I realised just how emotional this visit was going to be.
St Peter’s Church and cemetery .... we hadn’t a clue as to where to begin looking for the ‘Braid’ headstone so we asked a gentleman who was going into the church if he knew. He didn’t, but did know someone who would know, and that gentleman was in the church (the service was due to start in about quarter of an hour). It turned out that the gentleman, who came out to help us was a former ‘ Chairman’ of the Golf Club and knew exactly where to look, so that mission was quickly accomplished.
Walton Heath Golf Club (Christmas 2019) .... arriving at Walton Heath Golf Club
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I had the same feeling that I imagine pilgrims must have the world over, when they arrive at ‘holy sites’: to me this was an especial place . We visited the ‘Clubrooms’, and were given permission to take photographs of the Jimmy Braid memorabilia on the walls of the various ‘rooms’.... and there was a lot of it. Visiting Walton Heath Golf Club felt, to me, like I was visiting my Granny’s house when I was a boy; there was a friendly/homely feel to it. After a guided tour of the ‘Club’ we went to the Pro Shop where the Assistant took us to Jimmy Braid’s workshop (now a small ‘museum’).
The first hole of the golf course is on the north side of the Dorking road with the other 17 holes on the other (south) side of the road. When the course was first opened the road would not be a problem.... it is now. We crossed the road to have a look at the eighteenth green and the course in general.... the heather gives it a ‘Scottish’ look, and I could imagine how it must have look when the heather was in bloom. Although far from the sea you felt it was a links course.... in fact if you listened carefully you could imagine you were hearing the sea not so far away: only it wasn’t waves causing this background noise, it was the traffic on the M25; reminding us that, although the golf course hasn’t changed much since 1904 the surrounding ‘countryside’ has.... greatly!
buildings and car park, for up market housing. The new Club would be on the other side of the Dorking road, and a grand looking place it would be, but I can’t help feeling that the homely feeling will be lost, though there will be a James Braid room.... but I saw no sign of the original ‘workshop’ shed on the plans.
Children of Minnie Alice and Jimmy Braid .... Jimmy and Minnie Alice had two boys; both born at Romford, Jimmy's first Golf Club as a Professional
James Braid; born 2nd August 1899. Died 1965 in Scotland (Troon).
Harry Muirfield Braid; born on the 31st May 1901. Died 9th June 1980.
Both boys had Professional careers in the whisky industry. Harry was a good Amateur golfer, joining the Golf House Club (Elie); and was Captain of the Club in 1952 and 53.
Harry was also an excellent businessman, and did much to boost the Whisky trade worldwide; in fact the whole of the UK spirits industry benefited from his business acumen, in the 1950's and 60's.
The Great War..... The Great War brought a halt to competitive golf in Europe. The ‘Triumvirate’, the three of them were too old to be ‘conscripted’, played their part during the war years by doing jobs vital to the war effort, in Jimmy's case munitions, and playing exhibition matches all over the UK raising huge sums of money for various War Charities. The first, ‘Open’ after the Great War was played in 1920 at the Cinque Ports Club in Deal (Kent).
Passing of Jimmy's parents
James Braid Snr..... Jimmy's Dad died in Earlsferry, age 74, on the 24th June 1913. Jimmy
Mary Braid.... (nee Harris).... Jimmy's Mum died in Earlsferry, age 93, on 15th October 1925
Jimmy registered his Mum’s death on the 15th at Elie Registrar and she was laid to rest beside his Dad in Kinneuchar kirkyard. James arranged for a headstone to be erected at the grave ... which I visit when visiting my parents, Jimmy’s, and other family graves.
Jimmy Braid .... died in a London hospital on the 27th November 1950.
Addendum .....
I mentioned that I would try to find Jimmy’s step sister, Jane Pryde Braid.... and I did, with a lucky hit, find her.
Jane Pryde Braid (daughter of James Braid Snr and his first wife Margery Bonthron; Jimmy Braid’s step sister).
Jane, by this time was using the name ‘Jeannie’ (and would be known by this name for the rest of her
Henry Snr. died on the 19th May 1914 aged 62. Jane, or Jeannie as she now was, died on July 12th 1933 age 73. See Photo of headstone in Scoonie kirkyard.
Henry had married his first wife, Christina Wallace on 21st November 1873 in Ceres. Christina died, of Typhoid fever and birth complications on 11th March 1878 at Easter Newburn Farm, where Henry was a ploughman. Henry moves to St Ford Farm to work as a ploughman at the beginning of the summer ‘Term’. where he met, and married, Jeannie Pride Braid.
Children of Jeannie (Jane) and Henry Guthrie:
James Braid Guthrie (I).... The first baby that couple had, was born on 13th February 1886, but, sadly, was born with spina bifida and only lived for 11 days.
Henry Guthrie Jr.... born 1888. Henry was a retired ‘Bank Head Office Manager’, in Edinburgh, when he collapsed, and died of a Coronary Thrombosis, in the family home, 10, Cadogan Rd Edinburgh, on October 13th 1955, age 67.
James Braid Guthrie (II) .... Born 1891. James was a Schoolmaster and only 47 years old when he died, from acute post operative pneumonia, on the 10th November 1937, after an appendectomy. Although he died in Edinburgh (24, Royal Terrace) his home address was, ??, Dick Place, Rosyth.
Hugh Smith Guthrie.... Born 1893. Hugh was a Chemist at the beginning of WWI. He joined the 7th Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) and was a 2nd Lieutenant when he died, in German hands, on the 31st March 1918. (Scoonie war memorial).
Marjory Bonthron Guthrie .... Born 1899. Marjory married James Newlands(?) a butcher, in Scoonie kirk manse (the writing is not very clear) on the 11th April 1921. I lose them after this.... they may have emigrated.
The Grandparents, James and Margery Bonthron were ploughman and a domestic Servant .... following a long line (probably) of land workers and domestic servants.... living a life of servitude. Their children no longer 'land workers', but, hard working, Professional members of the community.
Bibliography....
Henderson, Ian T and Stirk, David L (1986). Golf in the Making. 2nd Revised Edition. Winchester: Henderson & Stirk Ltd..
Braid, James (1908). Advanced Golf. London: Methuen and Co.
Darwin, Bernard (1952). James Braid. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Earlsferry Thistle Golf Club. Available at: https://earlsferrythistle.org.uk/index.html (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
Braid Hills Golf Course - Edinburgh Leisure. Available at: https://www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/venues/braid-hills-golf-course/ (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
The Golf House Club,Elie. Available at: https://www.golfhouseclub.co.uk/ (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
Romford Golf Club. Available at: https://www.romfordgolfclub.com/ (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
Walton Heath Golf Club. Available at: https://www.waltonheath.com/ (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
