Hi
Does anyone have any earlier information about William Beck who married into the Wilson family?
William Beck
Sex : Male
Age : ?
Occupation : Hosier
Notes :
An Englishman
Married
Margaret Wilson born 1759 Daughter of Father : Walter Wilson Mother : Catherine Oliver
Children : 1781 Katharine Douglas Beck
1780 William Beck
Sally Trotter Beck
Peggy Beck
Betty Farquhar Beck
1785 John Beck
Nanny Thorburn Beck
My tree has led me back to them via Sally Trotter Beck, William and Margaret's daughter.
The info source for the above was a correspondent across the pond.
@StintonLomas
Not sure if this will help, but you may find it informative all the same. Walter Wilson AKA Handless Wat as he was born with just one hand. He and Catherine Oliver were my 5 x Great Grandparents.
William Beck (18th/19th C.) from Carlisle, he was apprenticed to Bailie Hardie in 1775. Afterwards he started out on his own, and by 1818 was producing 41,000 pairs of hose per year. He became one of the most popular employers in Hawick, being the only manufacturer who refused to lower wages during the dispute that led to the ‘Lang Stand Oot’ of 1822.
There is a record of 1788 (with the Board of Trustees for Manufactures) of him asking for funds to purchase a frame for ribbed stockings. One of his frame knitting apprentices was John Pringle, half brother of Robert, founder of Pringle’s. He is still recorded as a stocking manufacturer on the High Street in Pigot’s 1825/6 directory. His firm was declared bankrupt in 1821, but must have recovered. However, it collapsed in 1826, possibly related to bank failures at the time.
A sale of his company’s and personal effects took place in the Subscription Rooms in late 1827 (including the sale of his share in those Rooms). Since his household possessions were also being sold off, then probably he died in 1827.
An engraved cup presented to him by his employees in 1819 is in the Museum. His stocking-shop was off the back of 21 High Street, and he is marked as owner there on Wood’s 1824 map. In 1779 he married Margaret (or ‘Peggy’) Wilson, daughter of Walter Wilson (known as ‘Handless Wat’) in Hawick.
Their children included: William (b.1780), who died unmarried; Katherine (b.1781), who married Robert Douglas in 1800; Sarah (b.1783), who must have died young; John (b.1783), possibly a twin of Sarah; Sarah or Sally (b.1785), who married George Trotter; Margaret or ‘Peggy’ (b.1786), who married John Routledge and secondly M. Thompson; Betty, who married G. Farquhar; and Nanny (or perhaps Nancy), who married John Thorburn.
He was said to be fond of good eating, and his house was a favourite eating place for friends and relations. In later life his wife was known as ‘Auld Peggy Beck’. William Beck JNR (b.1780) elder son of manufacturer William. He was a hosier and was Cornet in 1808. Like his father he was listed as a freeman of Carlisle in an election of 1816. He died unmarried.
Beck’s (beks) n. William Beck’s stockingshop. The building was constructed about 1800 and marks a transition between the cottage and factory industries. The firm collapsed in 1826 following bank failures. The upper floor of the building has small regularly sized and spaced windows, each of which would have provided light for a single stocking frame. It is hidden at the back of 21 High Street, and was converted into a dwelling by Dennis Rodwell for the National Trust for Scotland in 1991 as part of the ‘Little Houses’ scheme. It is a grade C listed building.
Courtesy of "A Hawick Word Book" by Professor Douglas Scott (You can find this online). I am mentioned in it as a contributor.
http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/scott/book.pdfBrett
