Robert Findley Daglish

Here is a photograph which shows the name of Robert Findley Daglish, who served as Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force at the end of World War 1, and Flight Lietenant V.C. Cordingley. Also on the back of the photo are the words "The first machine to fly under the Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne New Years Day 1919".

Robert Findley Daglish, the son of James Daglish and Georgina Robinson, was born in Liverpool in May 1896 - although his family were from Newcastle. He died in March 1988.

Robert's brother, George Richard Gordon Daglish, a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service, was killed in 1917 at the age of 27.

Is Daglish an endangered name?

This week I read an article about how some unusual surnames have died out. With low numbers a name can become unsustainable. My wife has an unusual maiden name where this could become a possibility, as the current population of her family surname is very low. So what about Daglish?

Since the start of civil registration in the UK in 1837 the number of registered births has consistently exceeded the number of registered deaths. From the start of civil registration in 1837 until 2005 there were 3,624 births and 2,219 deaths recorded.


Another measure is the UK census records. In the 1851 UK Census there is a total of 408 Daglishes listed, of which most were in Durham (198) and in Northumberland (150).

By the 1901 Census the total had increased to 764, with 364 in Durham and 257 in Northumberland. Other Daglish families were living in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland and, increasingly, in London.

After the First World War, the drift to other areas of the country increased, reflecting greater mobility.

There are some web sites which can searched for details of surname numbers and distribution.

One is Surname Profiler, which gives a comparison of the distribution of a particular surname in England, Wales and Scotland in 1881 and 1998. This is displayed in figures and on maps - the ones for Daglish are shown here.

The one shown above left is for 1881, showing the high concentration of the name in the counties of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire. Purple is highest, followed by red and yellow. There were other Daglish families in Lancashire, Cumberland and in London - but these do not register on this particular map.

The second map, right, is for 1998. The highest numbers are still in the North East - but there is a much wider distribution throughout the country.

This spread can also be seen in libraries by looking at telephone directories - there are most entries in the directories for the North East, but there is usually at least one Daglish entry to be found in every directory.

Expressed in numbers, in 1881 there were 23 Daglishes per million names, which had risen to 25 per million in 1998. The ranking of the Daglish surname rose from 5592 in 1881 to 5472 in 1998.

The records also reflect a number of social trends.

One of the most striking is the decline in infant mortality. Comparing the 10 year period 1866-1875 with 100 years later (1966-1975), in 1866-75 39 infants died before their first birthday, and 10 more before the age of 2 (from a total of 141 deaths). One hundred years later there were only 2 deaths before the child's first birthday and no more before age 2 (total 137 deaths).

At the same time life expectancy has increased. In 1866-75, 18 people lived to be older than 70 (12.77%), with 5 of these reaching 80. 100 years later 83 people lived beyond 70 (60.59%), with 29 of these living beyond 80.

So it seems that, although unusual, the Daglish name is thriving - and there is no reason to be concerned for its continuing survival!

Extracts from the UK Daglish Births, Marriages and Deaths registers 1837 to 2005 can be searched in the Daglish Archive.

The Daglish Foundry, St. Helens

The picture shows the Robert Daglish & Company foundry in St. Helens, Lancashire in about 1870. The foundry started in the 1790s and Robert Daglish (senior) took an interest in 1818. By the 1840s, it was known as Watson, Daglish & Co., but from 1843 the Weston name was dropped.

The firm described itself in those days as "Brass & Iron Founders, Manufacturers of Steam Engines, Weighing Machines, Gas Apparatus, Mill Machinery, etc.". The company went on to build an international reputation for the casting and building of steam pumping and winding for the mining industry, and was particularly successful producing locomotives and bridges for the expanding railway network.

Visitors to Dublin today can find some evidence of the work of the foundry on the Rory O'More Bridge over the River Liffey, close to the Guinness brewery. The bridge was completed in 1859 as the Victoria Bridge and re-named in 1939 after Rory O'More, one of the key figures in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

Inscribed on the arch of the bridge is: "Robert Daglish Junr. St. Helens Foundry Lancashire". Robert Daglish Junior was the son of Robert senior, and was well known for his work on bridges.

By the 1890s the St. Helens site had extended to cover 25,000 square yards and over 400 people were employed. However, by the beginning of the 19th century the peak had passed, and by the 1920s a decline in the local collieries had reduced demand and some said that the machinery built by the Daglishes was too well-built to need replacing. The foundry was in continuous production from 1798 until its closure and eventual demolition in 1939.

Photo of the foundry and details provided by Richard Daglish, who has spent many years researching his Daglish family from Lancashire. Richard has provided much support and encouragement to my own Daglish research and is a member of the Daglish DNA Project.

Photo of the rolling equipment from book "A Teatise on Manures" by A.B. Griffiths.

Uppies and Downies 2007

I took an extended Easter break to travel to Workington to see the Uppies and Downies on Tuesday evening.

At 6:30 pm Robert Daglish (pictured left) threw off the ball. During the next hour, there was plenty of action as play took the ball across and often into the beck. For much of the time the ball was lost from sight in the scrummage, emerging every so often and thrown – presumably to a team-mate, although to the untrained eye it is hard to tell who is on which side.

As darkness fell the ball began to move down the beck in the direction of Curwen Hall and at about 9:15 the Uppies won the game by hailing the ball. The ball was hailed by Jamie Beaumont, who also plays for Workington Town Rugby League team. This also gave the Uppies the 2007 series, as they had also won the Good Friday game giving a 2-0 lead in the three match series.

However there is a possible cloud on the horizon. The game begins on The Cloffocks, an open space used for sport and recreation - and most of the action takes place there. Some space has already been lost to a car park and to new Council offices – but now a large part of the Cloffocks has been sold to Tesco for a new supermarket. Tesco’s original plans were to divert or cover the beck – but the discovery of salmon and lampreys, an endangered species, in the beck may have caused a change of plan. But this is still a subject of local controversy, with some disputing whether Allerdale Council has the lrgal right to sell land that was apparently left to the people of Workington for recreational use.

As an outsider, the Uppies and Downies is a unique event like nothing I have seen before, with a long and proud history. The continued existence of the games seems to be inextricably linked to the future of The Cloffocks – and it is to be hoped that a solution can be found which will allow the games to continue for many more years to come.

I would like to thank Bob and Robert Daglish, Linda Carter and Aunt Amy for their very warm hospitality, which was very much appreciated.

Uppies and Downies - Easter in Workington

The Uppies and Downies games take place every Easter in Workington – and there is a long tradition of involvement of the local Daglish family.

Uppies and Downies is one of only three mass-football events that are still played in the UK, the other two being at Ashbourne in Derbyshire and at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.

The games are played each year on Good Friday, the following Tuesday and the next Saturday - but it is the Tuesday game that the Daglish family has been involved with.

In recent years this is Bob Daglish and his son Robert. Bob told me:

"We have been involved with the game as far back as records began. Basically it involves the Up side of town getting the ball to the Curwen Hall and the Down side getting it to the harbour. There are no rules, we simply throw the ball off at 18.30 on Easter Tuesday and watch the fun!

Anyone can play, it can last 30 mins or it can last 6 hours. it depends alot on the weather and how many people turn out, sometimes 5 or 6 hundred, sometimes a couple of thousand (especially if Easter is late, and the weather good with light nights). There is no team strip or colours, you wear old clothes, especially if you intend following the ball into the beck (a beck is a small stream or a river)."

Each game starts at The Cloffocks, an open area used for recreational purposes, and is won by the team that reaches its goal and "hails" the ball by raising it three times. The play can go anywhere - in the river, in the beck or into the town. It can be rough – but rarely violent, although injuries are common and death is not unknown. Four players are known to have drowned – most recently in 1983.

Bob's father Henry Daglish (1917-1977) and his great great-uncle Anthony Daglish (1850-1933) are the only men ever to have thrown the ball off and hailed it in the same game. Anthony Daglish also appears in the all-time list of top "hailers" with five successes between 1871 and 1890. The cutting shown dates from around 1928.

The ball, which is dated, is hand made to an existing pattern and takes thirty hours to make. Each ball weighs about two and a half pounds and is 21 inches round. No spares are made.

The Uppies and Downies series raises thousands of pounds each year for charity through ticket draws and ball money donations.

With thanks to Bob Daglish, Linda Carter and to the Times & Star for the information. The cutting appears in the book "Workington in old picture postcards, Volume 2" by Derek Woodruff.

Yellowley & Daglish - grocers from Newcastle

Shown here is the cover of a catalogue from October 1958 published by Yellowley & Daglish Ltd - wholesale grocers, provision merchants and confectioners from Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Company claims to be "The North's Leading Wholesalers", with "25 Fully Trained Representatives covering the Counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire & North Lancashire".

It also shows the business has been "Established over 200 Years" - but I don't think that it has traded under this name for all of this time.

On 6 May 1856, William Daglish and Henry Yellowley agreed to take over the existing grocer's business run by William Yellowley in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle - so possibly the business was previously run by the Yellowley family. Both William and Henry Yellowley were already involved in the grocery business.

William Daglish was born in Morpeth, and was married twice. He died in 1902, aged 81. His only son, William Anthony Daglish (1854-1923), worked in the business - and I believe that William Anthony's sons may also have carried on in the business. I do not know if any Daglishes were involved in running the business at the time that the October 1958 catalogue was published.

The catalogue has 52 pages of listings and makes interesting reading. In among the lists are some little "words of wisdom", such as "Silence is one of the great arts of conversation".



Looking at some old Trade Directories*, in 1890 the business was still at 125 Pilgrim Street; in 1898 the address is 37 High Bridge, and in 1910 at 5 Elswick Court, an address it appears to have occupied for many years. The 1958 catalogue shows the address of the Head Office is shown as "YanD House", 961-973 Scotswood Road - and there is an address of an office in Belfast. I do not know what happened to the business after this date.

Any information about this long established business, and the involvement of this particular Daglish family, would be much appreciated.

* Local Trade Directories can be found in libraries - and there is a useful online resource Historical Directories, a project run by the University of Leicester.

Richard Rothwell Daglish - New Romney, Kent

This week I took the opportunity to visit New Romney in Kent, the adopted home of Richard Rothwell Daglish. New Romney was one of the original Cinque Ports (with Hastings, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich), and has a long and interesting history.

Richard was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1841, the son of Robert Daglish and Rebecca Rothwell. He studied medicine and in 1864 was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 1866 he married Laura Stringer, daugher of a lawyer from New Romney. They had one son, Harry Rothwell Daglish.

Richard retired in 1906 and died on 23 April 1908. His son Harry died in 1910 and his wife Laura died in 1915. The family are buried in the graveyard of the parish church, St. Nicholas.


Inside the church is a brass plate which reads:


To the glory of God and in loving memory of Richard Rothwell Daglish, the chamber was built and the machines for blowing the organ constructed at the expense of his widow Laura Daglish, July 15 1910. Also the glory of God and in fond remembrance of Harry Rothwell Daglish, son of the above, this Church was endowed in the sum of one thousand Pounds for the preservation of the organ under the Will of Laura Daglish, who passed away beloved by all January 25 1915.

Richard was mayor of New Romney four times (1885-87, 1888-89, 1894-96 and 1905-08) and was also Speaker of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports twice (1888-89 and 1895-96).

In West Street, there is an inscription on some cottages that were left by John Southland in 1610 as a hospital for the elderly.

This reads:
This Hospital being the gift of John Southland Gent: Anno 1610 was rebuilt at ye charge of Sr Robt. Austen and Sr Heny. Furneses Bar's Anno 1714
And was further endowed by Thomas Baker Gentleman Anno 1734 and by Richard Rothwell Daglish M.R.C.S. Anno 1908

The Daglish name is further commemorated in the town by a road named Daglish Close - unfortunately when we saw it the road sign was damaged.

The Wigan Daglish family, which had interests in coal mining and engineering, has been extensively researched over many years by Richard Daglish. The family moved to Lancashire from Northumberland at the beginning of the 19th century. Richard has provided me with much help, support and encouragement during the much shorter time that I have been researching into Daglish family history. Richard is a member of the Daglish DNA Study.

For King and Country

Few towns, villages or families were not touched by the wars of the 20th century, and in particular the two World Wars. Those who died are commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) web site.

There are 31 Daglish names listed and details given usually include name, rank, service number, regiment or unit, date of death, age, names of parents and the cemetery or memorial. Please see the names listed below - more details can be found by going to the CWGC web site.


The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established in 1917 and pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. The commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots; over one million casualties are commemorated in 150 countries.

The CWGC operates under the following principles:
- each of the dead should be commemorated by name on a headstone or memorial;
- headstones and memorials should be permanent;
- headstones should be uniform;
- there should be no distinction made on account of rank, race or creed.

Alexander Daglish, died 1916, age 20
Abner Daglish, died 1916, aged 20
Arthur Ernest Daglish, died 1917, age 27
Charles John Daglish, died 1915, age 31
Edward Daglish, died 1943, age 51
Edward Graham Daglish, died 1944, age 23
E.H. Daglish, died 1918
George Daglish, died 1942, age 22
George Richard Gordon Daglish, died 1917, age 27
Harry Jackson Daglish, died 1943
John Daglish, died 1915
John Daglish, died 1915, age 16
J. Daglish, died 1918
James Daglish, died 1940, age 20
Joseph Bucknall Daglish, died 1916
Joslyn Frederick Daglish, died 1941, age 23
J.H. Daglish, died 1919, age 18
John Pattison Daglish, died 1941, age 56
John Snowden Jackson Daglish, died 1941, age 37
John Thomas Daglish, died 1941, age 37
J.W. Daglish, died 1916
John William Daglish, died 1919, age 22
Robert Daglish, died 1941, age 59
R. Daglish, died 1915, age 20
R. Daglish, died 1916, age 27
R.A. Daglish, died 1915, age 27
Reuben Richard Daglish, died 1942, age 36
Thomas Reuben Daglish, died 1914
W. Daglish, died 1916, age 38
William Daglish, died 1916
W. Daglish, died 1917, age 29

Other sites which may be of interest are:
The British War Memorial Project
UK National Inventory of War Memorials
North East War Memorials Project
Imperial War Museum

Henry Daglish - premier of Western Australia

Henry Daglish was the first Labor premier of Western Australia from 10 August 1904 until 25 August 1905.

He was born in Ballarat West, Victoria, on 18 November 1866. His father was William Daglish, who had emigrated to Australia from Newcastle upon Tyne with his first wife Elizabeth Forster. After Elizabeth died in 1860, William married Henry's mother, Mary Ann James.

Henry married Edith Bishop in 1894 and in 1896 they joined many others moving to Western Australia, settling in the fast growing town of Subiaco.

Henry became involved in local politics, serving as mayor before being elected as Labor member for Subiaco. After the fall of his administration, he resigned from the Labor party in August 1905 and was elected as an independent in the October 1905 election; he served as minister for works under Frank Wilson from 1910 to 1911. Losing his seat at the 1911 election, he became an estate agent and from 1912 until his death in August 1920 he was employers' representative on the State Arbitration Court. He had a daughter Edith Rachel (b. 1896) and son Henry William (b. 1898).

Henry is remembered in the Perth suburb of Daglish which was named after him. Daglish railway station was built in 1924, and it is written:

Not every railway station has its name spelt out in greenery, but there is a trimmed hedge beside the Daglish station on the Railway Road frontage that leaves passengers in little doubt that this is indeed DAGLISH. To create a unique and attractive garden feature that also served a useful purpose was probably an English rural tradition, where railway station gardens were the source of much pride and a degree of competition.
Ken Spillman - Identity Prized : A History of Subiaco, UWA Press, 1985

The Methodist influence

During the last week two people have written to me about the strong Methodist influence in their Daglish family histories. This does seem to be common amongst many of the Daglish familes, including my own - and I think this would be an interesting subject for further research.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, spent much of his life touring Britain and Ireland preaching to crowds - often numbering many thousands - in the open air. It is estimated he covered over 250,000 miles and preached some 40,000 sermons, and until his death in 1791 he continued to campaign tirelessly on social issues and for universal education.

His journals hold a record of his travels and show that he visited the North-East of England on 48 occasions, visiting towns and villages sand giving birth to Methodism in the region.

Methodism appealed to the working people with a down-to-earth, more informal approach to religion. Wesley encouraged people to work hard and to save for their future; he also warned about the dangers of gambling and drinking.

Later during the nineteenth century the methodist movement split into groups, such as the Prmitive Methodists, which set up their own meeting places. These divisions ended in 1932 when most of the various strands of Methodism were reunited to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Duncan & Daglish - Newcastle brewers

Duncan & Daglish Limited was a company in Newcastle upon Tyne involved in brewing, pubs and hotels and wine and spirit merchants. The company was formed in 1899 by John Duncan and Jacob Daglish, taking over an existing business J. Duncan & Company which had also been formed by Duncan and Daglish and which was involved in the same business.

The new company acquired the Westgate Hill Brewery and had 22 licensed premises, of which 15 were well established premises in Newcastle - others were in Gateshead, South Shields, Middlesbrough and Bishop Auckland. Additional houses were acquired in 1900 from local wine merchant D.A. Williamson & Co.

Pictured is the Black Bull Hotel in Wallsend; this shows "Duncan and Daglish" above the door and windows (although it is hard to see it here due to the small size of the picture).


The company continued to expand and in 1907 Bass, the brewer from Burton, acquired a substantial shareholding. By the Second World War Bass owned a majority shareholding and the company became a subsidiary of Bass - although the name of Duncan and Daglish continued to be used until 1967.

Jacob Daglish was born in 1852, the son of William Daglish, who in the 1861 census was a maltsman in Tynemouth. Jacob followed in his father's footsteps serving an apprenticeship as a maltster at Carr's Low Lights Brewery in North Shields before becoming North of England agent for Aitken & Co. of Falkirk. He also had interests in steamship and colliery companies and became mayor of Tynemouth in 1900.

There is a statue of Queen Victoria in Tynemouth which reads:

"Erected by public subscription to the memory of our late beloved Queen Victoria by the inhabitants of the Borough of Tynemouth during the Mayoralty of Alderman Daglish J.P. 1901-02 and unveiled by the Mayoress October 25th 1902". Jacob had three sons and two daughters and died in July 1904.


Information about Duncan and Daglish from the book Brewers and Bottlers, Newcastle upon Tyne by Brian Bennison, 1995

Update:


I recently received this photo of the grave of Jacob's parents William Daglish and Isabella (nee Coulson), in Preston Cemetery, North Shields. This shows William's death on 25 July 1865, aged 46, and Isabella's death on 18 Jun 1879, aged 62.
This was taken by Cindy Nunn and her husband Colin Nunn, to whom I am very grateful.

Daglish or Dalglish?

This week I found a new web site "The Internet Surname Database" which promises to tell you about the origins of your family name.

If you are a Daglish, at some time you have probably had others mis-spell or mis-pronounce your name! If you live in the UK, the name is often confused with Dalglish (after footballer Kenny Dalglish) or Dalgliesh (after Adam Dalgliesh, the fictional detective in novels by crime writer P.D. James).

So, is there a connection? Well, according to this web site there is - see details below.

It seems to me that it is likely that the name Dalglish has its roots as a place name in this area of Scotland - there are villages of Over Dalgliesh and Nether Dalgliesh on the B709 road south of Ettrick by Tima Water.

However, so far the widely held view that Daglish is a variant if Dalglish has not so far been supported by our research in the Daglish One-Name Study.

For now this remains a big unanswered question - if you have any thoughts or information we would be pleased to know!

This interesting and unusual name, with the variants Dalglesh, Dalglish, Dagleas, Dagless and Daglish, is of Scots origin and is locational from a place "above the sources of the Tinna Water in the parish of Ehrick, Selkirk". It was first recorded in 1383 in the form Dalglas and derives from the Gaelic "dail", field and "glas", green. Unfortunately it seems that some early individual of the family were connected with disturbances of the peace and got on the wrong side of the law, for example George Dalgleish, confidential sevitor of the Earl of Bothwell, was executed for participation in the murder of Darnley in 1567. However in the other extreme, Simon Dalgles was Canon and Prebend of Askirk in 1448 and offshoots of the family established in Timmygaske, Fife "successfully avoided any distinction". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Symon de Dagles, which was dated 1407, in the "Register of the Great Seal of Scotland", during the reign of King James of Scotland, 1406 - 1437. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Copyright: Name Orgin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2006

Coal Mining in County Durham

Many Daglish families worked in the coal mines of County Durham, Northumberland and Yorkshire, often living in mining villages which grew up around the pits. Life was hard and working conditions often dangerous.

For anyone interested in coal mining in Durham I would strongly recommend a visit to the Durham Mining Musuem web site. The site includes a wealth of material, including a history of mining, details of individual collieries with historical maps and reports of the all-too common disasters.

The site lists details of those who lost their lives, which includes the following:

George Daglish - died 1912, age 34, Browney

James Daglish - died 1876, age 13, Usworth

John Daglish - died 1894, age 20, St. Helen's, Workington

Stodart Daglish - died 1928, age 48, Murton

Timothy Daglish - died 1905, age 21, Dean & Chapter

Vincent Daglish - died 1961, age 37, Murton

William Daglish - died 1855, age 71, Littletown

I am grateful to Kev Duncan, the webmaster of the Durham Mining Museum site, for providing the photo above of the sadly neglected grave of Stodart Daglish at Murton Cemetery.

Olly takes on the Dragons

Olly Daglish, a surf instructor from Newquay, appeared on the first of the current series of the BBC show Dragons' Den looking for a £50,000 investment in his Ollypop surf towel product.

“It all happened so quickly", Olly said. I was contacted by the associate producer of the Dragons' Den early in November. He’d read about Ollypop in the press, loved the idea and asked me if I'd like to apply to go on the show. He sent the application through and after a lot of deliberation I thought what the hell, filled it out and sent it back. Three weeks later there I was in the Den!”

Olly asked for £50,000 in return for 20% of his company and, although he did not get the money, has no regrets about going on the show.

For more details see the Ollypop site.

The Daglish water gauge

This instrument was made by T.B. Winter & Son of 21 Grey Street, Newcastle on Tyne. There is a plate which shows Daglish's Water Gauge - see below.

Water entered from behind into the U-shape pipe and there is a measure.

Any information about this would be welcome - how old it is, how it worked or the makers T.B. Winter & Son from Newcastle.

Robert Henry Daglish of Crook, County Durham

I recently acquired an old beer bottle, which has on it "R H Daglish - Crook". In this case Crook is the name of a place in County Durham.

I believe this bottle was made for Robert Henry Daglish (1865-1911). Robert's father was Matthew Daglish, who was a coal miner - but in the 1881 census was an inn keeper at the Heights of Alma public house in Mount Pleasant, near Crook.

Robert Henry was twice married - to Elizabeth Storey and later to Elizabeth's sister Ada. He died in Harrogate in Yorkshire but his home was in Hope Street, Crook. His occupation at time of death was given as Saddler and Wine and Spirit Merchant.

It would be interesting to hear from anyone with knowledge of this family or of the area in which they lived.

Welcome to The Daglish Family Blog

A warm welcome! I hope this will be of interest to those who share the Daglish family name or have some connection to it.


As far as we can tell, the Daglish surname originates in County Durham and Northumberland in the North of England - but over time has spread through most of the UK and to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.


For more information, please see the Daglish One-Name Study.