Strongman
Samson Besford the strongman had a hobby of collecting mangles. He is featured in a 2015 mural in Sunderland.
Besfords
The history of the Besfords
Curiosities
Record-breaking trawler skipper
David Besford, the skipper of the St. Patrick trawler, broke the record for biggest landing ever made by a beam trawler at Lowestoft.
Cinema pioneer
George Besford (1871–1938) started out as a shipbuilder, but went on to be a leading figure in the cinema industry.
Medals sold at auction
George Bestford’s wartime medals were sold at auction in 2024. His great grandfather was William Besford, without a ‘t’.
Killed on a railway viaduct
John Besford (1820–1875) was killed by a passing train while working on a viaduct.
Coal miner becomes pub landlord
William Thomas Besford was a miner who became the landlord of The Waterloo Hotel on Queen Street, Amble, Northumberland.
Crop circles
In June 2014, a crop circle featuring a star design appeared in Besford.
Dr Besford’s Aubergine Pickle
Chef Cyrus Todiwala created an aubergine pickle at his restaurant and named it after Dr John Besford, a regular customer.
Besford Hotel
Samuel Besford (1822–1889) and his wife Mary Ann ran the Besford Family Hotel in Colchester.
Grandfather clock for service to the trade union
The Ashington Mineworkers Federation presented Jack Besford with a grandfather clock in 1939. It was donated to Woodhorn Museum in 2019.
Besford family in Northumberland
Explore the history of the Besford family in Northumberland through a
series of articles written by John Hornsby. These are also linked from the
family tree, which traces back to
James Besford, who was married in
Rothbury in 1679.
John William (Jack) Besford (1891–1975)
Jack Besford began work as a miner on his 13th birthday, and went on to become a leading trade unionist.
David Besford (1863–1954)
David Besford was born at Cowpen Colliery, where he began work aged 12. His work as a Methodist lay preacher led him to meet his wife.
Joan Besford (née Matthews) (1921–2019)
Joan Matthews was born in Haltwhistle, Northumberland. She married David Besford four years after the start of the Second World War.
Dorothy Jane (Dora) Besford (later Hornsby) (1915–2018)
Dora Besford spent two years training to be a teacher at City of Leeds Training College, and returned to teach at Hirst North Girls School.
David Besford (1919–2015)
David Besford worked for the Cooperative Wholesale Society in Newcastle, where he met his future wife Joan Matthews. He drove a fire engine during the Second World War, and later joined the Civil Service.
George Besford (1871–1938)
George Besford started out as a shipbuilder, but went on to become a cinema manager.
George Besford (1893–1966)
George Besford was born in Amble, Northumberland. He lost his leg in the Battle of the Somme, and later worked in the lamp cabin at Woodhorn Colliery, Ashington.
John Hornsby’s Recollections
John Hornsby is a grandson of Jack Besford, and grew up in Newcastle in the 1950s and 1960s. He has written about the period from his earliest memories to the start of his adulthood.
They include Saturday teas around the table at 550 West Road, the Northumberland Miners’ Association house his grandparents lived in, seaside holidays, and his first Newcastle United match at St James’ Park in September 1960.
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Famous Besfords
Dr John Besford
A Harley Street prosthodontist, Dr John Besford wrote Good Mouthkeeping and co-designed a denture system that won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2004.
John Charles Preston (Jack) Besford
Jack Besford was a dentist and amateur swimmer, who became British and European swimming champion.
Debby Besford
Debby Besford’s photographs of Norfolk youth culture in the 1980s and 90s are held by the Museum of Youth Culture. She teaches photography in Norfolk and Cambridge.
Pat Besford
Swimming correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Pat Besford wrote the first Encyclopaedia of Swimming in 1971.
Places
Discover the
places associated with the name Besford, in many cases linked to
Besford in Worcestershire and
Shropshire.
Besford Court
Besford Court is a gothic English country house. It is a Grade II*-listed building, located in Besford, Worcestershire.
Besford House
Built as a private house in 1893, Besford House at Shrewsbury became a boys’ home in 1911 to keep children out of the workhouse, and is a family home again today.
Besford Church
One of the few timber-framed churches in England, St Peter’s at Besford holds a pre-Reformation rood screen, Jacobean altar rails and monuments to the Harewell and Sebright families.
Besford Water Tower
Built in 1926 to supply Besford Court, the water tower served as a Home Guard observation post in the Second World War and has since been the subject of a planning application.
Besford family in Australia
The
family tree of the Besfords in Australia can be traced back to
David Besford (1897–1991) and
Thomas Besford (1899–1994), who emigrated from England to Australia in the 1920s.
David Besford (1897–1991)
David Besford was injured fighting in the First World War. He and his family emigrated from the UK to Australia in 1925, where he worked as a mines inspector.
Thomas Besford (1899–1994)
Thomas Besford was born at Chevington Crescent, Northumberland. He was a miner who first relocated with his family to Kent, and then in 1928 to Australia.
Ted Besford
Ted Besford moved to Australia with his parents at the age of 10. He went on to be an Australian rules footballer and cricketer.
Margaret Alice Dodds (1901–1986)
Alice Dodds married Tommy Besford in 1925. They and their children emigrated to Australia in 1928.
Unsolved mysteries
Help us get to the bottom of the unsolved mysteries of the Besfords.
🔍 Why did John Besford and Margaret Patterson marry in All Saints’ Church, Newcastle? (1850)
🔍 Why did William Besford die in Scotland? (1879)
🔍 Where was James Besford born? (1650s/60s)
🔍 Who was the George Besford buried at All Saints’ Church, Rothbury? (1721)
Besfords in the late medieval period
Records from the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) include two men named John Besford, the first being a Clerk on Overseas Service in 1382, and the second an Archer in 1441.
John Hornsby explains the records at The National Archives and the link to the village in Worcestershire.
There is a gap of 97 years between the record of John Besford serving as an Archer in France, and the start of Parish Registers, which would potentially provide the link to the earliest Besford traced in the modern era, James Besford in 1679.