Benjamin Connell Cox was born in Clifden, Galway, Ireland in 1854. The son of a surgeon, Benjamin had a twin brother named Joshua John Cox. A couple of years after the birth of the twins, the family moved to Scotland - initially settling in Edinburgh before moving to Innerleithen in the Borders. By 1871, Joshua was studying medicine, while Benjamin had become an apprentice at a woollen mill. A decade later, Benjamin was in Selkirk, employed as a commercial traveller for George Roberts and Co. of Forrest Mill. In 1888 he married Harriet Kate McDowell in Birkenhead, Cheshire and they went on to have four children: Muriel (1890), Elsie (1891), Winifred (1894) and John (1900). 

The family lived at Mauldsheugh in Selkirk and over the years, Benjamin worked his way up within Roberts and Co. to become a director of the firm. He was one of the principal shareholders when the firm became a limited company in 1892. The business went on to prosper, becoming a leader in the Scottish woollen industry by the early 1900s. In 1903, Cox retired as managing director (see Southern Reporter piece below from 5 February 1903).  
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The Cox family relocated to Fife, residing initially at St Andrews. However, by May 1904, they had secured the lease of Largo House, and of the shootings on Largo Law (see St Andrews Citizen of 28 May above). They quickly became prominent in their new community. The piece below from the 17 August 1905 Leven Advertiser describes how a group of Juvenile Templars were entertained by Mr and Mrs Cox. The family appeared to have been supporters of the temperance movement. In a 1907, when seeking a groom to work at Largo House, the advert noted that "abstainer preferred".​
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Benjamin Cox gave talks locally as well, such as the example above on the subject of pond life, illustrated with lantern slides. He had joined the Parish Council by 1908 and held a variety of roles within it over the years that followed. When Largo Miniature Rifle Club was formed on 1 December 1908, Benjamin became Honorary President. The following year, he was elected Captain of Lundin Golf Club (see 18 August Leven Advertiser below). The year 1909 was also when the Cox family collected their new Daimler car.

Cox's tenure as Captain was an eventful one at Lundin Golf Club. The Club's new 18 hole course was completed later in 1909 and on 29 November he had the honour of driving the first ball, using a ‘Dreadnought’ club donated by Sir John Gilmour. Cox presented the Club with a silver cup to mark the occasion (see 1 Dec 1909 Leven Advertiser snippet below). He also presided at opening of Lundin Ladies new course in April 1910. The photograph further below of Cox seated was taken during his spell as Golf Club Captain.

In the census of 1911, which was taken on 2 April, Mr and Mrs Cox and their two eldest children Muriel and Elsie, were away in London - residing at the recently-completed Berner's Hotel on Berners Street just off Oxford Street. Younger daughter Winifred (Freda) was at school in St Andrews, while son John was at Ardvreck boarding school in Crieff. This stay in London likely marked the period between the end of their lease of Largo House and their move to Gilston House. Shortly afterwards it was reported (in 29 April 1911 Fifeshire Advertiser item below) that the family had taken up a lease of Gilston House, between Upper Largo and Largoward.

The advert below from three years earlier in Country Life magazine, describes Gilston House in detail. At the time, the house had 14 bedrooms, 5 public rooms, extensive well-stocked gardens, stables, tennis courts and access to large shooting grounds. The Cox family remained there for around eight years before making a return to Largo House in 1919. During the First World War, Benjamin acted as Chief Special Constable for one of the Fife districts. He was also a member of the Appeal Tribunal for Fife under the Military Service Acts and of the County War Pensions Committee.
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Once the family were back at Largo House, youngest daughter Freda Cox started the 1st Largo Girl Guide Company in October 1920. She acted as the Captain of the Guides until 1924. The 1921 census, records Benjamin, Harriet and Elsie at Largo House along with seven servants (see details below). 
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As well as a stint on the Parish Council, Benjamin became a member of Fife County Council. His involvement lasted for nine years, including a spell as Convener of the County Finance Committee. However, in December 1922 he retired from those duties owing to poor health. Early in 1923, his twin brother Joshua John Cox O.B.E. died on a visit to Largo House (see below from 27 January Fifeshire Advertiser).
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Benjamin himself passed away on 17 March 1924 at Largo House aged 70 years. The 22 March 1924 Dundee Courier piece below details the "large company of mourners" that followed the hearse from the service in Largo House to the cemetery. Further below is an image of the headstone, which is shared with his wife Harriet, who lived until 1956 and to the age of 93 years.
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The Birkmyre Bowl is the trophy played for annually at the Lundin Open - an individual open golf tournament held at Lundin Golf Club. The tournament was inaugurated in 1950, so this year marks its 75th anniversary. The trophy was presented by Ian Tyson Birkmyre in honour of his late father, William George Birkmyre, who had been an enthusiastic member of the club. The piece below from the 21 June 1950 Leven Mail reported that the winner of the first annual Open Tournament, from an entry of 130, was local golfer Robert Oswald.

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Like many Glasgow (or Edinburgh) businessmen, William took a holiday home by the sea. For much of the 1930s he rented part of Rollo Villa at the Temple, Lower Largo. It also appears that his son, Ian Tyson Birkmyre, had settled in Lundin Links. Both William and Ian joined Lundin Golf Club. In 1936, William became a non-resident member of the club's council (see 28 July 1936 extract from the Leven Mail below) while still being primarily Glasgow-based. 

​William George Birkmyre died on 12 June 1946, aged 68, while staying at Westcliffe on Crescent Road, Lundin Links. His main residence was Westbourne House, Glasgow (pictured above). The 19 June 1946 Leven Mail noted the death of this "well known residenter" who was "held in much esteem". His son, Ian Birkmyre continued to be active at Lundin Golf Club, presenting the Birkmyre Bowl in his father's memory in 1950, and becoming Club Captain 1955-57.  
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The annual tournament in memory of William Birkmyre grew in popularity over the years. In 1968 the bowl was lifted by local coal merchant and Lundin member Jack Thomson, when he outplayed a field of 180, which included entries from as far afield as Canada and Kenya. The following year Ian Ness of Earlsferry Thistle took the bowl. In the photo above, Ian Birkmyre is pictured on the far left (11 June 1969 Leven Mail). For many years, Ian Birkmyre was on hand to make the presentation of the bowl, appearing in many photographs in the local newspaper. In 1971 the youngest ever winner was 17-year-old David Smith, pictured below from the 9 June Leven Mail. The George Watson's pupil and son of Dr A.N.W. Smith of Lundin Links won the title with a "best of a lifetime" around of 70.
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In 1972, Alan Campbell of Glenrothes was victorious and he is seen in the image above receiving the bowl from Ian Birkmyre (7 June Leven Mail). Ian Tyson Birkmyre died in 1988 at the age of 75. All four of the Birkmyre family - William, Jane, Ian and Georgie - are buried at Largo Cemetery. On the headstone, pictured below, are the words "All laid to rest in this place. Sleep well." 
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The Pitch and Putting Green in the above postcard view was laid out in 1923. The development was instigated by Robert C. Paxton of Homelands. He had been Captain of Lundin Golf Club 1907-08 and remained influential at the club, as well as within the wider community. The small piece below from the 26 April 1923 Leven Advertiser notes that Paxton was "again to the fore with an improvement scheme". He had provided and equipped a recreation hut for ex-Servicemen in 1920, among other public and private gifts.
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David Patrick lived and worked from his home on Golf Road overlooking the pitch and putting course. It can be seen on the right of the map extract below, where the short street named Golf Road meets the railway line. The site of the pitch and putting course is bounded by the railway to the south and the curve of Station Road to the north. The 18th hole of Lundin Golf Course is marked just below the railway line (and the 1st hole below that).

The 5 July 1923 Leven Advertiser below covered the inauguration of the pitch and putting course. The first ball was struck by Sheriff-Principal James Alexander Fleming K.C. of Strathairly House (who had been Captain of Lundin Golf Club 1919-20 and who had in 1921 unveiled Largo War Memorial). A total of 172 people went on to take part in a competition on the course that evening. The piece also notes that William Yule was appointed greenkeeper.

The above postcard is postmarked Leven 28 August 1912 and was addressed to Mrs William Wallace, 116 Easter Road, Edinburgh. The sender was Maggie of 2 Seagate, Leven and her message was as follows:

Dear Aunt, A little brother arrived here on Monday morning, both mother and baby are keeping well. Maggie 

On the front of the postcard was a faded image taken from the Links at Leven, looking towards Lundin Links and Largo. More interesting is the large "BB" written in blue pencil over the message side of the card.  Was this code for Baby Boy? Could this have been something added by the postal service - an annotation to indicate a special message?  If you know anything of this practice, please comment.

​Postcards specially designed for birth announcements did exist at the time. Some examples are shown below. Most of them consisted of imagery such as cabbage patches, storks and chimneys!
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Who was this "little brother" and who was Maggie?  The birth record below provides the answer. John McLean MacDonald was born at 2 Seagate, Leven on Monday 26 August 1912. His parents were Hector MacDonald, a dock labourer, and Isabella Doig. His elder sister Margaret Balfour MacDonald was born in 1898, so was aged around 14 at the time of his birth. The family (with five children) still lived at 2 Seagate at the time of the 1921 census. Baby John lived to the age of 84, passing away in 1996 in Leven.

The annotated image below picks out some recognisable features from the postcard image:

1. Aithernie House (Old Manor Hotel)
2. Lundin Links Station
3. Elmwood and Ravenswood
4. Lundin Golf Club House
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John More Dall, pictured above, was born in 1863 in Elie to blacksmith John Dall and his wife Agnes More. He grew up at the smithy on the back dykes at Elie, but by the 1881 census John was living on the High Street with his maternal grandmother and two older sisters, while employed as a 'Law Clerk (apprentice)'. His employment was in the offices of William Robinson Ketchen (pictured below from the 1902 Fife News Illustrated Almanac). Ketchen was a banker and solicitor who had come to Elie in 1857 to act as National Bank agent for the branches at Elie and Largo. Ketchen was also prominent in public life, being instrumental in forming Elie Golf Club and acting as Provost of Elie for six years. Ketchen provided John More Dall with a firm grounding in both law and banking.

Dall also introduced a Savings Bank for Largo and District. This was overseen by a group of directors drawn from the local community and was available to locals at set times each week at locations across the three villages - the Bank in Upper Largo, the Baptist Church Session House in Lower Largo and the Temperance Hall in Lundin Links. The directors included local clergymen, builders and other prominent men who were active in the public sphere. This included Inspector of the Poor Robert Black and Largo Estate gardener Robert Smith.

In 1909, John remarried, to Margaret Graham. They went on to have four children together - Mary (b. 1907), John (b. 1909), Helen (b. 1913, d. 1914) and Christina (b.1916, d. 1917). The 1911 census records the family at Bank House. The household comprised, John, his wife Margaret, his three eldest daughters, two younger children (aged 4 and 1) and a servant. A decade later, the couple were in the same home together with four children and servant. John was then aged 57 and still described as a 'bank agent' with National Bank of Scotland Limited.

During his years in Largo, John became an active member of Largo Curling Club, Largo Bowling Club and Lundin Golf Club. He wrote the history of Largo Curling Club when he was club secretary there. He was joint secretary and treasurer of Lundin Golf Club for fourteen years. The 15 July 1924 Leven Advertiser told of how "Mr's Dall's minute book was as neatly kept as his cash and other books, and he grudged no time in the performance of the duties which came under the combined offices".

At first glance, the front elevation of the clubhouse of the Lundin Ladies Golf Club has changed very little from the 1897 drawing above. In fact, a few changes have occurred over the years, including the removal of the veranda's decorative balustrade, the enlargement of the windows, the repositioning of the front door and an extension to both the left and rear. The 10 May 1897 Dundee Advertiser announced the original construction of the building was underway. Details were provided of the internal layout and the contractors involved in the works (see below). 

The photograph above shows the clubhouse on its original site, with many smartly-attired lady golfers congregated around the veranda. The Ladies Club was based at this location until 1909 when the clubhouse and ladies course were relocated to 'Standing Stanes Park'. The minutes of the 12 November committee meeting stated that "It was arranged to have the Club-House lifted from the present Links to the new Ladies Links at once." The piece below from the 24 November Leven Advertiser confirms the removal of the pavilion. 
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The proximity of the new links to the houses on Leven Road resulted in some complaints about balls going over garden walls. The note above from the 30th March 1910 committee meeting notes this issue (and the fact that some players even ventured over the wall into gardens). The solution was "to have barbed wire put up on the wall". The official opening of the new course took place on 15 April 1910 and the following year a house was built for the greenkeeper (seen to the right of the postcard view below).
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In 1998, substantial alterations were carried out to the clubhouse, building out to the rear as shown in the images above and below. The front windows were also lowered, to enhance the view of the course from inside. The club house was now fit to face the new millennium. It continues to stand the test of time and remains a hub of activity. Find out more about the club today here: ​lundinladiesgolfclub.co.uk/
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The Standing Stanes of Lundin are three tall, unsculptured, irregularly shaped pillars of red sandstone. Ranging from about 13'6" to 18' high, they are thought to date back around four thousand years. In a world that's forever changing, the Standing Stones of Lundin provide a reassuring familiarity. These megaliths are one of the few local landmarks that would be recognisable to our ancestors. The land use around the stanes has however changed with the times. Long gone are the sheep pictured in the etching above by local engraver William Ballingall circa 1870. Crops no longer grow around their bases. For the past century plus, golf has been played among and around them.
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​This 1872 photograph by John Patrick shows a gentleman examining the stones while near rows of crops grow at his feet. It was likely a farm worker that discovered a "coffin built of loose slabs" on the site around 1844, which had been exposed immediately adjoining the standing stones. 

The 1908 image captured by Lady Henrietta Gilmour shows the stones shortly before the Lundin Ladies Golf Club moved to occupy the site and embrace the stanes as a feature of their course. The zoomed in detail below shows clear evidence of graffiti in the form of carved initials and messages. The 2 September 1908 extract from the Leven Advertiser further below explains how this vandalism led to the installation of railings that year. 
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The newspaper piece below from a 1969 East Fife Mail shows a section of the railings. By this time they were looking a little buckled and worse for wear. 
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The two images below, both from the Canmore Collection, show the stanes shortly before and after the railing removal. The first is from the mid-1970s and shows a wider scene of the second hole fairway (and third tee behind) with the railings still around the stanes. The second image dates to 1986, when the stanes had been recently released from their iron enclosures, enabling people to fully enjoy their ancient splendour from all angles.

The view looking towards Lundin Golf Club House is shown above. The top image from circa 1900 features a newly-completed club house set in a somewhat untamed and sandy landscape. The recent photograph, taken around a century and a quarter later, shows a club house which has been extended and modernised on multiple occasions. A sizeable pro shop stands in the place of a simple starter's hut. The original golf shop was the tiny building on the left in the black and white photograph (shown in detail below). The gravel track leading up to the club house has long been replaced with a tarmac road. Many cars arrive daily to deliver the players that once made their way to the course on foot or by train. 

​The Lundin Golf Club House was officially opened in May 1896 and two months later the 'rustic fence' of varnished undressed tree trunks was added around it (see detailed image below). This late Victorian club house replaced a simple two room forerunner, which no longer met the needs of the growing membership. Designed by Edinburgh architect Peter Lyle Barclay Henderson, summer visitor and keen golfer, the new club house shared features with some other Henderson's other work. Inside the new club house was as tasteful as the exterior, with an open timber ceiling, panelled walls, fireplaces and ornate lighting.

Celebrating a Golden Wedding Anniversary is a landmark achievement. Back in the 1940s, to reach that milestone and have a parent present at the occasion was newsworthy. When Robert Imrie and his wife Isabella (nee Mitchell) marked 50 years of marriage, the above feature appeared in the 1 September 1945 Daily Record. Mrs Imrie's mother Helen Mitchell (nee Swan) appears with the golden couple in the photograph above.

In fact five generations of the family were represented at the event, including Isabella's sister, Margaret Honeyman (nee Mitchell) of Kennoway who was bridesmaid at the wedding. At the time of the celebration, Mr and Mrs Imrie had two daughters and five sons (one of whom lived in Canada). They also had fourteen grandchildren and one great grandchild. The couple, who lived at Watson Cottage on Mill Wynd, received many gifts and messages of best wishes, including a cablegram from Canada.

Robert Imrie was born in Strathmiglo and married Isabella in Kennoway on 30 August 1895. He had a long career in agriculture, becoming a farm grieve like his father George before him. He started out at Gateside, followed by a spell at Stanley in Perthshire, before completing the remainder of his working life in Fife. He worked at Hayston Farm near Balmullo and at Luthrie Bank, ahead of twenty years as grieve at Lundin Mill Farm (where he oversaw the other farm workers, when George Bell was the tenant farmer). The family lived in Broadlea Cottage on Cupar Road during that era.

Later, Robert spent thirteen years as farm grieve at Cassingray Farm, near Largoward, on the Kilconquhar Estate, working for Lady Lindsay. Above is an image of the farmhouse at South Cassingray where the family were based (image from the Canmore collection). Below is an advert for the lease of the farm in 1939, with Robert named as the grieve who would show round interested parties. It must have been soon after this point that Robert returned to Lundin Links, a place to which he obviously felt a strong connection. ​The Imries were members of Upper Largo Church for forty years and Robert had a spell on the District School Board.

The newspaper article at the top of this post describes Robert as "green keeper on the Lundin Ladies' Golf Course". This was late career shift brought about by the Second World War. Having returned to Lundin Links, where son Jimmie was green keeper at the Ladies' course, Robert was well placed to step into his son's shoes when Jimmie joined the Auxiliary Fire Service full time in 1941. At Jimmie's suggestion, Robert took over as greenkeeper while his own wife Christina acted as starter and looked after the clubhouse. Jimmie and Christina lived in the greenkeeper's cottage (the 1911 built cottage pictured above to the right of the club house).

Wartime had a significant impact upon the Ladies' course with much ground given up for agriculture. The War Cabinet instructed that portions of golf courses had to be leased to increase food production. By special arrangement, the Ladies Club gave up more than its quota (two thirds of its area) so that the main Lundin course could remain intact. The much reduced course comprised six holes with the added feature of some grazing sheep (which both supported food production and kept the grass short at at time when there was little fuel for green keeping).

​When Jimmie returned to post after the war, he set about the restoration of the course (shown below) including re-seeding and the re-laying out of the lost greens, tees and bunkers. As the book published for the club's centenary by Alan Elliot said of Jimmie Imrie:

"He was an excellent worker, conscientious and thorough. When it is realised that he put the course back from its wartime ploughing to its former state almost single-handed, it may give some idea of what he did. He worked with the minimum of equipment....a spade, a shovel, a barrow, a roller, an elderly tractor and mowers of great age: an awesome lot of effort. He achieved much in a remarkably short time after the war, and overall he provided the club with a course again when it mattered most."

In the years following the end of the war, all three of the family members featured in the photograph at the top of this post passed away. Helen Mitchell died in 1946 aged 94, Robert in 1947 aged 75 and Isabella in 1950 aged 70. Jimmie Imrie lived until 1985, reaching the age of 79. This remarkable and hard working family left their mark on the community in several ways over many years. Their descendants must be very proud of them.

The golf club pictured above features a silver plaque inscribed with the words From Nicol Malcolm Leven Golf Club to his brother Andrew. A previous blog post has covered the life of Nicol Malcolm, the Dubbieside farmer who was well known in golfing circles. A member of several local clubs, Nicol had a hand in the setting up of Lundin Golf Club in 1868. The golf club in the photograph was made by Alex Patrick, who was the great-nephew of Nicol Malcolm. However, exactly who 'brother Andrew' was is more of a mystery, as Nicol did not (as far as records show) have a brother.

Nicol Malcolm had two older sisters - Christina and Isabella. Christina married Alex Patrick (grandfather of clubmaker with same name) and Isabella married an Alexander Thomson in Largo. So, there is no known brother or brother-in-law named Andrew. It could well be that the inscribed golf club was given to someone whom Nicol considered 'as a brother' or who he knew through a fraternal organisation such as the masons.

One potential candidate might be Andrew Wilkie, Captain of Leven Golf Club in the 1870s. He was R.W.M. at Leven's Elgin Lodge of the Freemasons. Another possibility is Andrew Thomson the master baker - once of Kirkland, later Leven and then Lundin Links (not closely related to the Alexander Thomson married to Isabella). Both men were involved in the creation of Lundin Golf Club shortly after Andrew moved his business there in the mid-1860s. That however is merely a theory and other theories would be welcomed on who the Andrew in the inscription could be.

The photograph above shows Alex. Patrick's shop at the junction of Links Road and Balfour Street in Leven, adjacent to the golf links. The picture below shows the shop in context to the left of the Leven Thistle Clubhouse. Alexander Patrick was born in 1845 in Leven, two years before his cabinet maker father John Patrick (nephew of Nicol Malcolm) began making golf clubs. When John died in the 1866 cholera outbreak, eldest son Alex inherited the business, which he soon afterwards relocated from Branch Street (near the Shorehead) to the location near the links. He employed younger brother, Nicol Malcolm Patrick, as an apprentice. Later on brothers John Patrick and David Murdoch Patrick also became golf club makers. 

Alex Patrick left Fife for a time, heading to Wimbledon in 1886, to become golf professional (and sell golf clubs) at the club there. He returned to Leven five years later, leaving his brother David to take over the role at Wimbledon. David too headed back to Fife a few years after that, and both brothers set up premises in Lundin Links, as further outlets for their golf clubs. Alex had his name over a small shop to the rear of the 1896-built Lundin Golf Club House (see below) while David had a house with integral workshop built between the railway station and the club house on what is now Golf Road.

Below are a range of adverts for Alex Patrick's business, covering not just golf clubs, but golf balls and even the restringing of tennis rackets. Patrick clubs gained a great reputation, initially in Fife and soon across Scotland, the UK and overseas. Alex retired in 1909 but seems to have returned to work during the years of the First World War before retiring for good. The business carried on under his name, with Mr David James Sellars at the helm into the 1930s. Alex died in 1932 aged 86 at his home Wimbledon Villa in Leven. Singing was the main leisure pursuit of Mr Patrick and he was a leading member of Leven Choral Union (later Leven Amateur Musical Association).