Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland: Clubmakers

Registration
Edit profile

catalogue
auction
shopping cart
shipping

history
makers

search
faq
news
links
about
contact

Clubmakers

David Denholm
Edinburgh
With his surname generally spelt “Denham” in the original records, an early Edinburgh clubmaker for whom a record of his marriage to Isobel Ross on 20 November 1799 exists showing them both as living in Lady Yester's parish which is around Infirmary Street. Aitchison's Directory of 1798-99, however, advertises him as a clubmaker at the east end of Bruntsfield Links.

The 1812 Edinburgh Post Office Directory records him as a clubmaker in Meadow Place and the Edinburgh Almanack of 1814 specifically lists him as clubmaker to the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society.

The Caledonian Mercury in 1818 has an advertisement for a house sale or let in Meadow Place, at the east end of Bruntsfield Links, with the key to it being held by ‘D Denholm, clubmaker, east end of the links’.

He died in March 1820 and I am unaware of any clubs bearing his name.

There were announcements of a ‘discovery’ in recent years that his widow was the first recorded female clubmaker. This reflects a misunderstanding of how the Edinburgh registers work. There are many examples of a male householder in the directories who has died and his occupation simply being added to the name of his widow who continues to occupy the property. It reflects the purpose of the publication: it is not a census it is a guide where to deliver the mail. For clubmakers it may also reflect the fact there was a ‘tied house’ with the job so, for example, the same situation pertains much later in the century with Angus MacLeod’s widow continuing to live at the clubhouse of the Seafield Golf Club in Leith.

Search the catalogue for clubs by this maker