Jimmy Speirs was born at 4.00am on Monday, 22 March 1886 at 11 Aikenhead Road (now demolished), Hutcheston, Govan, Glasgow – the son of James Hamilton Speirs (senior) and Janet Shields Speirs (nee McLean).

Young Jimmy was named after his father – James Hamilton Speirs – in what was to become a recurring theme in the family. The "Hamilton" forename, which many of the Speirs family were given, stemmed from young Jimmy’s paternal grandmother, Ann Hamilton.

The Speirs were a large family. Jimmy’s father (pictured left, around 1917 - click on thumbnail to enlarge) was one of seven children and Jimmy was the fifth of six children listed on the 1901 census. The others being Maggie (born 1874), Archibald (1877), Annie (1879), John (1884) and Robert (1888).

At the time of the 1901 census, the family was living in Cathcart Road, Govanhill, just a few hundred yards from Jimmy’s birthplace at Aikenhead Road. Jimmy’s father was now a boilermaker, having been a coalminer at the age of 14, as was his father (Jimmy’s grandfather, Archibald).

Of the six children, Maggie had become a draper’s saleswomen, Archibald was a clerk (although by December 1902 when Archibald married he was described as a commercial traveller), John was a postman, Annie "assisted in the house", and Robert was still at school. Jimmy, now aged 15 years, was - like his brother Archibald - a clerk.

Some five years later, around six months short of his 21st birthday, Jimmy married Elizabeth (Bessie) Lennox Maben. The ceremony took place on 24 October 1906 at the home of Bessie’s father, David Maben in Moss Side Road, Glasgow, just a few hundred yards from Cathcart Road. Bessie was recorded as a photographer’s assistant, whilst Jimmy’s occupation was stated to be a "valuator’s clerk" – not a footballer.  Bessie is pictured right, in a portrait taken in 1932 (click on thumbnail to enlarge).

Just over a year later, on 11 December 1907, Bessie gave birth to (another!) James Hamilton Speirs. The family by now were living at 34 Batson Street, Govanhill – almost across the road from Jimmy’s birthplace at Aikenhead Road, and a few streets east of the Speirs’ family home in Cathcart Road.  Although Batson Street remains, what was the Speirs' home has been demolished.  Interestingly, Jimmy’s occupation is recorded as "Spirit Dealer’s Stocktaker" at this time.  "Jimmy junior" is pictured left in around 1917 (click on thumbnail to enlarge).

The 1908-9 and 1909-10 ward rolls show Bessie to be the named tenant at 34 Batson Street, and the Speirs to be one of seven families living at that address.

Just before his 22nd birthday, Jimmy's involvement in Freemasonry officially began. Jimmy was initiated into The Lodge Saint Vincent Sandyford No 553, based in Glasgow, on 11 March 1908.  Jimmy was proposed by Henry Swanson, Manager at John McNee, Wholesale Whiskey Merchants of Glasgow - possibly Jimmy's employer when he was not playing football?  Despite this being just four days after representing Scotland in the Home International against Wales, Jimmy's occupation was listed as "Stocktaker", not footballer.  

The following year, Jimmy's football career took him away from Glasgow, but he maintained his links with the Lodge, became a Master Mason (after receiving the three craft degrees), and on 12 February 1913, a Life Member (see below).  It seems likely that he retained his interest in freemasonry whilst in Bradford - he was a guest at the the Shakespeare Lodge 1018 in the city on 12 April 1911, for example (see below).

In the summer of 1909, Jimmy signed for Bradford City FC. It seems likely that he took up lodgings in Bradford and made regular trips back to Glasgow – as other Scottish players with the Club did – for the Ward Rolls suggest that wife Bessie, and young son Jimmy (not yet two years old), stayed on at Batson Street in Govanhill.

Just a month before the start of the new 1912-13 football season, Jimmy may well have been back at Bradford City in pre-season training, and the details on Elizabeth’s birth certificate suggest that he may have missed the birth. It is interesting to note that the certificate details Jimmy’s occupation as "Valuator’s Clerk" – even though he had by now been playing senior football for six years, was a Scottish international, and had achieved fame as the captain and goalscorer of an FA Cup (or English Cup, as it was then known) winning team.

During the season a number of City’s large contingent of Scottish players took up lodgings in Bradford, making trips "back North" to see their families every few weeks. Many of these players lived very close to the Valley Parade ground, but at least for part of his time in Yorkshire, Jimmy lived in Idle Road, Bradford.  This was a recently-built terraced property, a couple of miles from Valley Parade on what were then the northern outskirts of Bradford.   The Land Registry does not record Jimmy as owning the property, and we can only assume therefore that he was the sole tenant. 

Meanwhile, by 1915, the family home in Glasgow was now in Darnley Road, Pollokshields - again, very close to Jimmy's roots in Cathcart Road and near to the home of the Annandale football club where Jimmy Speirs first made his mark in the world of football.  The family stayed here after Jimmy's death, to around 1920/1921, with Jimmy junior attending nearby Hutchesons Grammar School where he was Dux of Junior School in 1919/20.  By late 1921, the family had moved to Ardbeg Street - midway between Darnley Road and Batson Street, where Jimmy and Bessie had begun their married life some fifteen years earlier.