‘True gent’ left his mark on Perthshire
Legacy of quality workmanship
Curling was Jock’s passion as this picture of the Airleywight Curling Club men’s team win in 1981 shows. He is seen here in the back row, far right
The Perthshire village of Bankfoot has lost a man described by many as “a true gent”.
Ian Bonthrone - who was known as Jock - was a lifelong figure in the building trade, curler and a devoted family man.
He collapsed suddenly at home in Bankfoot on Wednesday, January 27, dying aged 82.
His wife Betty was with him and his family say his death was without suffering.
Jock, founder of the family business Bonthrone Builders, left behind a legacy of fine work visible across the district and elsewhere.
“A perfectionist in his work,” said a local farmer and client. “One of life’s true gentlemen,” was the comment from his friends in Bankfoot’s Airleywight Curling Club. “A lovely friendly man.”
Jock curled into his late 60s and in his heyday in the late 1980s, won lots of trophies with the men’s team and other times in mixed competitions with wife Betty.
“In the big freeze of 1965, work was suspended for weeks with all the bad weather,” recounted Betty. “The local Airleywight outdoor curling pond was reinstated and that is where he got hooked on curling and became a member of local curling club, Airleywight Men’s Curling Club.
“We became a curling family as my daughter Hazel and I joined him in the sport too.”
Born in Bankfoot on July 2, 1938, Jock lived there all his days - except for two years away on his National Service. He attended Bankfoot Primary School then left Stanley School, aged 15.
He played football for Murthly Amateurs as a goalkeeper in his teenage years.
Jock served an apprenticeship as a bricklayer with Wardrope and Watson builders in the early 1950s.
He then went on to become a site foreman with another local builders, Graham and Sons.
Then he met Betty, from Scone, and the couple got married in 1958.
Betty (81) and Jock celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2018. They had two children, Hazel then Ian.
Jock’s family grew wider and he had two grandchildren, Michelle (32) and Ian (30) and two great grandchildren, Jay who is nine and Skye, aged five.
Called up for National Service in 1960, he served two years in The Black Watch, based in Cyprus.
As one of the last age groups to carry out National Service, Jock did well, with senior officers describing him as “a leader of men.”
After he returned to Perthshire, he served as a special constable at Bankfoot Police Station which was operational at the time.
He started working on his own in 1973 and quickly established Bonthrone Builders, employing skilled local tradesmen.
His son Ian joined him in the business straight from school in 1976.
He kept things in the family, with his brother Murray working for him as a bricklayer and for a time, nephew Eric too.
Jock built his family home in 1975 where he and Betty lived until he died.
From there the business flourished and the firm built over 70 private houses throughout Perthshire and beyond, always using local tradesmen.
Betty looked back on what Jock had built up: “The Bonthrone name was always synonymous with highquality workmanship and detail, which Jock tried to instil.”
The business had diversified over the last few years, with his son Ian now at the helm, into groundworks and building work, continuing the emphasis on high-quality work instilled by his father.
Jock continued to work in the firm on the office side until he was nearly 80 years old and took an interest in the ‘going ons’ until the end.