BUTCH: The outlaw's mum emigrated from Tyneside

The notorious robber’s links to Newcastle were unearthed by local researcher Mike Bell, who since seeing the film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid as a teenager, has devoted his time to studying his hero. After travelling the Americas on the trail of the leader of the Hole In The Wall Gang, he was astonished to learn that Cassidy’s mother was born in Brandling Village, Jesmond, Newcastle. Mike said: “When I found out that Butch Cassidy’s mum was a Geordie, I was gobsmacked. “I have travelled from Utah to Argentina, looking for information about him. “All the time the house where his mother once lived was around the corner.”

Mike, who is West Midlands area director for the Learning and Skills Council, made the discovery when the 1851 census was released online in 2006. But he wanted to wait until 2008 – the 100th anniversary of Butch Cassidy’s death in a shoot-out in November 1908, in the Bolivian village of San Vicente – to make his origins known. Butch was born Robert Leroy Parker, in Utah, in 1866. His parents were Maximilian Parker and Ann Sinclair Gillies, born in Newcastle in 1849. Ann was the daughter of Robert Gillies and Jane Sinclair, both from Stirlingshire. The 1851 census shows the Gillies family living in Brandling Village, Jesmond.

There were three Gillies children – eldest boy John who was born in Scotland, Ann and her younger brother, Daniel, who was also born in Newcastle about 1850. The family may have lived on Tyneside for nearly 10 years, but by 1856 they were on their way to New York. From there they made their way to Utah, where Ann met Maximilian. Their first son, Robert (Butch) was born the year after they married. Researcher Mike, 52, first became hooked on Butch Cassidy after watching the 1969 film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Mike said: “I knew nothing about Butch Cassidy and I started to read about him. “Over the next 30 years, it became something of an obsession and I have travelled to North and South America. “I visited the cabin in Utah where Butch was born and I followed parts of the cowboy trail from Canada to Mexico, and Argentina.” So what is it about Butch Cassidy that made him stand out? Mike, who now lives with his wife and seven-year-old daughter in Birmingham, said: “Butch is described by those who knew him as a nice guy.