Members Work

Articles and writing from Heritage Society members and contributors

Clarence Berry, Everton’s Rugby Playing Goalkeeper
08
Jul
By Tony Onslow
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1900-1909, Articles, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow, , ,

Clarence Berry, Everton’s Rugby Playing Goalkeeper

Clarence Herbert Berry was the first man to sign for Everton having previously played Rugby League football at senior level. He was born on 4 October 1886, and was the fourth child of Frank and Alice who ran a grocery business on Buick Street in Warrington. Berry had begun to serve an apprenticeship as a pattern maker when he began his football career playing under association rules for a local amateur team with the name of Warrington Albion. He then switched codes and signed for Warrington Rugby League club at their Wilderspool home. Clarence Berry made his debut on 25…
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29
May
By Tony Onslow
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1910-1919, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow

Only Once a Blue (Part 11): Thomas Mayson

Due to the disruption that followed World War One, Tommy Mayson slipped unnoticed by the local press into the ranks of Everton Football Club in June 1919. He was born 8 December 1886 at Whitehaven in Cumberland and was the second child of John, a plasterer, and his Irish-born wife, Sarah. 1891 Census The 1891 census (above) found the family living in the Northumberland village of Mickley, but by 1901 they had settled in the Byker area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Young Tommy began his football career with Walker Parish Church – who were members of the Northern Alliance League – where…
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29
May
By Tony Onslow
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1910-1919, 1920-1929, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow, ,

Herbert Rigsby & Alex Wall, the Zingari Blues

Herbert Rigsby was born on 22 July 1894, in the model village built by philanthropist William Hartley, to house the employees who worked in his fruit preservative factory at Fazakerley. His Surrey born father, Allen, worked at this location, as a foreman, while his mother Frances, looked after the villa that had been allotted to them. The 1911 census revealed that Herbert was living with his parents at that location and was working as a railway clerk. He was playing amateur football with Zingari League side Marine when he joined the army, at the Old Haymarket in Liverpool on 22…
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The Life of Charlie Parry
15
May
By Rob Sawyer
2 Comments
1890-1899, Articles, Members Work, Rest in Peace, Rob Sawyer

The Life of Charlie Parry

Charles Parry (Everton) 1895. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Witness the photo of Charlie Parry posing in his Everton kit in 1894: sleeves rolled up, right fist clenched at his side, ball clasped in his left hand, a hint of a sneer on his lips. Here was a footballer you’d want to play alongside rather than against. Charlie enjoyed six years with Everton, over two spells, winning the first Football League title to come to Anfield and becoming only the third Everton player to represent Wales (after Job Wilding and Joe Davies). Perhaps in keeping with…
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07
May
By Richie Gillham
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1930-1939, Articles, Caribbean, Everton Clubs Abroad, History, Members Work, Richard Gillham

‘King’ Charles: Everton (Trinidad and Tobago)

Alfred Charles (Southampton Strip) Alfred Pious Charles was born in Trinidad & Tobago, 11 July 1909. He received his prestigious royal nickname from a 1931 match report when in 1931 the Touring Trinidad & Tobago national team played British Guiana: ‘Playing at centre-half. He shone like a beacon in that position and so amazed the Guianese that they christened him "King Charles". Alfred was very highly regarded in his school days at Newtown Boys’ RC – he was head and shoulders above other boy footballers in Port of Spain. In 1929 he joined the Port of Spain Football League side,…
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07
May
By Tony Onslow
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1878-1889, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow

Only Once a Blue (10) Charles McGoldrick

Charles McGoldrick was born on 30 November 1865 at 38 York Terrace in Everton and baptised at the church of Our Lady Immaculate. This being the case, his birth might well have been attended by the future director of Everton Football Club, Doctor James Baxter. He was the first child of Denis, an Irish born warehouse man, and his Preston born wife, Mary. McGoldrick was first reported to be playing football on Walton Stiles, for the Stanley club, but by September 1886 had signed for Oakfield Rovers. Formed by members of a Wesleyan Methodist community they had, that year, opened…
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10
Apr
By Steve Zocek
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1960-1969, Articles, History, Members Work, Steve Zocek, , , , ,

Davie Wilson, the First £100,000 Everton Player…Almost

Davie Wilson played for Glasgow Rangers from 1956 until 1967. During that time, he made 373 appearances for the Ibrox club. Davie was an outside left who could play anywhere and he wasn’t shy in front of goal either, finding the net 157 times. This included six goals in one game against Falkirk in 1962 which is still a post-war record. Unbeknown to me previously, he caught the eye of Everton when in 1962 he was approached by the Merseyside outfit. Jimmy Greaves at the time was the British record transfer with a fee of £99,999 from AC Milan to…
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The Charlie Parry Grave Rededication
14
Mar
By Rob Sawyer
2 Comments
1890-1899, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Rest in Peace, Rob Sawyer

The Charlie Parry Grave Rededication

An unprepossessing road in the shadow of Goodison Park, is named Salop Street. Salop, or Shropshire as it is more commonly known, might not, at a first glance, be awash with Everton links but that can be misleading. In fact the, largely rural, county has a loyal Blues following (the Shropshire Blues is the local official supporters club branch). Oswestry, 50 miles from Goodison, has several connections links to Everton that go back to the earliest days of the club. George Farmer, a son of the town and a Welsh international footballer, was a key player in the club’s early…
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08
Mar
By Tony Onslow
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1900-1909, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow

Winterhalder and Dawson, Everton Wingers

Arthur Winterhalder Signed to cover the abrupt exit of the Wilson brothers, Arthur Winterhalder, a promising outside left, joined Everton from West Ham United. He was descended from a family of clockmakers who had emigrated from Germany to settle in the Marylebone area of London. His father Richard did not choose to follow this profession but decided instead to enlist in the 3rd Dragoon Guards and was stationed at Colchester when he married local girl, Martha Gibbons. Around 1878 Richard left the army to work as a carter at Stratford in London. In 1883 he took up a position as…
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01
Mar
By Tony Onslow
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1890-1899, Articles, History, Members Work, Players, Tony Onslow

James McMillan, the Lad from Leven Vale

When the Scottish FA Cup was inaugurated in 1874, Glasgow based Queens Park won it no fewer than six times during the first ten years. Their run of success however, was interrupted for three years running, by a side from the small town of Alexandria. They played under the name of Vale of Leven. This Dunbartonshire town, on 11 April 1869, was the birthplace of James McMillan. Born to George, a dye works labourer, and his wife Martha at Bryson’s Land, in the parish of Bonhill, he first arrested the attention of the local football agents while playing for Vale…
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