History

Alex Lochhead, the Everton Wing Half from Neilston

Alex Lochhead, the Everton Wing Half from Neilston

Over the years many Everton players have been asked to make their debut in some tough 'must win' situations. But the first of these must surely be a young Scotsman who arrived in Liverpool during November 1891 at a time when his new club were challenging to take the Football League Championship away from Preston North End. Alexander Lochhead had been born 27 June 1865 in the rural community of Neilson in Renfrewshire, where he began his football career playing for the village team. His style of play soon caught the eye of a talent scout, who invited the young…
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The Life and Times of John Cameron

It had been just four weeks since the first football knockout competition, won the by The Wanderers, had taken place on the Kennington Oval ground in London, when a boy was born on the South West Coast of Scotland. He was destined to make FA Cup history. John Cameron was born on 13 April 1872 in the Newton district of Ayr, where his family, who were in the grocery business, had finally come to settle. The 1881 census recorded the business premises on Waggon Road, where John was by then an eight-year-old scholar. He later attended Ayr Grammar School. In…
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‘Jack O’ Both Sides’ – The Life and Times of Jack Sharp (1878-1938)

‘Jack O’ Both Sides’ – The Life and Times of Jack Sharp (1878-1938)

  Jack Sharp sits in exalted company as one of England’s few dual cricket and football internationals. To Evertonians he is much more than that – an iconic player, captain, FA Cup winner, club director and founder of Liverpool’s best known sports outfitters. Born on 15 February in Everton’s founding year, Jack (christened John) was the youngest child of Charles and Annie Sharp who resided at 8 Eign Street in Hereford. Dorking-born Charles was a butcher with other business interests in the town, whilst Annie hailed from County Meath in Ireland. Jack and elder brother Bertram (Bert) grew up playing…
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The Costley Brothers – Was It Jim Or Was It Tom?

Thomas Halliwell Costley was born in Liverpool but began his football career in Blackburn, before moving back to his birthplace in order to play for Everton. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Costley who scored the winning goal for Blackburn Olympic in the 1883 FA Cup final. Although Jimmy was never to sign for Everton he did represent his home town club in several attractive friendly fixtures where he deputised for his brother on the left wing. Tommy, the fifth child of the family, was born on 5 March 1865 at Rathbone Street on the south side of Liverpool…
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From Leicester Fosse to Leicester City…

From Leicester Fosse to Leicester City…

The Premier League champions are at Goodison Park this afternoon but did you know that the club played for 25 years after its formation before becoming Leicester City? Today’s visitors were formed in 1884 by a group of young men from a local evangelical chapel who decided to form a football team that they chose to call Leicester Fosse. This suffix was selected because the old Roman Road, known as the Fosseway, had once passed through the area. The group then all agreed to pay nine old pence membership fee and another nine pence was collected to purchase a football.…
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Clocking On…

The Good Old Days of the Three O'Clock Kick-Off.....   Today’s 2.05pm kick-off inevitably gets supporters talking about the ‘good old days’, when we remember all football matches being played on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm… but just how common was that 3pm time slot? Well, it depends on how far back you look! Prior to the Premier League era, most of Everton’s home matches, aside from those played in midweek, did indeed commence at the ‘traditional’ time of 3pm – but that had only been the case from the early 1960s onwards. From 1957 to late 1961, Everton’s Saturday…
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The Blacksmith of Crossmyloof

The Blacksmith of Crossmyloof

John Weir, a blacksmith who once played football for both Everton and Scotland, was also one of the players famously suspended by the Football Association for playing for Everton as a professional in November 1887. John Weir was born, 10 January 1865, at Crossmyloof, Renfrewshire, and was the third child of a fairly mature couple who had moved to the west of Scotland from their native Ireland. The 1871 census found him still living at Crossmyloof, by now fully involved in the City of Glasgow, along with his elder brother, born 1862, whose name was Charles. By 1881, the two…
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T.G. Jones And The Boys Of ‘39

EFC Heritage Society member Rob Sawyer is appealing for supporters’ memories of Everton players from a golden era. Rob, who wrote the excellent biography of Harry Catterick, says: “My dad and I watched the Blues sweep all before them in the 1980s, but his greatest praise was reserved for the championship-winning team of 1938/39. This has inspired me to chronicle the players’ stories particularly that of Tommy ‘T.G.’ Jones, dubbed ‘The Prince of Centre- Halves’.” Those lucky enough to see it, claim that this team best-fulfilled the School of Science billing bestowed upon the Club by former Derby County striker,…
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When Parker Tamed Tigers

Run through the list of Everton’s record scorers against almost every club we’ve ever faced and one name predictably dominates. William Ralph Dean. Everton’s top scorer against Arsenal? Dixie with 12 goals. Liverpool? Dixie with 19. Chelsea? Dixie again with 10. But not today’s visitors Hull City. The man who tormented the Tigers even more than the celebrated Dixie throughout his career was another Everton striker, a man who doesn’t feature as frequently whenever lists of Everton’s great forwards are mentioned but whose goals return was impressive. John Willie Parker was described as a “stylish inside- forward” who played much…
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Phew, 9-1 Win is a Scorcher!

Phew, 9-1 Win is a Scorcher!

The start of September 1906 saw England sweltering in a heatwave – the most intense temperatures recorded in the 20th century. It was weather for sunbathing, not sport, as the temperatures topped 32 degrees for four successive days throughout most of the country.  No surprise, then, that the Liverpool Daily Post & Mercury’s headline for Monday 3 September read:  Football Hot O! A Warm Kick- Off And Enormous Crowds. Players Collapse. While the editorial began: “The Glorious First, which duly celebrates the commencement of two distinct classes of sport – football and partridge shooting – will long be remembered for…
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