Players

Only Once a Blue (Part 5): Henry Parkinson

When Harry Parkinson arrived at the Thornyholme Ground, he had intended to watch a Football League match but instead found himself taking part. Born on 9 December 1866 in Oswaldtwistle, he spent the early years of his life with his mother Catherine at the Star Inn where his grandfather was landlord. At the time of the 1881 census, Catherine had taken over as landlady, while her son had started to work as a weaver in the cotton industry. Being brought up in a beer drinking environment may have been the reason why Harry developed an aversion to alcohol, for he…
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Charles Munroe Lindsay, an Everton Goalkeeper

Charles Munroe Lindsay, an Everton Goalkeeper

In the year of 1871 the FA rules were reformed and it was decided that only one designated player was allowed to handle the ball in order to prevent it from entering the framework of the goal. This player was, from this point onwards, to be known as the designated goalkeeper. It was a hazardous position to play in because the rules  did not as yet prevent the man chosen from being “brought to ground” – with or without the ball – or surrounded and barged by opposing forwards. These rules were still in force when, in 1883, Everton found…
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John Donaldson, a Blue from Garnock Valley

The second player to come to Everton from the King's Park club in Stirling, John Donaldson arrived in Liverpool at the commencement of the 1904/05 football season, along with fellow Scotsmen William Black and John Hannan. The move, however, would also to impact upon the rest of his family. John Donaldson was born on 25 July 1885 at Beith in Ayrshire and was the third child born to Thomas – a cabinetmaker – and his wife, Margaret. The 1891 census revealed that the family had by then relocated to Falkirk, which was the birthplace of Thomas, and living at a…
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William Black, a Blue from the Hebrides

  Born within the sight and sound of burning sparks and roaring bellows, William Black was the first football player to arrive at Goodison Park who had been born in the mist-covered islands of the Inner Hebrides, where his father, Duncan, had chosen to make a home for himself and his wife, Catherine. The couple had first met – and married – at Blackburn Street in the Plantation area of Govan (now part of Glasgow) where their first child, Duncan junior, was born. Shortly after this event, Duncan accepted the position of Village Blacksmith at Torosay on the Island of…
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Only Once a Blue -Part 2: Egerton Stewart-Brown

Only Once a Blue -Part 2: Egerton Stewart-Brown

Only Once a Blue. Part 2: Egerton Stewart-Brown When Everton Football Club signed Dominic Calvert-Lewin from Sheffield United, he became their first player to be officially registered with a double-barrelled surname since Benjamin Howard-Baker in 1920. There is, however, another man who played for Everton before official records began who also had a hyphenated surname. He actually made a guest appearance during Everton's days at Anfield. Egerton Stewart-Brown, far left, with Liverpool Ramblers. On the far-right is J Bruce Ismay, the future Chairman of the White Star Shipping Line Egerton Stewart-Brown was born 31 January 1862, in the township of…
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Only Once a Blue (Part 1): Robert Jamieson

Only Once a Blue (Part 1) Robert Jamieson Hailing from the famous football nursery in The Vale of Leven, Robert Jamieson was to learn the rudiments of the association game surrounded by what were, at the time, some of the finest players in the kingdom. He was born on 7 September 1867 at 199 High Street, Dumbarton, the child of Robert, a journeyman fitter, and his wife Elizabeth. The head of the household was away on the day of the 1871 census, but Elizabeth was recorded, along with her four children, as living at 6 Clyde Street in Dumbarton. On…
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Any Chance of a Trial Mr Kelly?

Any Chance of a Trial Mr Kelly?

  Charlie Lewis had a dream How many of us have dreamt of turning up at Goodison with our boots, blagging our way inside, finding the manager’s office, knocking on the door and asking if there is any chance of a trial, being told ‘Sure son, no problem, come right this way’, playing a blinder, outshining all the other trialists who had been invited to play, walking off feeling you had blown it, only for the manager, not only to take you on, but to put you straight into the first team next Saturday alongside the England centre-forward? And then…
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The First Ever Derby Match

The First Ever Derby Match

  After the historic split of 1892, the city had to wait until 13 October 1894 before the first meeting of the two clubs – the first ever Merseyside Derby.  Attendances at Goodison had averaged 30,000 by then, but this eagerly anticipated fixture attracted an estimated 44,000 fans. Local pundits viewed Liverpool’s rise as remarkable.  In their first year they won the Lancashire League Championship, on the strength of which they were admitted to the Second Division of the Football League. They again took the honours as champions, and after a victory in a test match against Newton Heath (whatever…
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Frank Sugg – A Great Sporting All-Rounder

Frank Sugg – A Great Sporting All-Rounder

As a child, a shopping trip to nearby Stockport was not complete without a visit to the Sugg Sport emporium in the Merseyway Shopping Centre. Back then I was blissfully unaware of the link between the family giving its name to the Yorkshire-based retail chain and Everton FC. Frank Howe Sugg, like Jack Sharp and Harry Makepeace, was a notable footballer-cum-cricketer on Everton’s books. Born in Ilkeston, in 1862, Frank was raised in Pitsmoor, Sheffield from the age of four, along with his elder brother, Walter. The boys’ parents had designs on them following their father, Hubert, into the legal…
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“Bunny” – The Robert Bell Story

“Bunny” – The Robert Bell Story

The Wirral has a proud tradition of producing high-calibre footballers who have graced stadia on Merseyside and beyond. For a period in the first half of the 20th century Tranmere Rovers became something of a centre-forward factory, producing some of the finest striking talent in the land. There was, of course, William Ralph “Dixie” Dean, but also Tom “Pongo” Waring, Bill “Nibbler” Ridding and Robert “Bunny” Bell (it appears that nicknames were mandatory in this era). The latter wrote himself into the record books by scoring a triple-hat-trick on Boxing Day 1935. More of which later… Bob, as he preferred…
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