1890-1899

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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Hugh Goldie, a tough tackling half back from Ayrshire

The First World War had been raging for over a year when the funeral cortege of 17-year-old Robert Goldie brought the small Ayrshire town of Hurlford to a halt. Born in Liverpool, he was the son of well-known local man who had once played football for Everton. Hugh Goldie, Robert's father, was born 10 February 1874 at 32 The Vennal in the Ayrshire town of Dalry where his own father, Hugh, worked as a coal miner, while his mother, Janet, had worked in a textile mill. The family later moved to the Riccarton area of Kilmarnock where Hugh, after completing…
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Andrew Hannah, The only man to Captain Everton & Liverpool

Andrew Hannah, The only man to Captain Everton & Liverpool

Everton Heritage Society and Everton Football Club rededicate grave of important football figure The only man in history to captain Everton and Liverpool lies in a marked grave for the first time thanks to the efforts of the Everton Heritage Society and Everton Football Club. Andrew Hannah, who captained Everton to their first League Championship success in 1891, then led Liverpool to Lancashire League and Football League Division Two titles, had lain in an unmarked grave at Kilbowie Cemetery in Clydebank since his untimely passing in 1940. On Saturday Everton Heritage Society Chairman Brendan Connolly and former Echo Sports Editor Ken…
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St Luke’s – the church with its own football ground

ST LUKE’S – THE CHURCH WITH ITS OWN FOOTBALL STADIUM! Although Everton F.C. started life as the St Domingo’s church team in 1878, it is now closely associated with another place of worship. St. Luke the Evangelist, nestled between the Main and Howard Kendall Gwladys Street Stands, contributes to the uniqueness of The Old Lady. But why does the stadium have a church in such an unlikely spot? A wooden Church of England mission hall predated Goodison Park by at least nine years. Therefore, since its opening in 1892, the stadium has had to grow around this sacred spot. In…
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The Tale of a Former Everton Full-Back

The Tale of a Former Everton Full-Back

George Molyneux was on the books of Southampton when he was selected for England against Scotland, and thus became the first Liverpool-born man to do so, having previously played football for Everton. The 1881 census revealed that George, then six years old, was living with his parents at 29 Sessions Road in the Kirkdale area of the city. The 1901 census showed that the family had moved to nearby Croyland Street and that George, now fifteen, had begun serving an apprenticeship as a plumber. It was around three years later that his name started to appear in the local sporting…
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The Good Doctor of Everton

The Good Doctor of Everton

When William Baxter moved to Liverpool from Clitheroe, he opened his own business, as a Chemist and Druggist, at 259 Great Homer Street in Liverpool. Some years later he married a local girl with whom he began to raise a family. James Clement Baxter, the second child to bless this union, was born in 1857. He attended his local school, dedicated to St Frances Xavier, where he proved to be a bright pupil. He quickly moved on to the school's college, run by the Jesuit Order, from where he won a place to study medicine at the King and Queens…
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Rob Howarth – a Former Everton Captain

The host of FA dignitaries who had been present at the opening of Goodison Park had now left Liverpool and the Everton committee assembled to start the new Football League season in earnest.  (Goodison had been officially opened on 24 August 1892 by Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall of the Football Association. No football was played; instead the 12,000 crowd watched a short athletics event followed by music and a fireworks display). Their first opponents would be Nottingham Forest. The much published decision to move from Anfield was complete and the new club, now a limited liability company, would be…
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William H Parry, a former Captain of Everton Football Club

William H Parry, a former Captain of Everton Football Club

The clean-shaven young man, seated on the right of the middle row, is an eighteen-year-old player who had recently established himself in the first eleven of an Everton Football Club at the time of the photograph. As he gazes towards the camera and watches for the 'birdie', he is unaware that, in the course of the forthcoming football season, he will score the goal that will earn his club the right to lift their first piece of silverware. His football career, however, is destined to be cut short by injury. William Henry Parry was born in 1864 in the north…
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The Life and Times of Frank Brettell

The name of Everton forward Francis Edward Brettell first appeared on the Liverpool census in 1871 when he was reported as living at No 5 house, Court 13, on Boundary Street. His Father, William Brettell, listed his occupation as that of a nut and bolt maker, and gave his birthplace as West Bromwich in Staffordshire. His wife Harriet, the mother of Frank, was  born in Devonshire. Nine year old Frank, born at Smethwick in Staffordshire, was the eldest of her three children. The premature death of Harriet, in 1881, saw Frank, along with rest of the family, move in with…
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The Men Who Bankrolled Everton

The original History of the Everton Football Club, by Thomas Keates, published in 1928, tells us that James Clement Baxter, who was reported to have loaned them £1,000 [worth around £135,000 today] was the man credited with financing their move away from Anfield and over to Goodison Park. This alas, according the Liverpool newspapers, does not appear to be the case. The good Doctor did indeed make a generous donation to aid their departure but he was not alone in doing so. Several other people, some prominent local businessmen amongst them, were also credited with giving the club their support.These…
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