1878-1889

Jamie Yates The art of football research can be a complex one. There is so much information out there. Enthusiasts around the world continue to contribute to the ever-growing mass of football writing and gathering of statistics every day. The internet has opened access to numerous historical resources, but also served to further the duplication of inaccurate information which has been perpetuated in print over the past near-150 years since the earliest days of ‘the Association game’. Newspaper records are a treasure trove, but mistakes were also made way back when, and, in many instances, inadvertently become fact, reappearing in…

Jamie Yates Can you name the player who made only three known appearances for Everton, started as an outfield player in two of them and played in goal in the other. Oh, and captained the team on all three occasions? If it helps, the individual in question was a 17-year-old trainee accountant from London who later went on to seek his fortune with the East India Company.  Need a few more clues? Sidney Albert Chalk may not be a name familiar to many, but he goes down in history as the first recorded captain of an Everton football team, for…

by Tony Onslow / Jamie Yates [The original article was by Tony Onslow of EFCHS, now updated here, expanded and re-edited by Jamie Yates. Jamie has also added the entire section at the end, under 'Further Research by Society member etc.] No other player forged a tighter bond with the early development of Everton Football Club than 'good old' Mike Higgins who can surely lay claim to the title of ‘Original True Blue’. He can be found representing Everton at Stanley Park shortly after his 18th birthday in October 1880, scoring goals during the club’s one-year tenure at Priory Road and taking…

Jamie Yates Alex is a name synonymous with greatness in Everton footballing folklore. ‘Dirty’ Alex Dick was a cult hero and early master of the dark arts of defending during the Anfield era; sharpshooting centre-forward Alex ‘Sandy’ Young scored the winner in the club’s first F.A. Cup triumph, over Newcastle United in 1906; quicksilver right-winger Alex ‘Chico’ Scott provided many an assist for the greatest of them all, ‘The Golden Vision’ himself, Alex Young, in the halcyon days of the 1960s. All happen to have been Scotsmen. All had nicknames fondly bestowed upon them, often a sign of the high…

Joseph William Pickering was born in Liverpool on Sunday, 31 August 1856, to parents William and Ellen. William was a paviour, or paver, a layer of stone flags for pavements, etc. In 1861, the Pickering family were recorded on the national census as living at 26 Horatio Street, off Scotland Road. Joseph had at least five siblings; three older brothers, Thomas, Edward and Robert, and two younger sisters; Caroline and Esther. Aged 23, on 27 June 1880, Joseph married Hannah Miller at Christ Church Everton, on Great Homer Street, a church which was later destroyed in the May Blitz of…