1878-1889

Only Once a Blue (Part 6): Joe Marsden

Joe Marsden joined Everton from Darwen, where he was born on 11 October 1869.  By 1881, he was still living with his parents, Thomas and Nancy, at 6 Sydney Street, but now employed as a half-time weaver, in the cotton industry. Marsden had fond childhood memories concerning the FA Cup exploits of his local team, and would have been proud when he joined them on their home at Barley Bank Meadow. His Darwen side began the 1886-87 campaign a with stunning 7-1 win over Heart of Midlothian, which was followed by victories over Bolton Wanderers and Chirk. Their hopes of…
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John Arthur Eyton-Jones

John Arthur Eyton-Jones

There was a larger than usual crowd of journalists filling the Anfield Press Stand when the Everton players took to field on 7 January 1888 to play Notts Rangers. They were there to record what side the club executive would place on the field following the one-month suspension incurred for paying players they had imported from north of the border. The Scots had now departed so they were obliged to fill the vacant positions with local amateur players who were eligible for selection. One of them, John Arthur Eyton-Jones, had been born in1863 at Wrexham in North Wales.   The…
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Thomas Horn Fayer

Unlike many of the early Everton football players who met on Stanley Park, Thomas Fayer did not come from the newly-established Anglican community around the Breckfield Road area, but from an Anglo-Irish neighbourhood in another part of Everton. His father, William, had been born in Preston where he had met and married Newry-born Anna Horn before moving to settle at 151 Great Homer Street in Liverpool. Their first child, Thomas, was born here on 11 January 1866 and baptised at the church of St Anthony. The family later moved to Rokerby Street where two additions to the family were baptised…
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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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Only Once a Blue (Part 4): Frederick Greaves Heaton

During the 1881-82 season, Everton were faced with a number of injuries to players and selectors were forced to cast their net wider in order to strengthen the team for an away fixture against Northwich Victoria. This process led them to enlist the help of Frederick G Heaton. Heaton was born in 1858, near the Staffordshire town of Leek, where his father Edwin was a land agent. Frederick, was the fifth child born to his wife Elizabeth, and were shown on the 1861 census living at Basford Villa, Chaddesden. Frederick first appeared playing football, under the rules of Staffordshire FA,…
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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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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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The History of Bramley-Moore Dock

The History of Bramley-Moore Dock

  Evertonians are justly proud of their heritage, and as it has been with Goodison, so it will be with Bramley-Moore Dock.  As it celebrates its 170th anniversary this year, what are the origins of the site of Everton’s proposed new stadium? The dock takes its name from John Bramley-Moore (pictured), who was born in Leeds in 1800.  As a young man he went out to South America, spending several years as a merchant in Rio de Janeiro.  By 1830 he was clearly upwardly mobile, marrying Seraphina Hibernia, the daughter of William Pennell, British consul-general for Brazil.  In 1835, Bramley-Moore…
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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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Stevenson of Kilmarnock

Stevenson of Kilmarnock

The Final Journey of an Everton Blue Signed during the pre-Football League era, Robert Stevenson returned eventually to live in his native Scotland but spent the last days of his life in Liverpool. He was born January 1861, at 34 Ardeer Square in the Ayrshire coastal town of Stevenson and was the seventh child of George, a coal miner, and his wife Margaret. The 1881 census found the family living in Kilmarnock at 52 Low Glencairn Street. Robert was employed as a grocery assistant. It is around this time that he began serving an apprenticeship as an engine fitter and…
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