The Bristol Rovers History Group. |
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Charles Neale.
Born? Died? Position CH Career: 2,0 Details about Charlie Neale, who was in the weakened Rovers side which crashed 7-0 at Warmley in September 1891, have proved very difficult to uncover. He certainly scored once as the reserves defeated Rudgway 5-0 in October 1889 and he returned to the first-team for the 2-1 win at Gloucester in October 1894. It is likely that he was the Charlie Neale who refereed Bristol City’s 4-2 home defeat to Southampton in February 1907, in a benefit match for Billy Tuft (1873-1925). |
Charles Edward Newnham.
Born, 22.2.1863, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, India. Died, 8.4.1935, Bournemouth. Position LH Career: 1,0 When Rovers, struck by illness, appealed for extra players for the February 1889 fixture with Swindon Town, Charlie Newnham was one of four Clifton men to appear as one-off; four goals ahead by the interval, Rovers recorded a 6-1 win. Newnham had also played for Clevedon against Rovers as early as January 1887, as a right-back. However, the first recorded game in which he appeared for Clifton was against Warmley in November 1885 and he is known to have played 26 times for his club, three goals including a brace in a 5-1 victory over St Agnes in December 1887. Amongst several fixtures against Rovers sides was the reserve game in April 1894, when he scored for Clifton reserves in a 2-2 draw, with a long-range strike after dribbling up the pitch. He is also likely to have been the player who appeared for Chippenham in 1884-85, his “fine back play” being noted in the local press. His consistency at club level earned seven representative games for Gloucestershire, playing alongside Gilbert Innes-Pocock and Harry Francis and, retiring in 1890, he refereed several Clifton matches in the 1889-90 and 1890-91 seasons. Baptised on 18th March 1863 at Ahmednuggur, Newnham was the second of six children to William Heurtly Newnham (1834-1909) and Agnes Louisa Caroline Fawcett (1841-96), who had married in 1860 and moved out to work in The Raj. He spent much of his childhood back in Britain, being recorded in the 1871 census at his aunt Louisa Townsend’s house at 3 Rodney Place, Clifton. One of his brothers, Percival, who played as Charles’ full-back partner when Clifton defeated Rovers 3-0 in December 1889, was killed at Spion Kop in 1900 during the Boer War; indeed, seven players called Newnham played football for Clifton Association in the 1880s and early 1890s. A solicitor by trade, Charlie Newnham married twice, in 1892 to Elizabeth Agnes Roberts (1869-98) and, widowed, in 1907 to Grace Llowarch (1868-1940). His three children were born from the first marriage, Rose Newnham (1891-1977), Agnes Muriel Newnham (1893-1965) and Horace Claude Charles Newnham (1896-1968), who married in 1922 Ursula Gane Barrow (1899-1979). Formerly of Stensham Road, Petersfield, Newnham was living at Broadshard House, Ringwood at the time of his death, when he left £2,927 to his widow. His elder brother, Arthur Tristram Herbert Newnham (1861-1941), born in Mysore, India and educated at Clifton College, played 23 times for Gloucestershire at cricket between 1887 and 1899 and represented Clifton at rugby; Arthur’s second son, Lance Arthur Newnham (1889-1943), was shot by the Japanese as a prisoner-of-war in Hong Kong. |
William Henry Nolan
Born, early 1872, Mangotsfield. Died, 1957, Bristol. Position FB Career: 33,1 With Mangotsfield for three seasons from 1892, Bill Nolan spent the 1895-96 season at Bristol St George, playing against Rovers in the Gloucestershire Cup in the spring of 1896, and arrived at Eastville in time to play in fifteen Birmingham and District League encounters the following campaign. His second-half goal in an FA Cup-tie at Newbury in October 1896 proved to be his only strike for the club and he signed as a professional at Bristol St George on 3rd August 1897. He had earlier scored the first goal Rovers conceded in the Western League, his fifteenth-minute opener proving the prelude in a 3-1 defeat at Mangotsfield in October 1892. At the end of that season, both Nolan and Courtney Punter (1890-1937) were sent off late in the game, as Rovers recorded a 5-0 victory at Mangotsfield. Bill Nolan and his brother Edward were still regulars in the Mangotsfield line-up during the 1902-03 season. The son of a coalminer in the Gloucestershire coalface, Nolan was the second of five children to William Nolan and Martha Kidwell. He was baptised in Mangotsfield on 3rd November 1872 and worked in the mines himself before settling down in Stapleton as an iron-moulder. He married at St Paul’s, Portland Square, Bristol on 7th November 1897 Elizabeth Maria Sharp (1873-1956), a Fishponds girl, the daughter of Charles Sharp, and they had a son Manfrid William Nolan (1899-1985). Bill Nolan died at the age of eighty-five. |
Albert Edward Charles North.
Born, 1878, Bedminster. Died, 1933, Bristol. Position OL Career: 1,0 This locally-born full-back joined Rovers from the St Paul’s club from Bedminster and played in just one Birmingham and District League fixture, an astonishing 4-4 draw against Aston Villa reserves in April 1899. He had earlier made just one appearance for Bedminster, in a 3-1 Western League victory over Trowbridge Town in October 1898 and may be the player who was on St Paul’s books in 1897-98. Retained but not used in the 1899-1900 season, he was unusually tall for his generation, six feet one inch in height, and weighed twelve stone ten pounds; he lived for many years at 39 Harrowdene Road in Knowle. The son of Frederick Hull North (1846-1924) and Elizabeth Silverthorn (1851-1925), he married Eliza Kellard (1873-1955) in Bristol in the autumn of 1903, a Welsh-born girl who retired to Portsmouth after Albert’s death. |
Peter O'Grady.
Born, 1872, Park Lane, London. Died? Position IF Career: 3,1 In addition to two goalless Birmingham and District League games for Rovers, inside-left Peter O’Grady scored after just five minutes in the friendly away to St George the week before Christmas 1896, a game which resulted in a 2-1 defeat. At the time of the 1891 census he had been working as a slaughter butcher and living at the appropriately-named 22 Lamb Street, St Philip and Jacob. |
D Osborne.
Born? Died? Position IF Career: 4,0 Osborne made his début for Rovers in the 1-0 away win against Swindon Athletic in April 1893, Archie Laurie’s third-minute goal winning the day in very hot conditions, and played in three further fixtures in the 1894-95 season, including a heavy 4-1 defeat at Staple Hill. He scored for the reserves when they drew 2-2 with Clifton Association reserves in April 1894. |
Richard James Osborne.
Born, 10.2.1876, Clifton. Died, 1908, Bristol. Position OR/OL areer: 61,21 One of the more poignant tales of Rovers’ early years concerns Richard Osborne, who was employed on both wings between 1895 and 1898, his club tally encompassing ten goals in 30 Birmingham and District League fixtures. He signed professional forms with the club on 14th July 1897. The eldest of nine children to licenced victualler Frederick Osborne and his Glaswegian wife Mary Muir, Osborne was baptised at St Philip and Jacob on 2nd April 1876 and brought up at 135 Lower Ashley Road. He excelled on the football field, his hat-trick in an 8-1 win against Barton Hill in September 1896, where he scored the second goal early on and added two more after half-time at Netham, bearing witness to his fire-power. Club form earned him a game for Gloucestershire when they defeated Somerset 4-2 in December 1897. He also scored after just two minutes in the 4-0 victory over Bristol St George in March 1896. Leaving Rovers in 1898, he captained Eastville Wanderers for the 1898-99 season, his side also including Bill Stone, Hugh McBain, Novello Shenton and Alf Bubb. He had earlier played in two Bristol and District League fixtures with Bedminster in April 1895, scoring in a 4-1 home defeat against Hereford Thistle and had appeared in Bristol South End’s 4-1 victory over Trowbridge Town in February 1896; he moved to Bristol City on 8th September 1899 (playing in three Southern Division matches as well as one Western League game) and, on 3rd September 1901, he and Bill Rooke became two of the first professionals at Bristol East, before signing as a professional at Aberdare on 9th November of that year and re-joining Bristol East on 25th September 1902. He was to die tragically young, unmarried, at the age of just thirty-one. |
George Packer.
Born, January 1861, Chipping Sodbury. Died, 1935, Chipping Sodbury. Position FB Career: 1,0 Baptised at Holy Trinity Church in Doynton on 13th January 1861, left-back George Packer was the son of Isaac Packer and Mary Matilda Tanner, who had married in 1859. He played in the 4-0 defeat at Warmley in February 1884, in all likelihood being a Warmley player who simply made up Rovers’ numbers that afternoon, and had been in Warmley’s side against Wotton in February 1883. In addition, he was the elder brother of Charlie Packer, who played for St George against Rovers in December 1886 and January 1888. He married Caroline White (1878-1955) in 1913 and their son Leslie was born three years later. |
Herbert Thomas Parkinson.
Born, 1863, Batley, Yorkshire. Died? Position IF Career: 1,0 A young Yorkshireman who appeared in Rovers’ side against the works side Right against Might in March 1886, a goalless draw played on The Downs, Herbert Parkinson worked as a railway goods clerk and married Eliza Ann Maynard in Bristol the following year. They had two sons, Walter and Herbert, and lived at Stuart House, Bedminster Road, St Paul’s before moving to Derby in 1893, where they lived for many years at 71 Crewe Street. Believed to be the son of Joseph Parkinson and Mary Raistrick, who married in 1853, Herbert Parkinson was baptised in Batley on 18th October 1863. |
D Peak.
Born? Died? Position WH Career: 1,0 Genealogical evidence has eluded researchers with regard to the career and life of this wing-half, who played in the Black Arabs’ 3-0 victory over Bristol Wagon Works in March 1884, a match played on a sodden pitch, following a seasonally late snowfall. He could be the Daniel Peak, first-born child to Daniel John Peak and Charlotte Wedley in Hereford in 1862 who was baptised five days before Christmas that year, although there is no evidence of this man ever moving to Bristol. |
Edward Penison.
Born. 1871 ,Stratford, Essex. Died, Position, GK. Career: 1,0 A reserve goalkeeper who played just once, the Essex-born Penison, son of James and Emma Penison, is the only name which appears to fit the appropriate timescale, although there was an Edward Penson from Hastings (1871-1940) whose name only differs slightly. He played in the home game against Clevedon in October 1890, when two Archie Laurie goals and one from Fred Yates eased Rovers to a comfortable 3-0 victory. |
William James Pepperell.
Born, 1858, Bristol. Died, 1948, Bristol. Position FB Career: 19,0 Listed as Pepperall in the contemporary press, as Pepperell in 1881, when at 67 Essex Street, Bedminster, and in the 1891 and 1901 census returns at 20 Old Charlotte Street, Bedminster, what cannot be denied is that Bill Pepperell played a key rôle in Rovers’ formation. He was present at the meeting in 1883 when the name Black Arabs was agreed and played for the club from then until 1887. He is presumed to be the “J Pepperd” who played against Right against Might in March 1884, a 1-0 defeat, and whose name equates with no one in contemporary records. He certainly played cricket for St Simon’s, scoring eight runs in August 1885 as Stapleton Village were defeated. The eldest of three sons to a lift attendant William Pepperell and his wife Rose Stevens, Bill was baptised at Temple on 3rd October 1858 and was later living in Totterdown, first at 75 Hawthorne Street and, toward the end of his long life, at 149 St John’s Lane. |
Walter George Perrin.
Born, 16.7.1863, St George, Bristol. Died, 9.11.1943, Bristol. Position IF Career: 28,1 Two Perrin brothers appeared for Rovers in the club’s formative years, the elder being the fourth of five children to a Bristol-born boiler maker Edward Perrin (1825-1879) and his wife Martha Roe (1827-1913). The daughter of a Bristolian, James Roe, Martha had been born at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Walter was brought up at 8 Berkeley Street, St George and, after his father’s death, at 2 Cambridge Terrace, St Philip and Jacob. Walter Perrin was a rugby player as well as a footballer and the Arabs rugby side, after which Rovers took their original name, list him in their line-up for the fixture against Westbury Park on The Downs in January 1884. Three weeks later, playing on The Downs against Bristol University College, “Perrin, securing the ball, made a plucky rush through and obtained a try”. His solitary goal for Rovers came in the 3-3 draw with Warmley in October 1889. He joined St Simon’s and, prior to the game against Bedminster in February 1891, Perrin gave a comic recital as part of a pre-match concert. A team line-up for St Simon’s cricket side for a game against Stapleton Village in August 1885 lists both Perrin brothers alongside Harry Horsey and three Bills of Rovers fame, Pepperell, Somerton and Braund. On his death in 1943, the Western Daily Press reported; “Walter Perrin was a great man at sport ….., not so much a player, as one of those unselfish individuals who did the unglamorous work so that others could achieve fleeting fame”; he was Rovers’ secretary until 1888, when he was succeeded by his younger brother. He married in St Philip and Jacob on 29th September 1887; after his time with Rovers, Perrin worked as a wholesale stationer with ES and A Robinson, and lived for many years at 792 Fishponds Road with his wife Elizabeth Ann Thompson (1866-1951), the daughter of Edward Thompson, who ran the York House pub in Mina Road, and Elizabeth Hansford; they had a daughter Connie (1899-1981), who married Harold Francombe (1889-1953). |
William Stephen Perrin.
Born, 10.1.1868, St George, Bristol. Died, 1941, Exmoor. Position OL Career: 67,21 A more accomplished player than his elder brother Walter, Bill Perrin was the third son and fifth child to a boiler-maker, Edward Perrin and his wife Martha Roe, who had married at St Philip and Jacob on 4th July 1847, and was initially brought up at 8 Berkeley Street, St George. He lodged with his brother Walter at 9 Frenchay Villas, St George after leaving home and almost scored in the first minute of the game with Warmley in October 1886, his fierce shot being parried away. When Rovers defeated the same opposition 1-0 in April 1889 to lift the Gloucestershire Cup for the first time in the club’s history, it was Bill Perrin who scored the only goal of the game. His club form between 1885 and 1891 earned representative honours, appearing on seven occasions for Gloucestershire, four times against Wiltshire, twice against Somerset and once to oppose the South Wales League in Pontypool; in this final game, his late goal secured a 2-0 win after Fred Yates, another Rovers forward, had opened the scoring. In addition, he is known to have guested for Clifton Association in their friendly against Central Somerset XI in December 1889 and he also played in the 1-1 draw between Town and Country in April 1890. He also represented St Simon’s at cricket, alongside his elder brother. In February 1890 he played one game for Bedminster, in a 3-2 victory over Clifton Asociation. Honorary secretary and treasurer for Eastville Rovers from 1888, he was an accountant for many years and lived unmarried at 16 Walton Street, off Stapleton Road; by 1901 he was living at 30 Clare Street, Cardiff, boarding at the house of Alice Lewis (a wine shop manageress who was born on 21st April 1872), who later lived with him at White Cottage, Bilbrooke, Willerton in Somerset. |
Harry Phillips.
Born? Died? Position CF Career: 2,0 Leading the line in Rovers’ earliest-known line-up, for a 3-1 defeat against Warmley in December 1883, Harry Phillips’ identity remains obscure. He is likely to be one of the Bristol-born pair of Henry Rodman Phillips (1860-1944) or Henry William Phillips (1860-1932). Equally, one Herbert Percy Davies Phillips, born on 12th December 1861, was at Clifton College until 1880 and then Pembroke College, Cambridge until the summer of 1883; by 1901 he was living at Lansoar House, Llandegveth in Pembrokeshire. Harry Phillips returned to the side against Bristol Wagon Works in October 1884. |
William Charles Porter.
Born, 1876, Bristol. Died, 1923, Kensington. Position CF Career: 10,5 The scorer of a hat-trick for Rovers against Bedminster in December 1894, a game poised 1-1 at half-time before the 600 crowd saw Rovers victorious 4-2, Bill Porter was brought up by his father Alfred, a Bristol-born hairdresser, and stepmother Sarah Stone, with siblings Albert and Lilian, at 36 Catherine Street. By the time of the 1901 census, he is listed at 20 Beam Street, married to Emily Maria Tuff, with a son William, born in 1899, and working as a labourer at the galvanized works. He played in nine Western League games in 1896-97 for Bristol South End, his three goals including one against Eastville Rovers in September 1896. |
Thomas Poulson.
Born, 1865, Wolstanton. Died, 1936, Bristol. Position GK Career: 10,0 Listed as Poulsen, aged 29 in the 1891 census and Poulson, aged 36 in the 1901 census, this reserve goalkeeper has proved fairly enigmatic to the modern researcher. In Rovers’ reserve side as early as October 1887, he played in one match in the 1889-90 season and eight more in 1891-92, including the demoralising 6-1 defeat at Warmley that February before a crowd of 300. In addition, he was a goal-scoring goalkeeper for Rovers’ reserves, scoring with a late shot as a comfortable 15-0 victory was run up against hapless St Thomas in December 1888. He was also in goal for St Simon’s when they lost 4-0 to Bedminster in March 1890. Later, Poulson was in goal for Clifton Association in March 1893, when Rovers defeated them 3-1 at The Chequers and he also stood between the sticks when Clifton lost 12-0 at Gloucester and 14-1 at Trowbridge Town. His nine-game spell at Clifton was an unhappy one, for he also conceded an own goal in the defeat at Clevedon that February. The third of eight children to a railway engine driver, Thomas Poulson (1840-77) of Bowers, Staffordshire and his wife Fanny Fowler (1835-1908) of Seagrave, Leicestershire, who married in 1862, Tom was brought up at 12 North Street, Castle Church, Stafford; he married Mary Ann Cosway (1861-1919) in Bristol over Easter 1890 and, working as a shoemaker based in 7 Sydney Place, St Gabriel’s, he had two sons, Thomas and Reginald, and a daughter, Lilian. He later lived for many years at 7 Russell Street, St George. |
Alfred Thomas Purser.
Born, 25.4.1863, Easebourne, West Sussex. Died, 3.4.1946, Portland, Oregon, USA. Position CH Career: 13,1 A centre-half who played three times for Rovers in 1885-86, including the game at Chippenham that December which Rovers won through two first-half goals, Alf Purser returned to the club in 1891-92, scoring against Craigmore in January 1892 as Rovers ran in five first-half goals to win 7-1 – “Purser, who had throughout been playing a good game, scored the sixth goal for his side”, The Bristol Mercury reported. He is quite possibly the cricketer who played for Almondsbury in the summer of 1885, taking eight wickets in the match against St Simon’s. The eldest of ten children to a farmer and Methodist preacher Alfred Thomas Purser senior (1834-1912, the son of William Purser 1791-1879 and Elizabeth Court 1792-1852), who married Hannah Madgwick (1837-1921) in Midhurst, Sussex in 1859 and worked Little Todham Farm, Easebourne, Sussex, Alf Purser was a contractor's clerk and lived at 47 Upper Perry Street in Bedminster. In 1890 he married Ada Frances Linge (1868-1948), the daughter of James Towler Linge (1838-1908) and Sarah Marshall (1843-1920), who could trace her family back to John Linge (1796-1834) of Norfolk. Alf and Ada had three sons, Harold, Arthur and Gregory, prior to moving to Sunderland at the turn of the century, where another son Ernest was born and they lived at 19 Cailyon Street. |
William Henry Quick.
Born, 1853, Bedminster. Died, 1918, Bristol. Position CH Career: 3,0 As Rovers had four players out on county duty, thirty-four-year-old centre-half Bill Quick played in the 1-0 home win on The Downs against Wotton-under-Edge in January 1888, Rovers winning through Frank Laurie’s second-half goal. He was the second son of a Somerset chair-maker Charles Quick and his wife Elizabeth of 5 Prewett Place, St Mary Redcliffe, and was baptised in the church of St Mary Redcliffe on 29th May 1853. Bill Quick followed his father’s profession and worked for many years as a cabinet-maker; he and his wife Fanny Tanner (1857-1906, the daughter of William Tanner and Amelia Dunster), whom he had married in 1876, lived at 130 St Michael's Hill with their seven children. By the time of his death, Quick was widowed and resident at 585 Stapleton Road. |
Dr Herbert Edward Rayner.
Born, 22.2.1864, Colchester. Died, 11.10.1914, Brighton. Position CF Career: 6,0 An assistant surgeon as well as an enthusiast of cricket and yachting, Herbert Rayner had a hand in two Rovers goals in the game at Clifton in December 1888, as the side was able to snatch a 3-3 draw from imminent defeat, and also added a second-half goal for the combined Clifton/Rovers XI, boosted by the addition of England internationals Arthur Walters (1865-1941) and Percy Walters (1863-1936), when they drew 4-4 at Warmley in March of the same year. A determined and powerful forward, he represented Gloucestershire against Somerset, a demoralising 7-0 defeat at Dial Hill, Clevedon, and against Wiltshire in March 1888. In October 1888 he had “from a goal-kick dribbled through a number of opponents” to set up Frank Laurie with the opening goal of a 2-0 victory at St George. He was one of four patrons of Eastville Rovers from 1888. The sixth of eight children of a draper, John Rayner and his wife Anne Mitson of 5 Crouch Street, Colchester, Herbert Rayner was baptised on 23rd April 1865 at the church of St Mary the Virgin at the Walls, Colchester, qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons on 11th June 1891 and later lived in 103 Southerland Avenue, Paddington and in Diamond Hill, Camberley, married to Jessie Mary Anderson and with two daughters, before his untimely death, aged just fifty. Having trained at the London Hospital, where he was House Physician, he worked as an anaesthetist in Great Ormond Street and at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital in Moorfields before practising both in Colchester and on Orient Steam Navigation vessels. From 1894 Rayner worked in Camberley, where he combined his surgical work with being Chairman of the Frimley Urban District Council (1911-13) and its Medical Officer. Retiring in 1913 through ill health, he nonetheless had offered to fight in the war before his premature death, which followed a short illness. A bed in the local hospital was named after him and he was the donor of the handsome Rayner’s Challenge Cup for football in the Camberley area. |
William Robert Rendall.
Born? Died? Position FB Career: 2,0 Two games at right-back in the 1890-91 season comprised the Rovers career of Bill Rendall, whose identity remains slightly unclear. In addition, he is known to have played in the reserves in October 1888, as St Simon’s were defeated 4-1. He could be William James Rendall, born in 1870, son of Edwin Rendall and Tryphena Appleby of Bristol; or perhaps William Henry Rendall (1877-1923), middle child of Job Rendall and Mary Walker; or indeed William Frank Rendall, born in 1871, who married Amelia Evans. There was even a William Robert Rendall, who married Beatrice Boon (1879-1925) in Bristol in 1907. Either way, he played in the backs for St Simon’s against Harlequins at rugby in November 1885. He played in the home game against Clevedon in October 1890, when two Archie Laurie goals and one from Fred Yates eased Rovers to a comfortable 3-0 victory and at Warmley when, one goal behind at the interval before a large crowd, Rovers crashed to a 5-1 defeat. Bill Rendall married twice, to Beatrice Maud Boon (1880-1925) in 1907 with a son Clifford born in 1912, and in 1929 to Elsie Maud Blundell (1890-1970); he lived for many years at 31 Roseberry Avenue, Baptist Mills. An HG Rendall played at right-back for St Simon’s in the 1889-90 season and it is not known if this could also be the same player or a relative – the most plausible birth entry to fit this person might be Henry Goddard Rendall, who was born in 1863 in Weymouth, but whose marriage and death dates remain elusive. |
Samuel Sinclair Rinder.
Born, 1854, Wandsworth. Died, 15.4.1919, Bristol. Position GK Career: 1,0 It feels harsh to recall Samuel Rinder as a goalkeeper, his one appearance being overshadowed by years from 1897 as a club director. Against Warmley in January 1889, Bill Higgins put Rovers ahead just after half-time, only for the opposition to score three times without reply to secure a comfortable victory. Rinder also shot for England and won several cups in his twenty-five years attached to Bristol Rifles; in 1899, his most successful year, he won the Queen’s Badge and the Silver Cross, tied for the Jubilee Hospital Trophy and reached the final of the Queen’s Cup. An ostrich feather manufacturer by profession, Rinder was the eldest of seven children to a street paving surveyor, John Henry Rinder (1824-1910) and his wife Johanna Elizabeth Sutcliffe (1832-1903), who married in 1851, brought up in various homes in Battersea, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Middlesex, Suffolk, Hunslet and Leeds. One of his brothers was chairman of Aston Villa. On 27th June 1880 Samuel Rinder married Anne Jane Smith, a Liverpudlian who bore him three sons, Charles, Austin and Eric. He suffered a seizure whilst in the Eastville press box, watching Rovers play Plymouth Argyle in February 1908, and died several years later at his home, 79 Stapleton Road. |
James Roach.
Born, 12.1.1864, West Bromwich. Died, 1955, Birmingham. Position GK Career: 32,0 A goalkeeper who played in nineteen Birmingham and District League games for Rovers during the 1898-99 season, James Roach had earlier played fifteen times for Small Heath in the Football League, his first game being a 7-3 defeat at Villa Park in Division One in September 1895, in which Villa led 5-0 by half-time and Scottish international John Campbell (1871-1947) scored a hat-trick. From Small Heath Royal, Roach had represented the Second Dragoon Guards, Saltley Gas Works and Hereford Thistle, before signing for Small Heath on 1st May 1895; he then returned to Thistle on 16th July 1896 and joined Rovers from there. Against Hereford Town in April 1898, “only Roach warded off danger from the midst of the scrum”, as the Bristol Mercury reported. He married his Dublin-born wife Cecilia Mary Reddy (1867-1940) in Aston in 1897 and they brought up their son James junior at 5 Argyle Street, Eastville. James Roach’s age at death is quoted as ninety, although his dates suggest he was a year older than that. |
William Rogers.
Born? Died? Position IF Career: 77,32 Between 1891 and 1896, Rovers were able to benefit from the goal-scoring prowess of inside-forward Bill Rogers, whose consistent goals certainly helped the side. Amongst his achievements were a hat-trick against Mangotsfield in March 1893 and another in the 4-4 draw at Trowbridge on the opening day of the 1893-94 season. He had earlier contributed four goals when the reserves won 6-0 at home to Brandon in the Junior Challenge Cup and three goals the following week another away to Rudgway, in October 1889. He was in the Cotham Amateurs side which drew 1-1 with Rovers reserves in March 1902. |
Edward Henry Roper.
Born, 1870, Bristol. Died, 1936, Lambeth. Position OL Career: 1,0 Edward Roper, who played in the 1-0 defeat against Clevedon in March 1893, can be traced in the April 1881 census, apparently “aged eleven”, at 18 Aberdeen Street, St Philip and Jacob, the youngest of seven children to a corn porter Robert Weymouth Popham Roper (1825-1882) and his wife Emma Frances Hudson (1825-1881). Edward Roper married Adelaide Maria Palmer (1859-1934), the daughter of William Gray Palmer (1817-67) and Kate (1818-83), in Camberwell in 1895. |
John Ross.
Born, 1874, Ireland. Died? Position CH Career: 32,5 Irish central defender John Ross made his Rovers début against Warmley in the FA Cup in October 1895, a 2-0 home defeat before a crowd of 1,500, and his five goals in eighteen Birmingham and District League matches included a brace in the 3-2 win at Cardiff that December. When Rovers defeated St Paul’s, so the Bristol Mercury reported, Ross “played wonderfully well and infused plenty of energy into the Rovers’ attack”, whilst the 4-0 victory over Radstock in a friendly in October 1895 saw him “play splendidly”. Prior to Rovers, five-feet-two-inch “Ginger” Ross had joined Swindon Town from Grantham Rovers in the spring of 1895, playing seven times in the Southern League, possibly as the Robins’ first professional player, and was with Bristol South End, playing in three friendlies during September 1895, before arriving at Rovers as an amateur on 3rd October 1895. The Irish-born second child of a distiller, Cornelius Ross and his wife Elizabeth of Cheese Lane, St Philip and Jacob, he married Elizabeth Williams over Christmas 1885. By 1901 he had five daughters and was living at 131 Woodland Road, Barry, Glamorgan and working as a tipper. Also known as “Jock” at Swindon, implying Scots rather than Irish heritage, his family had a home in Barry from perhaps as early as 1895. |
John Rumens.
Born, 1871, Clifton. Died, 1941, Bristol. Position CH Career: 1,0 Rovers’ centre-back in the 2-0 defeat against St George in September 1891, where Rovers succumbed to a brace of goals after half-time, was John Rumens. He had earlier captained Wesley Society in the 1890-91 season and was still in Rovers’ reserve side in the spring of 1894. The youngest of four siblings, John and his three sisters were brought up in Bristol by parents who had met through the brewing trade, Thomas (1833-1897) being a brewing traveller from Kent and Harriet Adams (1832-1910) working as a bar-maid at the “Black Lion” in Grove Street, Oxford. The family lived in St Philip and Jacob, first at 4 Kingston Place and later at 10 Midland Road and 2 Felix Road; by 1901 Rumens was working as a boot maker’s clicker and living two doors away from Rovers’ John Paul at Raglan Villa, Eve Road, Easton. John Rumens married Sarah Way Biddlecombe (1873-1949) in 1908 and they lived at 46 Barratt Street, Easton, Rumens working as an insurance agent. |
William Henry Sawers.
Born, 4-1-1868, St Marnoch Street, Kilmarnock. Died, 24-October-1927 Position IF Career: 26,7 Arriving at Eastville from Warmley on 13th October 1897, Bill Sawers scored seven times in 25 games, including three in seventeen Birmingham and District League fixtures. This tally includes a hat-trick, two of these coming late in the game, when Eastleigh were demolished 8-1 by Rovers at Eastville in April 1898. Prior to this, Sawers had enjoyed a long and productive career north and south of the border. From Ayrshire junior football with Kilmarnock South-Western, he had signed for Clyde on three occasions, in 1888, in July 1890 and in September 1896, scoring eight goals in 25 Scottish League appearances for the Bully Wee. Seen as “ a lively [forward] and a clever dribbler”, he played alongside his elder brother Alex at Clyde. A first foray south of the border took him to Sunderland Albion in January 1890, for whom he played in the FA Cup against Bootle, but he had been caught out by the rules of professionalism and was suspended whilst his side were expelled from the cup; a second stint in England was more successful, as he signed for Blackburn Rovers in September 1892, scored eleven goals in that first Football League campaign and fourteen in all in 28 League matches, prior to five goals in eighteen League matches for Stoke in the 1893-94 campaign. He also played for Blackburn in the FA Cup semi-final of 1893, which was lost 2-1 to Wolves at the Town Gound, Nottingham. From 1894 (apart from a few weeks in September 1895 when he returned to Stoke, played once and changed his mind) he was at Dundee, where he enjoyed a purple patch in the midst of his career. He added nine goals in 23 Scottish League games, scored a memorable goal, driven low and hard in the opening minutes of the game, to defeat Celtic 1-0 in a Scottish Cup third round tie in January 1895; one goal in a 4-1 victory over St Bernard’s in October 1895 came through “sending a beautiful ball into the net”. This club form earned a solitary Scottish cap, playing in the 2-2 draw with Wales in Wrexham in March 1895; he had an early shot saved by Burton Swifts’ Sam Jones (1870-1931) and his left-wing pairing with Celtic’s Johnny Divers (1874-1942) was generally reported positively in the press, but he never received a second call-up. However, Dundee became concerned by what was perceived as poor attitude and Sawers also missed a penalty kick against Renton which would have seen his side into the cup final – this was a fortuitous penalty awarded in the dying seconds of a 1-1 semi-final draw in February 1895, Dundee eventually losing in a second replay. In addition, Dundee lost by a club League record 11-0 at Celtic that October, having trailed by six at half-time, and both Sawers and the future Rovers player Tom Vail played in that match. A February 1896 move to his native Kilmarnock saw him add four League games to his tally and he had a fruitless August 1896 trial at Rangers before his third stint with Clyde. In September 1897 he accepted an offer to play for Warmley and moved on to Rovers a month later, before joining Eastville Wanderers in October 1898. Bill Sawers subsequently returned to Glasgow, where he focused on running a sports shop in Eglinton Street; when that failed, he returned to his old trade and that of his father, as a cabinet maker. Shortly before his sixtieth birthday, he died of cancer at Glasgow’s Western Infirmary. |
Frederick Scotchbrook.
Born, 14.4.1874, Birmingham. Died, 12.4.1948, Rowley Regis. Position IF Career: 9,0 Inside-left Fred Scotchbrook included seven Birmingham and District League games in his tally at Eastville. An experienced forward, he had appeared in five Football League matches with Bolton Wanderers, for whom he signed from Lancashire Alliance football on 27th May 1895, before joining Bristol St George on 31st May 1898. Later that year, from 15th March 1899, he was with Rovers and was again with St George until they disbanded in the summer of 1899. He was in their side for two matches against Rovers, one being the Boxing Day 1898 fixture which drew a crowd of 14,897 to Eastville. Scotchbrook played in three Second Division matches with Bolton Wanderers in 1899-1900 and is known to have joined Willenhall Pickwick as a professional on 10th November 1904. He later became coach at Stockport County from November 1924 until taking over as manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20th March 1926; he remained in that post until 27th June 1927. A publican by profession, he was living at Rivington, Prestwood Road, Wednesfield in 1939 and married Gertrude Riley (1879-1943). |
George Albert Seeley.
Born, 1879, Newton Abbot. Died, 15.10.1921, Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Position IF Career: 14,3 "Speedy, versatile and a real trier", George Seeley was the first man to score a hat-trick for Rovers and end up on the losing side. This misfortune befell him when Rovers lost 4-3 to West Bromwich Albion reserves in November 1897, his three goals being the only ones he registered in nine Birmingham and District League appearances for Rovers. Spotted playing for Gordon Avenue, he was with Southampton in 1896 but managed just one Southern League game before moving to St George and on to Rovers in 1897, signing a professional contract that year on 8th December. He left Rovers on 12th April 1898 to return to Gordon Avenue, thence back on 10th August 1898 to Southampton for eight further Southern League matches and a goal at Sheppey United as Saints were champions of that division in 1898-99. Known as “The Lion Tamer” after once entering the lion’s cage at a circus in Southampton, he embarked on a long career with a variety of clubs. Thereafter, Seeley scored seven times in 47 Southern League appearances after signing for New Brompton on 13th May 1899, scoring the only goal of the game as Rovers were defeated 1-0 in October 1899 with a “soft shot” past Dick Gray seven minutes prior to half-time, one of four appearances for the modern-day Gillingham against Rovers. He signed for QPR on 28th May 1901, for whom he scored twice in nineteen Southern League games, Southampton Wanderers from 8th September 1902, Clapton Orient in 1903 and Leyton from 26th May 1905. He scored once in Orient’s first professional match, wearing two-inch verticle stripes of red, white and green, accompanied by blue shorts, an 11-0 thrashing of Shepherd’s Bush at Millfield Road in November 1903. Five feet six inches tall and eleven stone seven pounds in weight, he was “a very tricky player, who centres with remarkable precision”; Seeley was the sixth of nine children to Henry Escott Seeley (1844-99) and Thirza Mahala Burn (1851-1901) and married Charlotte Byham (1874-1949) in 1902. |
Thomas William Selby.
Born, April 1871, Clifton. Died, 1949, Swindon. Position GK Career: 4,0 Despite replacing the injured Bill Stone in goal for Rovers in four Birmingham and District League games, his début coming in a 1-0 win against Hereford Thistle in October 1896, little is known about this player’s career. He was in goal that Boxing Day, when a Rovers side recorded a 3-2 win away to Bradford-upon-Avon before a crowd of 1,000. Although born in Clifton, the son of Thomas Francis Selby (1847-1913) and Emma Winter (1840-1902), and baptised at St John the Evangelist on 28th April 1871, Tom Selby was brought up in Kington St Michael, Wiltshire and settled in Swindon, where he married Ellen Martin in 1902. |
Novello Dunkley Shenton.
Born, 1875, Stoke-upon-Trent. Died, 1939, Pontypridd. Position IF Career: 40,0 Any competition to find the most exotically-named Rovers player should include Novello Dunckley Shenton, the fifth of eight children to a beer seller, David Shenton (1836-1908), the son of George Shenton (1791-1849) and Elizabeth Brownsett (1793-1872), and his wife Mary Ann Dunkley (1840-84), from Stoke-on-Trent. His siblings’ names were far less extreme – Albert, Beatrice, David, Evelyn, Oscar, Blanche and Alice – and the family was brought up at 16 Church Street in Stoke. Novello Shenton joined Rovers on 15th June 1897, made his first appearance against Wycombe Wanderers and remained with the club for two years, never scoring in any league fixture, despite his position in the forward line in 36 matches in all competitions. Club form earned a match for Gloucestershire against Somerset two days after Christmas 1897. He played for Eastville Wanderers in the 1898-99 season and later moved on 10th November 1900 to join Aberdare. At Bedminster over New Year 1897, he had been one of two Rovers player sent off before half-time in an extraordinary game when Rovers also lost their goalkeeper through injury, yet the eight men held on for a 2-1 victory. He even managed a goal for Rovers once, the opener in a 2-0 friendly victory over Mr TG Walker’s League XI in April 1896 and conceded an own goal in the 3-2 defeat against St George that December. Novello Shenton later worked as a plumber and as a house painter, based at 29 Fothergill Street, Aberdare and married Lily Maude Lee, eight years his junior; they had three daughters and a son. |
Albert Slade.
Born, 3.12.1855, Clifton. Died, 1926, Bristol. Position OL Career: 1,0 Though difficult to prove conclusively, the man who played on the left-wing for Rovers in the 3-0 victory over Bristol Wagon Works in March 1884, a match played on a sodden pitch following spring snow, was probably the Albert Slade baptised in St Philip and Jacob on 13th January 1856, son of John Slade and Hannah Langley, who had married in 1841. He later lived in St Werburgh’s. As was the pattern in those days, it is likely he was a Wagon Works player who represented the Black Arabs on one occasion to make up numbers. |
Robert John Sleigh.
Born, 1.11.1865, Clifton. Died, 1935, Bristol. Career: 1,0 Despite sounding like some form of winter transport, Bob Sleigh was an accomplished centre-half who represented Rovers in the game against Chippenham in December 1885. Rovers travelled to Chippenham and came away with a 2-0 win, thanks to a brace of goals before half-time. The son of Robert Garret Sleigh (1834-98), a blacksmith born in Warminster, and Thirza Lush, the daughter of Jesse (1820-89) and Sarah Lush of West Orchard, Dorset, he was baptised at St Philip and Jacob on 28th October 1866 and brought up in Whitehall Road with three older siblings. A tailor’s cutter by profession, Bob married Jane Brice (1864-1934), an Exeter girl, in Bristol in 1889 and they brought up five children, four daughters followed by a son William (1900-1943), at 5 Brighton Terrace, St George and later at 57 Beaufort Road. |
William Small.
Born, 1866, Exeter. Died? Position GK Career: 1,0 Black Arabs’ teenage goalkeeper against the works side Right against Might in March 1884, a game lost to a solitary goal in the opening seconds of the second-half, Bill Small was a coach painter by profession. In the 1891 census he can be found with his brother James and sister Grace at 23 Lower Ashley Road. |
David Smellie.
Born, 1875, Coatbridge. Died, 21.2.1940, Shotts. Position CF Career: 41,31 With 23 goals in just 28 Birmingham and District League matches for Rovers between 1897 and 1899, David Smellie’s prolific goal-scoring eased Rovers towards several large victories. He scored two hat-tricks against each of Kidderminster Harriers and Hereford Town whilst in Rovers’ colours. Over Easter 1898, as Rovers scored five times in each game, both Harriers and Town conceded three goals to him, the first goal in the latter coming after just twelve minutes; then, as Christmas 1898 approached, he added three more as Harriers lost 9-1 at Eastville and another hat-trick as Hereford Town capitulated 10-2, also at Eastville. Playing for Pollockshields Athletic, Western Athletic and Westburn Athletic and formerly with Motherwell (for whom he never made the first-team) between two spells at Albion Rovers, Smellie joined Nottingham Forest on 4th October 1895 and scored three times in seventeen First Division matches, against Sheffield United, Stoke and Wolves; he then contributed fifteen League goals in 26 appearances for Newcastle United during the 1896-97 season, including four times in one fixture against Darwen, having signed professional forms for them on 16th May 1896. Back at Albion Rovers, whom he rejoined from Motherwell on 17th December 1897, he was reinstated as an amateur in December 1901. “Fast, a good shooter and will be a dangerous opponent”, according to the Newcastle Daily Journal, he later worked as a publican on Main Street, Coatbridge from 1917 to 1937 and later as a spirit merchant, was married to Mary Marshall, living at 30 Crichton Street, Coatbridge and is now buried in the town. One of seven children to a Coatbridge publican, he had two brothers, Robert (1873-1960) and John; one may be the Robert Smellie, who transferred from Clyde to Beith in October 1897 and from Hamilton Academical to Queen’s Park in October 1903. |
Andrew Smith.
Born? Died? Position WH Career: 1,0 Notoriously hard to research, this right-half featured in the Rovers side, in Tot Farnall’s absence, in a 1-1 draw before a crowd of 1,000 at Halesowen in October 1898, Jack Jones registering Rovers’ goal. He could be the Smith who scored for Rovers’ reserves in successive weeks in October 1899, against Aston Villa reserves and Wellington St George, having made his first appearance for the reserves at home to Walsall reserves earlier that month. |
Alfred Smith.
Born, 1870, Bristol. Died, 1944, Bristol. Position CH Career: 3,0 Alf Smith played at centre-half when Rovers played away to Trowbridge Town in March 1891; 2-1 down at the interval, Rovers lost by three goals to one. The following campaign he featured in Rovers’ side against both Warmley and Craigmore College. In 1889 he was living at 4 Heath Villas, Eastville; he married Beatrice Vowles in Bristol in 1902 and died at the age of seventy-three. |
E Smith.
Born? Died? Position CF Career: 7,0 Having scored twice when the reserves played Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital Old Boys in January 1889, Smith made his first-team début against St Simon’s the following November but, despite several games at centre-forward between then and 1893, did not manage a goal. These games included a 6-1 thumping before a crowd of 300 at Warmley in February 1892 and he appeared at right-back for the game at Bedminster the following December, which resulted in a 5-0 defeat. He did, however, score when the reserves won 5-0 at Rudgway in October 1889 and two in the reserves’ game against St Paul’s in November 1891; his reserve début may have been the 3-0 home defeat at the hands of St George reserves in November 1888. |
William James Somerton.
Born, 1864, Bicester. Died, 1938, Bristol. Position FB Career: 89,2 Another of the great names in Rovers’ early history, Bill Somerton was a founder member of the club and present at the meeting in 1883 when the name “Black Arabs” was agreed upon. The club’s vice-captain for the inaugural 1883-84 season and captain from 1884 to 1886 and again in 1890-91, his career was effectively ended by a serious knee injury suffered in the 5-1 defeat at Trowbridge Town in 1892. Prior to that, his club form had earned representative honours for Gloucestershire against Wiltshire on three occasions and against both Somerset and the South Wales League in 1891. Somerton’s recorded goals for Eastville Rovers came just five minutes into a 3-1 victory away to Gloucester at Budding’s Field in March 1886 and in a 3-1 defeat against Trowbridge Town in January 1891. Alongside several other Rovers players, he also represented St Simon’s at cricket, scoring 20 in August 1885 as Stapleton Village were defeated. His playing career over, Somerton was a referee and a prime mover in the foundation of the Western League in 1892 and later still Rovers’ secretary and member of the club committee. He was on the committee which arranged the match between the Bristol and District League XI and Aston Villa in October 1894. The third son of a shoemaker James Somerton (1831-1910) and his Scottish-born wife Hannah Wilson (1825-1913), who married in Lambeth in 1854, Bill Somerton was brought up in Noke village and in Summertown, Oxfordshire and worked as a trainee teacher at a school in Grove Street, Oxford alongside his uncle and aunt, Thomas and Esther Somerton (perhaps the Esther Sommerton whose dates are 1812-87). During his early years with Rovers he lodged at Ann Rogers' house in 3 Cumberland Terrace, St James and St Paul. Somerton married Amy Forster (1862-1957, whose brother Charlie appeared briefly for Rovers between 1885 and 1887) at St Nicholas’ Church, Bristol on 10th August 1895 and, working as a schoolmaster at St Simon’s, they brought up their daughter Margaret and son Joseph at 80 Coburg Street, Montpelier. In retirement, Bill Somerton moved to 9 Purton Road, Bishopston. On his birth entry, his surname is written Sommerton. |
Job Stiddard.
Born, 1871, Keynsham. Died, 1918, Bristol. Position IF Career: 1,0 It is believed that, of several Stiddards living at the time in the Baptist Mills area, Job Stiddard was Rovers’ inside-left for the April 1892 match against Trowbridge Town, a match which Rovers, losing Bill Somerton through injury, lost 5-1. Newspaper reports at the time spell his name Stiddart, but no one of that name was resident in Bristol in the 1891 or 1901 census returns. James Stiddard (1865-1944) and Joseph Stiddard (born 1874) were his contemporaries, but Job, who died aged just forty-seven, appears the most likely. The son of Charles Stiddard (1843-1916) and Sarah Ann Ballenger (1843-92), he married Kate Eliza Martin (1867-1920), the daughter of Henry Martin, in Bedminster on 30th September 1899. One H Stiddard played for Mangotsfield United in 1901-02 and for St Gabriel’s the following campaign, when S Stiddard was in the Mangotsfield line-up. |
Joseph Stubbs.
Born, 1854, Bristol. Died, 1924, Bristol. Position CF Career: 1,0 Stubbs played at centre-forward in the January 1886 game against Gloucester City; it was the opposition’s first recorded fixture and, in a match refereed by the England cricketer WG Grace, Rovers’ Harry Horsey scored the only goal of the game just after half-time. One match report lists him as J Stube, but no one of that surname was born in England and Wales during the appropriate time-frame. In 1889 there was as Joseph Stubbs living at 3 Cloudshill Villas, St George; it is possible that it was he who married Anne Maria Skittery (1867-1938) in Bristol in 1906 and, after he died at the age of seventy-nine, she moved to Haslingden in Lancashire. |
Charles William Taylor.
Born, 1867, Bristol. Died? Position IF Career: 100,26 A reliable and consistent inside-right for Rovers between 1887 and 1894, Charlie Taylor’s goal tally included two in the opening ten minutes of the game against Warmley in March 1888. He also contributed a brace as Rovers, pepped up by hat-tricks from Harry Cade and Claude Hodgson, defeated Kingswood 8-0 in September 1888. The following February, he scored a first-half hat-trick as, assisted by a strong wind, Rovers built up a 4-0 interval lead before defeating Swindon Town 6-1 at the County Ground. His club form earned representative honours for Gloucestershire, playing three times each against Somerset and against Wiltshire and being in the side that crashed 10-0 against the Corinthians at the County Ground in Bristol over Christmas 1888; he also represented Bristol District against Aston Villa in October 1894. He may be the player of the same name who was with Clifton Association in the 1897-98 season. Baptised at St Augustine-the-Less in Bristol on 4th September 1867, the eldest child of Herman Charles Taylor and Ann Phillips who had married the previous year, Taylor worked as a French polisher and lived at 4 Henry Row with his wife Rosina Ellis (1869-1946), whom he married in 1900 and their children Florence and William. |
William Thomas.
Born? Died? Position IF Career: 13,5 Having made his first appearance against Trowbridge Town in March 1891, winning a corner early on before Rovers succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at The Flower Show Field, Bill Thomas scored twice when Rovers defeated Craigmore College 7-1 in January 1892. He appeared at left-back for the 2-0 defeat away to St George the following October. In one match report he is listed as D Thomas. |
Malcolm Loudon Vincent Thompson.
Born, 1870, Woolwich. Died, 1943, Prahan, Melbourne, Australia. Position WH Career: 18,1 Right-half Malcolm Thompson, a brother of his team-mate Bill Thompson, made his début in a 6-2 defeat at Trowbridge Town in October 1892 and scored his only goal for the club, Rovers’ second of the game, on a very muddy pitch as Bedminster were defeated 5-2 in March 1895. His final game for Rovers was in the spring of 1896 and he and his brother were both with Eastville Wanderers in the 1897-98 season. A son of Daniel Thompson (1844-1912) and Mary Pinnock (1844-1919), this wing-half, whose name is occasionally given as Malsome Thompson, married on 7th June 1897 Mary Ann Hartley (1871-1943) and they had three sons and three daughters; he worked as a salesman and lived at 12 Clerkhill Street, Blackburn. Malcolm and Mary latterly emigrated to Australia, where they both died in the same calendar year. |
William Thomas Thompson.
Born, 1872, Bromley. Died, 8.12.1937, Bristol. Position OR Career: 81,22 Amongst his many appearances for the club between 1892 and 1896, Bill Thompson could number twenty matches and seven goals in the Birmingham and District League, some of these alongside his brother Malcolm. A son of Daniel Thompson (1844-1912) and Mary Pinnock (1844-1919), he scored twice in the 8-1 victory over Barton Hill in September 1896. One particularly strong performance came in the defeat at Trowbridge Town in October 1892, when his first-half long-range shot cannoned back off the crossbar, depriving him of an exceptional goal. After leaving Rovers, he joined Bristol South End in December 1896, playing in eleven Western League matches without scoring, and from August 1897 played for Ebbw Vale and for Eastville Wanderers; he became a local journalist at the “Bristol Times and Mirror”, rising to the position of chief sub-editor before joining the “Bristol Evening World”. A keen sportsman, he followed Bristol Rugby Club and, ever since boyhood, attended Gloucestershire cricket matches regularly; he played billiards, was a member of Filton Golf Club and played cricket for the United Press side. A member of the Horfield and Bishopston Unionist Club and the Bristol and County Sports Club, he married on Christmas Day 1898 at Two Mile Hill to Harriet Elizabeth Turner (1868-1926). Thompson was living in 1932 at 14 Strathmore Road, Horfield and he left two sons and four daughters on his death at the age of sixty-five. |
Arthur True.
Born, 1872, Fonthill Gifford. Died, 1965, Bristol. Position GK Career: 1,0 One solitary appearance in goal, in a Birmingham and District League fixture against Bristol South End in September 1896, a 2-0 defeat before a crowd of 3,000, was Arthur True’s contribution to the Rovers story. The sixth of eight children to James True (1843-1900) and Matilda Hacker (1838-1934), he was brought up in Step Street, Fonthill Gifford. A builder’s labourer, he lived at 36 Treefield Road, St Philip and Jacob with his wife Mary Martin, whom he married at on 29th April 1896, and their three sons, William (1897-1972), Arthur (1898-1985) and Silas (1899-1992); her younger brother Charles Martin also lived with them. Arthur True’s wife Mary, born in East Stour, Dorset in 1871, was the daughter of William Martin and Ann Gray and could trace her family back to her great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, John Martin, whose father Richard Martin had been baptised in East Stour on 8th November 1589. Arthur True died at the age of ninety-three, the fifth oldest former Rovers player. |
Edward Henry Tucker.
Born, 1865, Wedmore, Somerset. Died, 1949, Bristol. Position GK Career: 60,0 Hugely reliable in goal for Rovers between 1884 and 1892 Edward Tucker, like so many of his generation, was a versatile player who even played at left-half at Chippenham in December 1885 and at right-back in the September 1891 fixture against St George. In addition, he refereed the game against Right against Might on The Downs in October 1885, which Rovers won 1-0. He also missed the entire second-half of the game at St George in October 1887 through injury; Rovers had been 2-1 up at the interval and held on to win 3-2. His thoroughly consistent club form earned him four games for Gloucestershire between March 1888 and February 1890, two each against Somerset and Wiltshire. He also represented St Simon’s at both rugby and cricket. A coach painter by profession and the son of Alfred Tucker and Emma Brooks, he lived in Twinnell Street, St Philip and Jacob with his exotically-named wife Florence Africana Chapman (1867-1925), whom he had married in Bristol in 1890. They had three children, Lily, Florence and William and lived in 7 Eagle Street, off Stapleton Road; Edward Tucker lived to the age of eighty-four. |
Levi Turley.
Born, 1873, Smethwick, Staffordshire. Died, 1939, Plymouth. Position CH Career: 75,11 Experienced and dependable centre-half Levi Turley gave Rovers loyal service between 1897 and 1899, signing his professional registration with Rovers on 31st May 1897. Reliable in defence, he also contributed ten goals in 45 Birmingham and District League appearances, amongst them a brace, one a penalty, in March 1898 as Rovers won 4-1 away to Worcester Rovers. He signed professional forms with Ebbw Vale on 19th February 1902. The sixth and youngest child of David Turley (1832-80, the son of David Turley, 1805-70, and his wife Mary Danks) and Jane Mills, he was brought up at 66 Woodland Road, Harborne and became a bolt and rivet maker, vital skills for stokers in World War One. As a result, census returns in Southport, Glasgow and Plymouth indicate a life working in dockyards. He married the music hall singer Abigail Louisa Jukes (1878-1961, the middle daughter of Thomas and Catherine Jukes) on 19th September 1897 and they had a son, Thomas (1897-1915). Abigail did not stay with him long, living between 1900 and 1919 with Arthur Louis Jacubs, by whom she had five children and marrying Harry Gardiner in 1920. |
Unknown Turner.
Born? Died? Position IF Career: 9,1 This inside-forward played in seven Birmingham and District League games for Rovers during the 1896-97 season, his solitary goal for the club coming in one of four other appearances, when Rovers won 3-2 away to Bradford-upon-Avon in front of a crowd of 1,000 on Boxing Day 1896. |
(Tosher) Alexander Austin Underwood.
Born, 6.2.1878, Street, Somerset. Died, 28.12.1960, Chiswick. Position WH Career: 8,1 Left-half “Tosher” Underwood was with Bristol St George, one of Rovers’ greatest rivals in the final years of the Victorian era and played for them twice during 1898-99, including appearing before a crowd of 14,897 at Eastville on Boxing Day 1898. However, St George disbanded suddenly and Underwood played eight times for Rovers after signing on 16th March 1899, seven of these and a goal, the third of five first-half strikes at the Barracks Ground, in the 6-0 away victory at Hereford Thistle that April coming in the Birmingham and District League. “One of the most energetic and untiring halves in the district”, he measured in at five feet five-and-a-half inches and eleven stone six pounds and played regularly for the reserves through the 1899-1900 campaign. His long-range effort shortly after half-time gave Rovers’ reserve side the lead in the 3-0 friendly victory over Radstock in April 1900. From Street FC, Underwood had signed for St George on 28th September 1898. After Rovers, he joined Gray’s United on loan on 2nd July 1901, Brentford on 4th June 1902, for whom he scored 24 goals in 174 Southern League appearances as an outside-left, top-scoring in 1903-04 (and playing in eleven Southern League matches against Rovers), Glossop on 5th May 1908 (making eighteen Football League appearances) and Clapton Orient (for whom he scored once in 37 League fixtures, a 3-2 victory over Manchester City in September 1909) for one season from 18th June 1909. Somerset-born and believed to be the son of Edward Underwood (1846-1924) and Elizabeth Ann Catley (1855-1919), he was a bootmaker by profession and married Emily Langdon (1877-1955) in Brentford on 26th April 1904; they lived at 15 Brook Lane North in Brentford. |
James Turner Vernon.
Born, 1866, Clifton. Died, 1951, Bristol. Position IF Career: 1,0 A solitary Rovers appearance for James Vernon was at inside-right in the 2-1 defeat away to Weston-super-Mare in November 1887, in which Harry Cade scored for Rovers. Vernon was baptised on 20th May 1866 at St Luke’s, Barton Hill, the son of Charles George Vernon and Margaret Williamson, who had married in 1863, and was brought up above The Mechanics Arms at 14 Great Western Street, where he lived with his paternal grandfather Charles, a publican who was registered blind; Charles, originally from Stockport, shared his accommodation with his two sons, Edward and William, and his two grandsons, James and Harry. James Vernon, who was to live to the age of eighty-five, married Selina Nicholls, a shearing machine minder, in Bristol over Easter 1890, and they had a son James and a daughter Beatrice. One CJ Vernon played at centre-forward for Clevedon in the 1889-90 season and may have been a relative. |
William Charles Verrier.
Born, 1864, Bristol. Died, 1905, Bristol. Position OL Career: 1,0 Despite playing in just one game for Rovers, against Warmley in October 1888, Bill Verrier was able to help Rovers to a 3-1 victory, secured through a Bill Higgins goal before half-time and two strikes from Charlie Taylor after the break. The only child of a painter and compositor William Verrier (1832-1914) and his wife Ann (1842-1875) of 7 Thomas Hill, St Paul’s, he was baptised on 3rd February 1864 at St Augustine-the-Less and married Annie Elizabeth Sainsbury (who was born in 1858 and died on 28th March 1932) on 29th June 1884. They lived for their twenty years of marriage at 5 Waverley Street, St Philip and Jacob and had three sons, William, Walter and Laurence as well as a daughter Violet. |
William Samuel Vosper.
Born, 1867, Tewkesbury. Died, 1908, Bristol. Position IF Career: 1,0 Inside-right Bill Vosper was in the Rovers side which played St George in March 1890; replacing Tom Hardwicke at inside-right, he could not help Rovers losing 2-1 to a late winner, despite Fred Channing’s first-half goal. He also played for the reserves in their 1-0 home defeat at the hands of St Simon’s in November 1887. Vosper is known to have been the eldest of five children to William Vosper (1843-1901) who married Mary Ann Walker (1846-1913) in Upton-upon-Severn in 1866. His father ran the Lord Nelson pub on the corner of Magdalene Place, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol from 1891 until his death, whereupon Bill took over as landlord, only to die just a few years later, aged forty; the pub closed in the 1960s. Bill Vosper, who in 1889 was living at 23 Lower Ashley Road, married Anna Maria Vaughan in 1895 and they had three daughters, Gladys, Millicent and Alice. |
J Walker.
Born? Died? Position CH Career: 1,0 Walker, a signing from Warmley on 27th February 1899, played at centre-half in just one game for Rovers, the 6-0 victory over Hereford Thistle in April 1899. Reporters at his sole Rovers game felt the need to “doubt whether the Bristol executive have a right to send a team of almost unknown quantity, in order to benefit themselves from a pecuniary point of view.” |
William Wyndham Wallace.
Born, 18.5.1867, Aberdare. Died, 1916, Bristol. Position WH Career: 21,1 From the final three games of the 1886-87 season to 1892, Welsh-born Bill Wallace appeared in sixteen games as a right-half for Rovers, making his début in a 1-0 defeat at Warmley in September 1890. He was in the side which lost 4-2 to Bedminster the following month at Bedminster Park, despite two Bill Perrin goals giving Rovers a two-goal cushion at half-time, and he also played in the 8-4 defeat at St George. His solitary goal for Rovers was the second of Rovers’ five first-half goals as Craigmore College were defeated 8-0 on Valentine’s Day 1891. A commercial traveller by profession, he was the eldest of five sons and a daughter to William Burns Wallace (1844-1917), a Cardiff-born commercial salesman and his wife Charlotte Thomas, was baptised in St Mary’s, Swansea on 19th April 1876, aged eight, and was brought up at Holly Villa, Clarendon Road, Roath, Glamorgan, his paternal grandmother Mary Ann Wallace also living with the family. Moving to Bristol, Bill Wallace lived at 4 Bishop Street, St Paul's and later at 42 Sommerville Road. |
Henry Waring.
Born, 1875, Bristol. DIED, 1947, Bristol. Position OR Career: 1,0 An outside-right, who played in Rovers’ comprehensive 10-0 victory over Craigmore College in November 1891, Harry Waring was the son of Henry Nelson Waring (1852-1921) and Esther Tucker (1856-1907), who married on 4th January 1875, with younger sisters Esther, Rhoda, Violet and Ellen. He married on 4th February 1899 at St Luke’s, Bedminster to Mary Ann Cork (1876-1936), the daughter of Thomas John Cork (1861-1940) and Elizabeth Bucknole Gridley (1864-1948), their youngest child, Harold, being born in 1914. |
George Warne.
Born, 1865, Bristol. Died, May, 1891 Keynsham. Position FB Career: 1,0 Only Mike Barrett, of Rovers players, died at a younger age than George Warne, who appeared at right-back in the match against Right against Might in March 1884. This match was lost to a goal scored immediately after the half-time break. He appears to have played against the Black Arabs for Bristol Wagon Works in the 1-1 draw two months earlier and in Wagon Works’ 3-0 victory later that season. He played as a full-back with St Agnes during the 1887-88 season. A lodger at a house in Bitton at the time of the 1891 census, he died shortly afterwards, aged just twenty-six. He was buried at St Anne’s, Oldland on 12th May 1891. |
Reginald Weeks.
Born, 1873, Clifton. Died, 1938, Chippenham. Position CF Career: 3,0 Teenager Reg Weeks made his Rovers début in a 3-3 draw at Warmley in October 1889, when Rovers led 2-0 after 35 minutes through two own goals. Players often switching positions in this era, he reappeared in goal for the 4-1 defeat at Clevedon in March 1890. He had been with Bristol East in October 1888. The son of Albert James Jonas Weeks (1840-98) and Mary Ann Gough (1842-88), who married in Buckingham in 1866, he married Annie Dixon McOlvin (1878-1930), the daughter of Gateshead-born Colin McOlvin (1848-1906) and Ann Dixon (1844-1939), at St Thomas’, Eastville on 1st June 1907, their son Reginald McOlvin Weeks (1902-64) marrying Eileen Shellard (1910-88) and having two children of his own. Reg Weeks lived at 9 Hill Side, Stapleton and had the wonderful phone number 12. |
Unknown Whitehead.
Born? Died? Position IF Career: 1,0 Considerable uncertainty surrounds the identity of the inside-forward who partnered Charlie Taylor in Rovers’ 2-1 defeat at Weston-super-Mare in November 1887. Amongst Bristol births in the appropriate time-frame are Walter Robert Whitehead, James Whitehead and William Willis Whitehead in 1864, Charles Whitehead and Harry Whitehead in 1866 and John James Whitehead in 1868. |
Arthur Williams.
Born? Died? Position CF Career: 5,1 Appearing in five matches, Williams led the forward-line on four occasions in the 1892-93 and 1893-94 seasons, scoring against Swindon Athletic in December 1893. His goal gave Rovers a half-time lead away from home, only for the side to relax and lose 2-1. He also played in the game against Wells the previous month, when the visitors arrived with only ten men and lost 5-1. |
Walter Wreford.
Born, 1869, Bristol. Died, 1943, Bristol. Position WH Career: 2,0 Right-half for the game with Trowbridge Town in March 1891, Walter Wreford was seventy-four-years-old when he died. With Fred Yates as captain and three débutants in the side, Rovers lost 3-1 despite a Bill Perrin goal. Prior to this, he was in the Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital Old Boys’ side which lost 9-1 to Rovers in October 1888, in which he played “a capital game”. He may well have been the Walter Wreford, baptised at St Philip and Jacob on 17th April 1870, who was the son of John Walter Wreford (1838-1905) and Elizabeth Webber (1838-1909), both initially from South Molton. |
Frederick A Yates.
Born? Died? Position CF/FB Career: 66,22 A devastatingly strong forward in his day, Fred Yates was also employed effectively as a full-back, his pace and timing making him a very versatile performer. One highlight of his time with Rovers between 1889 and 1894 was a hat-trick against Clifton Association in November 1890; he scored twice in the opening fifteen minutes before completing his hat-trick with a header close to time as Rovers won 3-0 against a side which fielded the future South Africa test cricketer Harry Francis at outside-left. He captained Rovers from left-back in the 3-1 defeat at Trowbridge Town in March 1891 and through the autumn of 1891. His consistent club form earned three games for Gloucestershire, against the South Wales League, scoring the opening goal in a 2-0 win, and Somerset in 1891 and against Wiltshire the following year; he also represented Town against Country in the 1-1 draw of April 1890. In addition, he represented a League Clubs XI, which was defeated 3-0 by Warmley in January 1893, in which he was “very active and interrupted some dangerous sallies”. One appearance followed in Bedminster’s 4-0 defeat at Hereford Thistle in January 1894 and later Rovers called on him to referee the friendly against Mr TG Walker’s League XI in April 1896. He was listed in 1898 as living at Wine Vaults in Newfoundland Street. He might be the Frederick Arthur Yates who was born in London in the autumn of 1871. |
Charles Henry Young.
Born, 1870, Wrington, Somerset. Died, 1906, Clutton. Position OL Career: 1,0 Embarrassingly turning up at Clevedon for a game two men short, Rovers borrowed outside-left Charlie Young along with Jim Cooke from their opponents for one match in March 1890 and lost 4-1. As a teenager, he was in the Clevedon side which defeated Rovers 3-0 in November 1886. A general porter by profession, Young was the only child of George Young, a general porter, and his wife Sarah and continued to live with his parents at no2 Cottage, Dial Hill, Clevedon until his very early death at the age of thirty-six. |