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A Scotland internationalists' weekend in Southport - a story from the 1911 census

24/3/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
Census returns are a key tool for football historians, but sometimes they can reveal more than simple ages and addresses. This sheet from the Queen's Hotel on Southport Promenade in 1911 reveals a fascinating story about England v Scotland and a bunch of footballers from Newcastle.
   The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911, which just happened to be the day after England drew 1-1 with Scotland at Goodison Park, in front of 38,000 fans. Jimmy Stewart gave England the lead in the 18th minute, while Scotland equalised a few minutes from the end through Alex Higgins, who had hit the post in the first half (and claimed the ball crossed the line).
   Both of the goalscorers were Newcastle United players, and instead of returning to the north-east they spent the weekend in Southport, where they were joined by Scotland players Wilfrid Low and Jimmy Lawrence, as well as Newcastle coach James Q McPherson, who was training the Scotland team for the game. Each of the guests in the Queen's Hotel was asked to complete the census return themselves, so an added bonus for historians is that the entries have the players' signatures.
   The obvious question is, why did the Newcastle contingent not return home after the match? The answer lies in the fixture schedule. On Saturday 1 April, their club missed them badly as Woolwich Arsenal came away from Tyneside with a 1-0 win. Then on Monday 3 April, Newcastle had a match at Sheffield United, so rather than taking two long journeys, the players simply enjoyed a weekend by the sea and travelled on Monday morning to Sheffield, where they took part in a 0-0 draw. In fact, they may have stayed away from home all week, as Newcastle also fulfilled league fixtures on Wednesday at Nottingham and Saturday at Bradford.
   It seems extraordinary from a modern perspective that a top division club could be asked to play a league match without four key players. And it does seem to have had a seriously negative effect on Newcastle United: the previous week they won an FA Cup semi-final, yet the loss to Arsenal kicked off a disastrous month of April in which they won just once and saw them lose the cup final. Arsenal, however, benefited from playing weakened opposition as their surprise victory at St James' Park was part of an 11-game unbeaten end-of-season run that took them well clear of relegation.
Picture
Close-up of the football signatures: McPherson, Lawrence, Higgins, Low and Stewart.
2 Comments
Paul Joannou
24/3/2017 03:03:32 pm

Good find Andy. And the NU party was supplemented by director GG Archibald, no 38 on the census list. They must have a good time in Southport, one of their favourite hotels I think. They used it for one of their FA Cup finals in that era.

Reply
Douglas Gorman
24/3/2017 04:41:52 pm

A great find indeed. Thanks for sharing it Andy. I was trying to find a Midlands football administrator in the 1911 Census and could not find him at the family home on census day. I suspected that he had attended this England v Scotland game and had prolonged his stay like these players. In fact, he had continued North to visit his sister in Scotland.

The Newcastle United players in this case had made sure there was club director in the Southport party, perhaps to avoid any problems!

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    All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell, who is researching Scottish sport on a regular basis.