The story of footballer and war hero George Brewster has finally been uncovered.
I became interested in Brewster's life as part of my Scotland internationalist project, after establishing that his widely published birth in 1893 at Culsalmond, Aberdeenshire, had to be wrong; that man died in 1921, the same year that the strapping centre half won his Scotland cap in a 3-0 trouncing of England at Hampden.
Brewster played for Aberdeen before joining Everton in January 1920 for a record fee of £2,400. He was later at Wolves, Lovell's Athletic and Wallasey, had a short spell in the USA with Brooklyn Wanderers, and ended his career in Inverness as player manager of Caledonian.
It was relatively easy to find out that he was in fact born in Logie Buchan in 1891, and also that he was decorated in the First World War, awarded the Military Medal in 1918. However, the trail went cold after his time in Inverness and I was delighted that Everton historian Tony Onslow was able to step in and find out what happened.
He not only worked out Brewster's family, he tracked his final resting place in Lancashire, where he died exactly fifty years ago in 1964. Tony's fascinating article on George Brewster is published this week on the Everton website Toffeeweb, and you can also read it here.
I became interested in Brewster's life as part of my Scotland internationalist project, after establishing that his widely published birth in 1893 at Culsalmond, Aberdeenshire, had to be wrong; that man died in 1921, the same year that the strapping centre half won his Scotland cap in a 3-0 trouncing of England at Hampden.
Brewster played for Aberdeen before joining Everton in January 1920 for a record fee of £2,400. He was later at Wolves, Lovell's Athletic and Wallasey, had a short spell in the USA with Brooklyn Wanderers, and ended his career in Inverness as player manager of Caledonian.
It was relatively easy to find out that he was in fact born in Logie Buchan in 1891, and also that he was decorated in the First World War, awarded the Military Medal in 1918. However, the trail went cold after his time in Inverness and I was delighted that Everton historian Tony Onslow was able to step in and find out what happened.
He not only worked out Brewster's family, he tracked his final resting place in Lancashire, where he died exactly fifty years ago in 1964. Tony's fascinating article on George Brewster is published this week on the Everton website Toffeeweb, and you can also read it here.
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