SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport
- Published on
The second of two rugby matches between Dollar and Alloa, played on 20 November 1869. [Alloa Journal, via British Newspaper Archive]
A couple of football match reports from 1869 caught my eye.
Dollar and Alloa, neighbouring towns in Clackmannanshire, were playing 15-a-side to rugby rules, and what really stood out was the name of the Dollar captain, which the papers gave variously as Bombajee Dadabhoy or Bomont G Daddabhoy.
He was clearly of Asian origin, and having previously written about the multi-ethnic nature of Scottish team sport in its earliest days, I was intrigued to find out more about a man who appears to be the first recorded Indian rugby player.
The correct spelling of his name was Bomanjee Dadabhoy, and he was one of three Parsi boys from Bombay [Mumbai] who had been sent to Scotland to finish their schooling at Dollar Institution (now Dollar Academy). They all feature in the school registers although Bomanjee does not appear to have devoted much time to study, only taking classes in Mathematics and Drawing.
Dollar and Alloa, neighbouring towns in Clackmannanshire, were playing 15-a-side to rugby rules, and what really stood out was the name of the Dollar captain, which the papers gave variously as Bombajee Dadabhoy or Bomont G Daddabhoy.
He was clearly of Asian origin, and having previously written about the multi-ethnic nature of Scottish team sport in its earliest days, I was intrigued to find out more about a man who appears to be the first recorded Indian rugby player.
The correct spelling of his name was Bomanjee Dadabhoy, and he was one of three Parsi boys from Bombay [Mumbai] who had been sent to Scotland to finish their schooling at Dollar Institution (now Dollar Academy). They all feature in the school registers although Bomanjee does not appear to have devoted much time to study, only taking classes in Mathematics and Drawing.
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name appears in the Dollar Institution class register, although he appears not to have attended many classes! [from Dollar Academy Archive]
However, Bomanjee certainly made an impact on his fellow pupils, and a flavour of this comes in letters written by Alice Cadenhead, a 12-year-old boarder at the school. In November 1868 she told her parents about the newly-arrived Parsis: 'They look so funny, they wear splendid ties all worked in every colour and little black caps of velvet with blue tassels coming over their shoulders.'
Another contemporary, Archibald Gibb, also recalled their arrival in a letter he wrote to the school magazine many years later: 'We had several Parsees from Central India, grown-up men they were who, when they arrived in Dollar, wore frock coats and fez caps, and were naturally objects of great interest to all the other boys.'
Bomanjee quickly got involved in social activities and was given a part in the school play, The Rose of Amiens. He then took up dancing, albeit to the despair of young Alice Cadenhead: 'I got that great fat Parsee for a Madrille. I could hardly dance for laughing and Boman didn't know anything about the dance, he just trotted about after me.' Two weeks later she wrote: 'I am oppressed by a Parsee who will dance with me, and he can't dance one bit but does nothing but tread on my toes.'
He was also active in sport, recorded as a cricket umpire and coming second in Throwing the Hammer at the school sports. But he must have been a keen rugby player as by the autumn he was named captain of the Dollar team, which was founded in 1868 and notionally independent of the school.
Bomanjee's team first travelled to Alloa on 23 October 1869, where the home team won comfortably by a goal and four tries to nil. Four weeks later, on 20 November, the Dollar side got their revenge, winning by a single goal (a converted try), helped by an 'uncommonly short' pitch of just 70 yards length.
The only other player named in either report was Matthew Brydie, the Alloa captain. Born in 1846, he was a solicitor who had recently graduated from Edinburgh University but sadly he went bankrupt in 1883. A couple of years later he was committed to an asylum in Edinburgh where he remained until his death in 1912.
Another contemporary, Archibald Gibb, also recalled their arrival in a letter he wrote to the school magazine many years later: 'We had several Parsees from Central India, grown-up men they were who, when they arrived in Dollar, wore frock coats and fez caps, and were naturally objects of great interest to all the other boys.'
Bomanjee quickly got involved in social activities and was given a part in the school play, The Rose of Amiens. He then took up dancing, albeit to the despair of young Alice Cadenhead: 'I got that great fat Parsee for a Madrille. I could hardly dance for laughing and Boman didn't know anything about the dance, he just trotted about after me.' Two weeks later she wrote: 'I am oppressed by a Parsee who will dance with me, and he can't dance one bit but does nothing but tread on my toes.'
He was also active in sport, recorded as a cricket umpire and coming second in Throwing the Hammer at the school sports. But he must have been a keen rugby player as by the autumn he was named captain of the Dollar team, which was founded in 1868 and notionally independent of the school.
Bomanjee's team first travelled to Alloa on 23 October 1869, where the home team won comfortably by a goal and four tries to nil. Four weeks later, on 20 November, the Dollar side got their revenge, winning by a single goal (a converted try), helped by an 'uncommonly short' pitch of just 70 yards length.
The only other player named in either report was Matthew Brydie, the Alloa captain. Born in 1846, he was a solicitor who had recently graduated from Edinburgh University but sadly he went bankrupt in 1883. A couple of years later he was committed to an asylum in Edinburgh where he remained until his death in 1912.
Bomanjee Dadabhoy is recorded as a member of the Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge in London in 1871
I have been trying to establish more about the life of Bomanjee Dadabhoy, who may well be the first non-white rugby footballer. However, tracking him down has proved a challenge, not helped by the variations in spelling his name.
However, what is clear is that after he left Dollar he went to London, where he can be found in the 1871 census lodging in Ladbroke Grove. He also signed up for The Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge, and from their records it can be established that he was born in Bombay about 1850, and had embarked on a career as a civil engineer.
Thereafter, the trail goes cold. He is listed in other masonic records, in Lahore in the 1880s and in Meerut a decade later, but I have been unable to find any records of Bomanjee in newspapers or family history sites. A Parsee Foot-Ball Club was active in Bombay in the early 1870s, but again he is not mentioned.
Bomanjee must have come from a prominent family to have been able to afford to go to Dollar, and was perhaps related to Dadabhoy Naoroji who became a British MP, but there are no obvious leads – nor have I found any photos. Any information would be welcome!
Two other Parsi boys went to Dollar at the same time, both of whom featured in the school prize lists. A little more is known about them: Hormusjee Pestonjee Cola spent some years at a boarding school on Merseyside before coming to Scotland, then returned to Bombay; and Sorabjee Cursetjee Cama attended University College School in London prior to Dollar, but sadly he never went home as he died of a fever in March 1870, aged 20.
The cosmopolitan nature of life at Dollar Institution at that time was emphasised by the presence of three Chinese pupils, Wei Ah Yuk, Wong Ching and Woo Ah See. They all performed well academically but do not seem to have been active on the sporting front.
While Bomanjee Dadabhoy's fleeting appearance in Scottish rugby gives just a tantalising glimpse, the wider picture of the story of Dollar Football Club's Parsi captain is that this is further evidence of Scottish sport being considerably more ethnically diverse than other parts of the UK in the 1860s and 1870s.
Prominent black and Asian sportsmen in Scotland of that era included James Robertson (Gambia, rugby), Alfred Clunies-Ross (Malay, rugby), Andrew Watson (Guyana, football), Robert Walker (Sierra Leone, football), Thomas Marten (Java/Chinese, football) and William Forman (USA, athletics).
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name can be added to that list, and I have little doubt that more will be discovered.
I would like to thank Janet Carolan, archivist at Dollar Academy, for her kind assistance in checking school archives and supplying contemporary records.
However, what is clear is that after he left Dollar he went to London, where he can be found in the 1871 census lodging in Ladbroke Grove. He also signed up for The Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge, and from their records it can be established that he was born in Bombay about 1850, and had embarked on a career as a civil engineer.
Thereafter, the trail goes cold. He is listed in other masonic records, in Lahore in the 1880s and in Meerut a decade later, but I have been unable to find any records of Bomanjee in newspapers or family history sites. A Parsee Foot-Ball Club was active in Bombay in the early 1870s, but again he is not mentioned.
Bomanjee must have come from a prominent family to have been able to afford to go to Dollar, and was perhaps related to Dadabhoy Naoroji who became a British MP, but there are no obvious leads – nor have I found any photos. Any information would be welcome!
Two other Parsi boys went to Dollar at the same time, both of whom featured in the school prize lists. A little more is known about them: Hormusjee Pestonjee Cola spent some years at a boarding school on Merseyside before coming to Scotland, then returned to Bombay; and Sorabjee Cursetjee Cama attended University College School in London prior to Dollar, but sadly he never went home as he died of a fever in March 1870, aged 20.
The cosmopolitan nature of life at Dollar Institution at that time was emphasised by the presence of three Chinese pupils, Wei Ah Yuk, Wong Ching and Woo Ah See. They all performed well academically but do not seem to have been active on the sporting front.
While Bomanjee Dadabhoy's fleeting appearance in Scottish rugby gives just a tantalising glimpse, the wider picture of the story of Dollar Football Club's Parsi captain is that this is further evidence of Scottish sport being considerably more ethnically diverse than other parts of the UK in the 1860s and 1870s.
Prominent black and Asian sportsmen in Scotland of that era included James Robertson (Gambia, rugby), Alfred Clunies-Ross (Malay, rugby), Andrew Watson (Guyana, football), Robert Walker (Sierra Leone, football), Thomas Marten (Java/Chinese, football) and William Forman (USA, athletics).
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name can be added to that list, and I have little doubt that more will be discovered.
I would like to thank Janet Carolan, archivist at Dollar Academy, for her kind assistance in checking school archives and supplying contemporary records.
- Published on
A fascinating new booklet has just been published, coinciding with Black History Month, on the stories of Britain's black athletic pioneers.
Researched and written by Peter Lovesey, this 64-page volume brings to life a wide range of long-forgotten names as well as summarising the athletic careers of famous sportsmen like Arthur Wharton, Andrew Watson and Jack London.
I was surprised to know just how far back the stories of black athletes go, with records of anonymous participants taking part in events as long ago as 1720, over three hundred years ago. The first known name was Levi Baldwin, a black trumpeter in the 4th Dragoon Guards, who ran numerous races in 1805-06, and he was followed through the 19th century by many others, male and female.
Of particular interest to me was the inclusion of men I have written about from a football perspective, such as Robert Walker and Andrew Watson, who broke one barrier in 1876 by becoming the first known black athletes to compete as amateurs - all previous contestants had been professional, or at least took part for wagers. The fact they did so in Scotland adds to the impression that multi-culturalism in sport in the late Victorian era was more acceptable here than south of the border.
The stories end in the inter-war period with Britain's first black Olympic athletes, Harry Edwards and Jack London, and the last entry is the sprinter Ethel Scott who was the first black woman to represent Great Britain.
Black Athletes in Britain - The Pioneers is published by the National Union of Track Statisticians. It is available to order at www.nuts.org.uk
Researched and written by Peter Lovesey, this 64-page volume brings to life a wide range of long-forgotten names as well as summarising the athletic careers of famous sportsmen like Arthur Wharton, Andrew Watson and Jack London.
I was surprised to know just how far back the stories of black athletes go, with records of anonymous participants taking part in events as long ago as 1720, over three hundred years ago. The first known name was Levi Baldwin, a black trumpeter in the 4th Dragoon Guards, who ran numerous races in 1805-06, and he was followed through the 19th century by many others, male and female.
Of particular interest to me was the inclusion of men I have written about from a football perspective, such as Robert Walker and Andrew Watson, who broke one barrier in 1876 by becoming the first known black athletes to compete as amateurs - all previous contestants had been professional, or at least took part for wagers. The fact they did so in Scotland adds to the impression that multi-culturalism in sport in the late Victorian era was more acceptable here than south of the border.
The stories end in the inter-war period with Britain's first black Olympic athletes, Harry Edwards and Jack London, and the last entry is the sprinter Ethel Scott who was the first black woman to represent Great Britain.
Black Athletes in Britain - The Pioneers is published by the National Union of Track Statisticians. It is available to order at www.nuts.org.uk
- Published on
Louis Bruce in his role as tram driver, standing next to the Mayor of Kingston as the first tram crosses Kingston Bridge in 1906
Sporting history continues to throw up surprises, the latest being the discovery of Louis Bruce, who in 1908 became Britain's first black competitor at the Olympic Games. His story was published today in The Guardian, and I was delighted to play my part in uncovering the details of his life, not least the fact that he was born in Scotland.
Front page of The Guardian, 28 January 2022, with the illustrated story of Louis Bruce
Louis Bruce's identity had been lost to history in the past century. He was known as an early black tram driver but his first name was mistakenly recorded as Lewis. In Olympic records, his name was thought to be Lawrence. It was only the discovery of his original entry form to the 1908 Olympic Games that the truth started to emerge, and a team of sports historians set to work.
He comes across as a remarkable character. He was born in Edinburgh in 1875, an illegitimate birth to a widowed mother from Plymouth, then brought up in Devon by his grandmother before heading to the capital for work. He was taken on by London United Tramways, passed his tram licence in 1900 and worked for the company for at least 20 years, based at Fulwell Depot, rising to the rank of Inspector.
Being a tram driver was a tough job, standing on the open platform in all weathers, directing a large machine with a load of passengers on board. However, he was clearly good at it, being the personal driver for the managing director of the company, Sir James Clifton Robinson, who had a private tram at his house for going to and from work.
He was not the only black driver at LUT as, in contrast to the racist attitudes of the time, Robinson was enlightened enough to be quoted as saying: 'I make no distinction in race, colour or creed; all I want is steady, reliable men of good character, no matter what they have been.' (Weekly Dispatch, 6 September 1903)
Sadly, not everyone agreed with those sentiments. Another black driver with LUT was Alexander Frazer, born in Jamaica. In 1905 he had lost his job and was convicted (probably unfairly) of street gambling near his home in West London. At his trial, the presiding magistrate was reported as saying to him 'Why don't you get back to Jamaica and grow bananas?'.
He comes across as a remarkable character. He was born in Edinburgh in 1875, an illegitimate birth to a widowed mother from Plymouth, then brought up in Devon by his grandmother before heading to the capital for work. He was taken on by London United Tramways, passed his tram licence in 1900 and worked for the company for at least 20 years, based at Fulwell Depot, rising to the rank of Inspector.
Being a tram driver was a tough job, standing on the open platform in all weathers, directing a large machine with a load of passengers on board. However, he was clearly good at it, being the personal driver for the managing director of the company, Sir James Clifton Robinson, who had a private tram at his house for going to and from work.
He was not the only black driver at LUT as, in contrast to the racist attitudes of the time, Robinson was enlightened enough to be quoted as saying: 'I make no distinction in race, colour or creed; all I want is steady, reliable men of good character, no matter what they have been.' (Weekly Dispatch, 6 September 1903)
Sadly, not everyone agreed with those sentiments. Another black driver with LUT was Alexander Frazer, born in Jamaica. In 1905 he had lost his job and was convicted (probably unfairly) of street gambling near his home in West London. At his trial, the presiding magistrate was reported as saying to him 'Why don't you get back to Jamaica and grow bananas?'.
The results of the Olympic heavyweight wrestling, held on one day in July 1908. Louis Bruce won his first round bout but lost in the second.
Bruce was also a keen sportsman and took part in the annual tramway sports with success, winning events ranging from race walking to boxing. But it was as a wrestler that he earned his fame. He was a member of Hammersmith Amateur Wrestling Club, one of several who were selected for the GB team in 1908. He reached the second round of the heavyweight catch-as-catch-can (ie freestyle) wrestling contest.
During WW1, being too old for military service, he left his tram duties to work as a hospital auxiliary for the British Red Cross. Then, after the war he continued as an Inspector before opening a newsagent shop. He died in Sutton aged 82 in 1958.
During WW1, being too old for military service, he left his tram duties to work as a hospital auxiliary for the British Red Cross. Then, after the war he continued as an Inspector before opening a newsagent shop. He died in Sutton aged 82 in 1958.
Birth certificate: Louis Bruce McAvoy Mortimore or Doney was born in Edinburgh in 1875
Marriage certificate: Louis Bruce married Ethel Dunn in Teddington in 1911
There remains one significant mystery about Louis Bruce: the circumstances of his birth, including the identity of his father.
He has a complicated family background. His mother was Jane Elizabeth Mortimore (1842-1925) who married Henry Doney, a cab proprietor, in Plymouth in 1862. They had six daughters in quick succession before Henry died in 1870 aged just 33.
In the 1871 census, the newly-widowed Mrs Doney had four daughters with her in Plymouth, while the other two were staying nearby with her mother and sisters. There is nothing to indicate Jane Doney had ever been outside Devon before, but four years later she was in Edinburgh, giving birth to an illegitimate son. What took her to leave her family and travel to Scotland is unknown, although she described herself on the birth certificate as a Lady's Nurse.
The full name given to the boy was Louis Bruce McAvoy Mortimore or Doney. His father was not named but, assuming the mother was white, he must have been black.
The place of birth was Paradise Cottage in Morningside, which was then a growing suburb at the southern edge of Edinburgh. It was close to the entrance to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum but there is nothing to link Jane Doney with the institution - neither she nor any potential father is named on their staff lists.
The assumption must be that Jane took up a job as a Nurse and, despite the need to leave her daughters behind, that job somehow took her to Scotland where she had the relationship that led to Louis being born. She spent at least several weeks in Edinburgh as the birth was not registered until February, but then appears to have returned to Plymouth as she remarried there in 1879; she had another son with her new husband, Richard Dingley Hobbs. Louis, meanwhile, was now using the surname of Bruce, and was brought up in the village of Plympton St Mary by his grandmother and aunts.
The only clue to the identity of his father comes from Louis' marriage certificate, where he named him as William King Bruce, medical practitioner. So far, all attempts to identify this man have failed, so perhaps this was a false name, or someone who was only briefly in this country. There is also a mystery about the origin of Louis' other given name, McAvoy, as there is nobody of this name in his mother's family, so again one can only speculate.
While the search for the full story of Louis Bruce continues, his discovery as a pioneering black athlete is yet another example of sports history having to be rewritten.
Louis Bruce, Olympic wrestler
Born 17 December 1875 in Edinburgh
Died 31 March 1958 in Sutton
He has a complicated family background. His mother was Jane Elizabeth Mortimore (1842-1925) who married Henry Doney, a cab proprietor, in Plymouth in 1862. They had six daughters in quick succession before Henry died in 1870 aged just 33.
In the 1871 census, the newly-widowed Mrs Doney had four daughters with her in Plymouth, while the other two were staying nearby with her mother and sisters. There is nothing to indicate Jane Doney had ever been outside Devon before, but four years later she was in Edinburgh, giving birth to an illegitimate son. What took her to leave her family and travel to Scotland is unknown, although she described herself on the birth certificate as a Lady's Nurse.
The full name given to the boy was Louis Bruce McAvoy Mortimore or Doney. His father was not named but, assuming the mother was white, he must have been black.
The place of birth was Paradise Cottage in Morningside, which was then a growing suburb at the southern edge of Edinburgh. It was close to the entrance to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum but there is nothing to link Jane Doney with the institution - neither she nor any potential father is named on their staff lists.
The assumption must be that Jane took up a job as a Nurse and, despite the need to leave her daughters behind, that job somehow took her to Scotland where she had the relationship that led to Louis being born. She spent at least several weeks in Edinburgh as the birth was not registered until February, but then appears to have returned to Plymouth as she remarried there in 1879; she had another son with her new husband, Richard Dingley Hobbs. Louis, meanwhile, was now using the surname of Bruce, and was brought up in the village of Plympton St Mary by his grandmother and aunts.
The only clue to the identity of his father comes from Louis' marriage certificate, where he named him as William King Bruce, medical practitioner. So far, all attempts to identify this man have failed, so perhaps this was a false name, or someone who was only briefly in this country. There is also a mystery about the origin of Louis' other given name, McAvoy, as there is nobody of this name in his mother's family, so again one can only speculate.
While the search for the full story of Louis Bruce continues, his discovery as a pioneering black athlete is yet another example of sports history having to be rewritten.
Louis Bruce, Olympic wrestler
Born 17 December 1875 in Edinburgh
Died 31 March 1958 in Sutton
- Published on
To mark Black History Month, this is the story of a pioneering black rugby player.
Edwin Oxley was one of Scotland’s leading rugby players in the 1930s, captain of Edinburgh side Heriot's FP, yet he was never capped by his country. According to some accounts, including his old school, the reason for this snub was that he was black.
However, while he was undoubtedly discriminated against in a time of endemic racism, there is perhaps a more prosaic reason for his non-selection for Scotland: he was born in England. In fact, he spent the first 13 years of his life in Staffordshire before he was able to join his birth mother in Edinburgh.
His father was James Oxley, a black medical student from Trinidad at Edinburgh University. While in Scotland he had a relationship with Isabella Nichol, the unmarried daughter of a local joiner, and when she fell pregnant she went far away to Burton-on-Trent to have the baby, presumably to avoid the inevitable stigma of an illegitimate child, and a black one at that.
However, while he was undoubtedly discriminated against in a time of endemic racism, there is perhaps a more prosaic reason for his non-selection for Scotland: he was born in England. In fact, he spent the first 13 years of his life in Staffordshire before he was able to join his birth mother in Edinburgh.
His father was James Oxley, a black medical student from Trinidad at Edinburgh University. While in Scotland he had a relationship with Isabella Nichol, the unmarried daughter of a local joiner, and when she fell pregnant she went far away to Burton-on-Trent to have the baby, presumably to avoid the inevitable stigma of an illegitimate child, and a black one at that.
The Heriot's FP team of 1929, Scottish champions for the second successive year. Edwin Oxley is in the back row, second from right.
Born on 4 May 1907 in a small terraced house in Burton, the infant Edwin was fostered to a local family, his foster mother Mary Lukin taking care of him until he was 13, while he attended school in the town.
Meanwhile his parents did marry in Edinburgh early in 1910, using the Scottish system of 'marriage by declaration' but it appears to have been purely for practical reasons as six weeks later his father sailed for America, never to return. Dr James Edwin Tyndall Oxley, who had just graduated with first class honours in medicine, settled in Pennsylvania, where he married for a second time in 1919 (apparently without seeking a divorce) and raised another family. He died in 1927 of pneumonia.
Edwin's mother, meanwhile, remained in Edinburgh and he finally joined her there in 1921, enrolling at George Heriot's, a fee-paying school. Clearly her financial circumstances had improved and it may be that the father sent money to cover the boy's education.
At school he was given the nickname Sam, short for 'Sambo', which went unquestioned at the time and stuck throughout his life. He stood out as probably the only black pupil but, as an athletic and personable young boy, he fitted in well, and ended up captaining the school rugby team as well as playing for its cricket eleven.
When he left school in 1927 it was a daunting time for a black man to enter adult life in Edinburgh. This was the year of the infamous 'colour bar' in the city, imposed by some bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings about race could run high.
It was little surprise that he stuck to the people he knew, and continued to play rugby with Heriot's FP. They were then one of Scotland's top sides, and were the country's unofficial champions in 1928 and 1929. A wing forward, he remained with the club throughout the following decade, captaining the team for three seasons and regularly praised in the media, but whenever representative sides were named, he was never in the mix.
Meanwhile his parents did marry in Edinburgh early in 1910, using the Scottish system of 'marriage by declaration' but it appears to have been purely for practical reasons as six weeks later his father sailed for America, never to return. Dr James Edwin Tyndall Oxley, who had just graduated with first class honours in medicine, settled in Pennsylvania, where he married for a second time in 1919 (apparently without seeking a divorce) and raised another family. He died in 1927 of pneumonia.
Edwin's mother, meanwhile, remained in Edinburgh and he finally joined her there in 1921, enrolling at George Heriot's, a fee-paying school. Clearly her financial circumstances had improved and it may be that the father sent money to cover the boy's education.
At school he was given the nickname Sam, short for 'Sambo', which went unquestioned at the time and stuck throughout his life. He stood out as probably the only black pupil but, as an athletic and personable young boy, he fitted in well, and ended up captaining the school rugby team as well as playing for its cricket eleven.
When he left school in 1927 it was a daunting time for a black man to enter adult life in Edinburgh. This was the year of the infamous 'colour bar' in the city, imposed by some bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings about race could run high.
It was little surprise that he stuck to the people he knew, and continued to play rugby with Heriot's FP. They were then one of Scotland's top sides, and were the country's unofficial champions in 1928 and 1929. A wing forward, he remained with the club throughout the following decade, captaining the team for three seasons and regularly praised in the media, but whenever representative sides were named, he was never in the mix.
Praise for Oxley in The Scotsman after his appearance for Edinburgh & Glasgow in 1935 (British Newspaper Archive)
It is easy to speculate that the Scottish Rugby Union, a notoriously reactionary body, would have baulked at the idea of picking a black man for Scotland. At the time, it was not the done thing to challenge the selectors, yet one wonders if they knew he was English-born and had a simple excuse at the ready.
At the very least, he would have been a natural fit for the Edinburgh team in the annual inter-city clashes with Glasgow (and would not have been the first black player for Edinburgh, as James Robertson did so in the 1870s). But perhaps because the inter-city matches were seen as trials for the international team, he never got the nod.
His only honour was being picked for a one-off Glasgow & Edinburgh Select which faced the All Blacks at Old Anniesland in October 1935. The match was narrowly lost 8-9 but although he did well he was not named in the next Edinburgh fifteen – 'a notable omission' according to one newspaper.
At the very least, he would have been a natural fit for the Edinburgh team in the annual inter-city clashes with Glasgow (and would not have been the first black player for Edinburgh, as James Robertson did so in the 1870s). But perhaps because the inter-city matches were seen as trials for the international team, he never got the nod.
His only honour was being picked for a one-off Glasgow & Edinburgh Select which faced the All Blacks at Old Anniesland in October 1935. The match was narrowly lost 8-9 but although he did well he was not named in the next Edinburgh fifteen – 'a notable omission' according to one newspaper.
A fine assessment of Oxley's worth in The Scotsman after another Sevens success in 1938 (BNA)
One area where Oxley excelled was Rugby Sevens, and he led Heriot's to a superb haul of medals in the prestigious Borders tournaments. With him in the team, they won at Jedforest three times, Melrose twice, Langholm four times, Hawick and Selkirk once each.
He finally retired from the game in 1939 and was immediately taken onto the Heriot’s selection committee, retaining his link to the club for many years.
Meanwhile he went into business as a commercial artist, running Oxley Studios in Cockburn Street, and his work sometimes turns up at auction. In 1947 he married Inga Peace, a fashion illustrator, and although they had no children they remained together until his death. Sadly, he died early in 1969, aged 61, after taking an overdose.
He finally retired from the game in 1939 and was immediately taken onto the Heriot’s selection committee, retaining his link to the club for many years.
Meanwhile he went into business as a commercial artist, running Oxley Studios in Cockburn Street, and his work sometimes turns up at auction. In 1947 he married Inga Peace, a fashion illustrator, and although they had no children they remained together until his death. Sadly, he died early in 1969, aged 61, after taking an overdose.
This linocut by Edwin Oxley of George Heriot's, his old school, was sold at Ramsay Cornish auction house in 2020
While Oxley's story is little known, thankfully he has not been forgotten, and the Heriot's School Magazine The Quadrangle recently published a lengthy article about him. They paid tribute to his achievements: "We know that Eddie Oxley was a great player who was undoubtedly deprived of an international career because he was black; that this charismatic man was a gifted artist and a creative and successful businessman. What we don't know is how he coped with and felt about the social mores of the time; with being a black man operating in, and apparently embraced by, polite Edinburgh society; a person patronised with what we now know as the 'casual racism' of his popular moniker 'Sam', and yet loved and revered by so many people."
From my researches in recent years, it is clear that Eddie Oxley is just one example of Scotland's hidden history of black sportsmen and women, who overcame discrimination to make their mark in sport. I hope that bringing their achievements to a wider audience will inspire a greater appreciation of the challenges they faced, and I am convinced that there are more stories waiting to be uncovered.
Edwin James Oxley, rugby player.
Born 4 May 1907 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Died 19 January 1969 in Balerno, Edinburgh.
From my researches in recent years, it is clear that Eddie Oxley is just one example of Scotland's hidden history of black sportsmen and women, who overcame discrimination to make their mark in sport. I hope that bringing their achievements to a wider audience will inspire a greater appreciation of the challenges they faced, and I am convinced that there are more stories waiting to be uncovered.
Edwin James Oxley, rugby player.
Born 4 May 1907 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Died 19 January 1969 in Balerno, Edinburgh.
- Published on
For my final article to mark Black History Month, I look at the story of BAME players in Scottish football in the 20th century.
I have written recently about the early black pioneers of Scottish football, starting with Andrew Watson and Robert Walker in the 1870s, then Willie Clarke and John Walker at the turn of the century. It would be nice to think that their example inspired generations of other black footballers, and that their influence on the Scottish sporting scene was long-lasting. Yet the opposite was true: after Willie Clarke's departure for England in 1900, Scottish football closed in on itself.
A new book, Football's Black Pioneers, describes the challenging experiences of black players in England, and that has prompted me to research what happened in Scotland. I am going to take the story up to 1990.
I have written recently about the early black pioneers of Scottish football, starting with Andrew Watson and Robert Walker in the 1870s, then Willie Clarke and John Walker at the turn of the century. It would be nice to think that their example inspired generations of other black footballers, and that their influence on the Scottish sporting scene was long-lasting. Yet the opposite was true: after Willie Clarke's departure for England in 1900, Scottish football closed in on itself.
A new book, Football's Black Pioneers, describes the challenging experiences of black players in England, and that has prompted me to research what happened in Scotland. I am going to take the story up to 1990.
Peter Foley (above) and Dougie Johnson, pictured in the Daily Record when the story of their shared paternity came out
In the course of the 20th century there were a small number of black players from abroad, and I will detail them later, but the first Scot was Dougie Johnson, who made his league debut for Brechin City in October 1964. Born in Edinburgh to a Ghanaian father and Scottish mother, he had been on St Mirren’s books as a teenager, went back to junior football, then was given an opportunity at Glebe Park. He was a first team regular in a forgettable season which saw Brechin finish bottom of the league, and moved on to Albion Rovers where he made a handful of appearances.
Meanwhile, Dougie's half-brother and friend Peter Foley (same father, different mother) was carving out a career in the English lower leagues at Workington, where he was top scorer, then at Scunthorpe and Chesterfield. The story of how Dougie and Peter came to find out their shared paternity is astonishing.
After that breakthrough, in the next two decades there were a few BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Scottish players, although nothing compared to the numbers in England.
Meanwhile, Dougie's half-brother and friend Peter Foley (same father, different mother) was carving out a career in the English lower leagues at Workington, where he was top scorer, then at Scunthorpe and Chesterfield. The story of how Dougie and Peter came to find out their shared paternity is astonishing.
After that breakthrough, in the next two decades there were a few BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Scottish players, although nothing compared to the numbers in England.
Paul Wilson (left) with Celtic colleagues Jimmy Johnstone, Danny McGrain and Kenny Dalglish
The most high profile was Scotland internationalist Paul Wilson. Born in Bangalore where his father was stationed, and with Indian heritage through his mother, his dark skin tone sometimes made him a target for racial abuse. He made over 200 appearances for Celtic after his debut in 1970, and also played for Motherwell and Partick Thistle later in his career. His Scotland cap was won against Spain in 1975, when he came on as a late substitute.
Dave Smith at Whitehill Welfare in 1996, when he managed the club to a host of trophies (from the club website)
Dave Smith made his debut for Dunfermline Athletic in 1975 in the old First Division aged just 17. He spent two years at the club before reverting to junior football and later became Scotland's first black manager at Whitehill Welfare and Montrose.
Victor Kasule posing for the press while at Meadowbank Thistle in 1987.
Victor Kasule, born to a Scottish mother and Ugandan father, caused a stir with his exciting play at Albion Rovers, where he was a first team regular for four years after his debut in 1983.
He was transferred to Meadowbank Thistle in 1987 for a club record fee of £28,000, helped them clinch the Second Division title and moved on the following season to Shrewsbury Town where his exploits off the field made a few headlines. He later played for Hamilton Academical and a few other clubs.
He was transferred to Meadowbank Thistle in 1987 for a club record fee of £28,000, helped them clinch the Second Division title and moved on the following season to Shrewsbury Town where his exploits off the field made a few headlines. He later played for Hamilton Academical and a few other clubs.
David Maxwell (middle row, far left) at Airdrieonians in 1987
David Maxwell signed for Airdrieonians in October 1986 having scored two goals against them for Ayr United Reserves as a trialist from East of Scotland League side Craigroyston. He made half a dozen first team appearances for Airdrie but although he was in their squad photo for 1987-88 he was released. In 1989 he was briefly with Berwick Rangers.
Also in the mid-1980s, Rashid Sarwar made 25 appearances for Kilmarnock and may have been the first Scot of Pakistani heritage to play professionally in Scotland. Mike McArthur played three first team games for Aberdeen in April 1988 and had a similarly brief spell at Kilmarnock.
And that was about that, as far as black Scots were concerned. In Emy Onuora's superb book Pitch Black he wrote about the English experience: 'The early pioneers had been largely looked upon as exotic embellishments to what had always been considered a white working-class game'. From a Scottish perspective, it is hard to disagree with his view.
Most black players seen in Scotland were in visiting teams, notably thanks to the new European Cup, such as Eugène N'Jo-Léa of St Etienne who featured on the front cover of the Rangers programme in 1957 and Paul Bonga Bonga of Standard Liège who played at Hearts the following year.
They were rarities, and while they generally provoked curiosity rather than abuse, Scotland could be a hostile place. Ruud Gullit recalled 'the saddest night of my life' in 1983 when he experienced racism as a footballer for the first time, in a UEFA Cup tie for Feyenoord at St Mirren. In 1985 the Commission for Racial Equality criticised Scotland supporters for barracking black England players at Hampden, while Rangers disparaged the 'appalling stupidity' of their own supporters for booing a black FC Twente player in a pre-season friendly.
Also in the mid-1980s, Rashid Sarwar made 25 appearances for Kilmarnock and may have been the first Scot of Pakistani heritage to play professionally in Scotland. Mike McArthur played three first team games for Aberdeen in April 1988 and had a similarly brief spell at Kilmarnock.
And that was about that, as far as black Scots were concerned. In Emy Onuora's superb book Pitch Black he wrote about the English experience: 'The early pioneers had been largely looked upon as exotic embellishments to what had always been considered a white working-class game'. From a Scottish perspective, it is hard to disagree with his view.
Most black players seen in Scotland were in visiting teams, notably thanks to the new European Cup, such as Eugène N'Jo-Léa of St Etienne who featured on the front cover of the Rangers programme in 1957 and Paul Bonga Bonga of Standard Liège who played at Hearts the following year.
They were rarities, and while they generally provoked curiosity rather than abuse, Scotland could be a hostile place. Ruud Gullit recalled 'the saddest night of my life' in 1983 when he experienced racism as a footballer for the first time, in a UEFA Cup tie for Feyenoord at St Mirren. In 1985 the Commission for Racial Equality criticised Scotland supporters for barracking black England players at Hampden, while Rangers disparaged the 'appalling stupidity' of their own supporters for booing a black FC Twente player in a pre-season friendly.
Mark Walters made his debut for Rangers in January 1988 to a torrent of abuse
That hostility boiled over in 1988 when Mark Walters, a talented black English midfielder, made his debut for Rangers against Celtic. He was met with unremitting vitriol from the terraces, including bananas thrown on the pitch, and when that treatment was repeated two weeks later at Tynecastle it ended the lie that racial discrimination in Scotland was nothing to worry about, the poor relation of sectarianism.
Walters stuck at it and was soon followed by Raphael Meade at Dundee United, Paul Elliot at Celtic, Wes Reid and Gus Caesar at Airdrie, and Richard Cadette at Falkirk. With tedious regularity, all these black players were abused on and off the pitch and their treatment was sufficiently shocking to launch the first anti-racist movement in football, Supporters Campaign Against Racism in Football (SCARF). It began in Edinburgh and set out an action plan for football clubs to combat racism. In turn, this led to the formation of wider campaigns such as Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card.
Walters stuck at it and was soon followed by Raphael Meade at Dundee United, Paul Elliot at Celtic, Wes Reid and Gus Caesar at Airdrie, and Richard Cadette at Falkirk. With tedious regularity, all these black players were abused on and off the pitch and their treatment was sufficiently shocking to launch the first anti-racist movement in football, Supporters Campaign Against Racism in Football (SCARF). It began in Edinburgh and set out an action plan for football clubs to combat racism. In turn, this led to the formation of wider campaigns such as Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card.
The report of the 1992 conference into racism in Scottish football. Click on the link below to read it.
Then in 1992, what I believe was Britain's first conference on anti-racism in football was held in Stirling. Chaired by Stuart Cosgrove, it brought together a broad range of campaigners who articulated the issues and the way to combat them. I have digitised the conference papers and they make fascinating reading.
Thirty years on, the game here is considerably more cosmopolitan and things have certainly improved, but Scottish football does not yet have a clean bill of health. There are still virtually no BAME referees, coaches and administrators, while abuse from fans still occasionally rears its ugly head. I hope this article helps people to understand where we have come from and why anti-racism campaigns are still necessary.
Players from elsewhere
Before Mark Walters arrived here in 1988, a number of black players from around the world made a fleeting acquaintance with the game in Scotland. I have listed them below, but I acknowledge this is a subject which is poorly recorded and there may well be others.
Thirty years on, the game here is considerably more cosmopolitan and things have certainly improved, but Scottish football does not yet have a clean bill of health. There are still virtually no BAME referees, coaches and administrators, while abuse from fans still occasionally rears its ugly head. I hope this article helps people to understand where we have come from and why anti-racism campaigns are still necessary.
Players from elsewhere
Before Mark Walters arrived here in 1988, a number of black players from around the world made a fleeting acquaintance with the game in Scotland. I have listed them below, but I acknowledge this is a subject which is poorly recorded and there may well be others.
Footballing brothers Walter (left) and Edward Tull
Walter Tull, formerly of Tottenham and Northampton Town, signed for Rangers in February 1917 but returned to active service and was killed in action before he could play. He is celebrated enough to be commemorated on a postage stamp, but in fact his elder brother Edward preceded him in Scottish football. Under his adopted surname Warnock, he played a couple of league games at inside right for Ayr Parkhouse in March 1909, scoring in both of them, and then turned out for Girvan.
Three Egyptians played for Scottish clubs in the inter-war years, starting with Tewfik Abdullah at Cowdenbeath in 1922-23. Born in Cairo he played 6 league games and 2 Scottish Cup ties in a season interrupted by a broken arm. He had played for Egypt in the 1920 Olympic Games, joined Derby County, and after leaving Scotland went to Bridgend and various other clubs.
Mohammed Latif joined Rangers in 1934 after playing for Egypt in the World Cup but spent most his time with the reserves in the Scottish Alliance. He made a single league appearance against Hibs on 14 September 1935, as well as a friendly at Falkirk on 30 April 1936, then returned to the national team to compete in the 1936 Olympics.
Three Egyptians played for Scottish clubs in the inter-war years, starting with Tewfik Abdullah at Cowdenbeath in 1922-23. Born in Cairo he played 6 league games and 2 Scottish Cup ties in a season interrupted by a broken arm. He had played for Egypt in the 1920 Olympic Games, joined Derby County, and after leaving Scotland went to Bridgend and various other clubs.
Mohammed Latif joined Rangers in 1934 after playing for Egypt in the World Cup but spent most his time with the reserves in the Scottish Alliance. He made a single league appearance against Hibs on 14 September 1935, as well as a friendly at Falkirk on 30 April 1936, then returned to the national team to compete in the 1936 Olympics.
Mustapha Mansour
Fred Hanley
Goalkeeper Mustapha Mansour spent 1936-39 with Queen's Park while studying PE at Jordanhill College in Glasgow, and although primarily in the reserves to begin with, he was first choice goalkeeper in his third and final season. Like Mohammed Latif, he played for Egypt in the 1934 World Cup and 1936 Olympics, a team coached by a Scot, James McCrae.
Mohammed Abdul Salim, an Indian from Calcutta, played two reserve matches for Celtic in the Scottish Alliance in 1936, scoring a penalty in the second against Hamilton Accies. He attracted a lot of interest as he played in bandaged feet rather than wearing boots, but decided to return home where he resumed his career with Mohammedan Sporting Club.
During the war a young black striker called Fred Hanley, who had been on the books of Chelsea and Clapton Orient without making a first team appearance, was posted to Perth. He spent two seasons with junior side Jeanfield Swifts and made two appearances for Raith Rovers in March 1942 before heading to North Africa on active service.
Outside the senior leagues, the story of Biawa Makalaga, brought here as a child from Matabeleland and who played in goal for Rothes Victoria in the 1920s, deserves to be better known.
Also, referee Eustace Elliott from Sierra Leone took charge of non-league matches in and around Edinburgh, including a women's Championship of the World between Edinburgh City Girls and Dick Kerr's in 1939.
Mohammed Abdul Salim, an Indian from Calcutta, played two reserve matches for Celtic in the Scottish Alliance in 1936, scoring a penalty in the second against Hamilton Accies. He attracted a lot of interest as he played in bandaged feet rather than wearing boots, but decided to return home where he resumed his career with Mohammedan Sporting Club.
During the war a young black striker called Fred Hanley, who had been on the books of Chelsea and Clapton Orient without making a first team appearance, was posted to Perth. He spent two seasons with junior side Jeanfield Swifts and made two appearances for Raith Rovers in March 1942 before heading to North Africa on active service.
Outside the senior leagues, the story of Biawa Makalaga, brought here as a child from Matabeleland and who played in goal for Rothes Victoria in the 1920s, deserves to be better known.
Also, referee Eustace Elliott from Sierra Leone took charge of non-league matches in and around Edinburgh, including a women's Championship of the World between Edinburgh City Girls and Dick Kerr's in 1939.
Gil Heron on the cover of a Celtic programme in 1951 (although he did not play in this particular match)
Perhaps the most famous post-war player in Scotland was Jamaican-born Gil Heron, who joined Celtic in 1951. He made an immediate impact and played in four League Cup ties, scoring in two of them, but was then dropped and was only selected for one league match. He moved on to Third Lanark for 1952-53, again without gaining a regular place and his seven games for Thirds were all in the League Cup, although he did score five goals.
Eversley Lewis at Aberdeen in 1961
Ricky Hill on trial at Hibs in 1981
Among those who came to Scotland on trial were Madhi Salih, an Iraqi at Celtic in 1953, while Aberdeen signed Armando Buscarenhas of India in 1959 and Eversley 'Bo' Lewis of Bermuda in 1961 but none of them made a competitive first team appearance. Lewis was only 16 when he came to Scotland and went on to a pro career in Canada. Two decades later another Bermudan, striker Ricky Hill, played a couple of reserve games on trial for Hibs in 1981. Chennai-born Rajiv 'Joey' Pathak spent the 1985-86 season at Partick Thistle and later played junior football.
The only other significant instance of black players from abroad came in 1965, when Scottish football enjoyed a brief influx of Brazilians. There were eight in total.
Celtic gave trials to Marco di Sousa and Airton Inacio, both of Sao Paolo, who played for the reserve team. Then Jorge Farah and Fernando Consol arrived, but all four were released in September.
Airton Inacio remained in Scotland after being released by Celtic and had a brief association with Dougie Johnson's Albion Rovers, scoring against Forfar Athletic on 29 September 1965 in his one match for them. He then left to play for Vitória Guimarães in Portugal and Stade Français in France but returned to these shores in the winter of 1967-68 and made three appearances for Clydebank.
Dunfermline also had two Brazilians but only one of them, Francisco 'Chico' Filho, played in a league match, against Morton on 18 September 1965. He went on to a fine coaching career in France and at Manchester United, where he worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson – who had been his strike partner in the Dunfermline attack in 1965. Another trialist, Alexandre Gabrielle, was released and had a further unsuccessful trial for St Mirren in a friendly against Neilston.
Two other Brazilians went to St Mirren, where Fernando Azevedo (who was not black) played once against Morton on 11 September 1965 but left the following month and ended up in the USA. Roberto Faria played a trial for Saints alongside Azevedo in a Renfrewshire Cup semi-final.
My impression is that all these players found it hard to settle in Scotland, and were given few opportunities to adapt their game to 'the Scottish way'. With a bit more flexibility and understanding on the part of Scottish clubs, our game could have been so much different.
If you can add any further names to this article, please feel free to comment below, or contact me directly.
The only other significant instance of black players from abroad came in 1965, when Scottish football enjoyed a brief influx of Brazilians. There were eight in total.
Celtic gave trials to Marco di Sousa and Airton Inacio, both of Sao Paolo, who played for the reserve team. Then Jorge Farah and Fernando Consol arrived, but all four were released in September.
Airton Inacio remained in Scotland after being released by Celtic and had a brief association with Dougie Johnson's Albion Rovers, scoring against Forfar Athletic on 29 September 1965 in his one match for them. He then left to play for Vitória Guimarães in Portugal and Stade Français in France but returned to these shores in the winter of 1967-68 and made three appearances for Clydebank.
Dunfermline also had two Brazilians but only one of them, Francisco 'Chico' Filho, played in a league match, against Morton on 18 September 1965. He went on to a fine coaching career in France and at Manchester United, where he worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson – who had been his strike partner in the Dunfermline attack in 1965. Another trialist, Alexandre Gabrielle, was released and had a further unsuccessful trial for St Mirren in a friendly against Neilston.
Two other Brazilians went to St Mirren, where Fernando Azevedo (who was not black) played once against Morton on 11 September 1965 but left the following month and ended up in the USA. Roberto Faria played a trial for Saints alongside Azevedo in a Renfrewshire Cup semi-final.
My impression is that all these players found it hard to settle in Scotland, and were given few opportunities to adapt their game to 'the Scottish way'. With a bit more flexibility and understanding on the part of Scottish clubs, our game could have been so much different.
If you can add any further names to this article, please feel free to comment below, or contact me directly.
Postscript: a big thank-you to Gordon Bell who has alerted me to his amazing story of the students from Hawaii who played for Rangers in the 1880s: The Sons of the Sandwich Islands.
- Published on
This is the fourth of my articles for Black History Month 2020 on pioneering black footballers in Scotland.
Having written recently about early black players in Scotland, it occurred to me that I had never heard of any match officials. So I was surprised to come across a black referee called Eustace Elliott taking charge of matches here in the years before the Second World War, and what is more he did it in a time of acute discrimination.
Having written recently about early black players in Scotland, it occurred to me that I had never heard of any match officials. So I was surprised to come across a black referee called Eustace Elliott taking charge of matches here in the years before the Second World War, and what is more he did it in a time of acute discrimination.
Eustace Elliott in cricketing gear although he was just as well known as a football referee (Sunday Post, 21 May 1939 via British Newspaper Archive)
Eustace Elliott was from Sierra Leone and had come to Edinburgh as a mature medical student in the 1920s. Although I have not found anything about his earlier life, Elliott clearly had a solid sporting background as he played cricket and tennis to a decent standard in Edinburgh.
However, it was as a football referee that he stood out, and it seems likely that he learned the game in Sierra Leone, whose football association was affiliated to the FA in London. He was a familiar face at matches in the 1930s, respected enough to be appointed to referee a juvenile international between Scotland and England in 1936 as well as several cup semis and finals at venues including Celtic Park and Tynecastle.
In a society that was overwhelmingly white, Elliott must have faced discrimination including the infamous 'colour bar' imposed by some Edinburgh bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings were strong and Elliott spoke about this in later years.
A report of a YMCA meeting in 1948 reveals he gave a talk on 'The Colour Bar', and the article added: 'He will be remembered by many Broxburn football fans as the only coloured football referee ever to grace West Lothian Juvenile circles. He was a very competent official and woe betide those who questioned his decisions.'
However, it was as a football referee that he stood out, and it seems likely that he learned the game in Sierra Leone, whose football association was affiliated to the FA in London. He was a familiar face at matches in the 1930s, respected enough to be appointed to referee a juvenile international between Scotland and England in 1936 as well as several cup semis and finals at venues including Celtic Park and Tynecastle.
In a society that was overwhelmingly white, Elliott must have faced discrimination including the infamous 'colour bar' imposed by some Edinburgh bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings were strong and Elliott spoke about this in later years.
A report of a YMCA meeting in 1948 reveals he gave a talk on 'The Colour Bar', and the article added: 'He will be remembered by many Broxburn football fans as the only coloured football referee ever to grace West Lothian Juvenile circles. He was a very competent official and woe betide those who questioned his decisions.'
A report of a juvenile cup-tie at Winchburgh when Elliott kept a grip on the game while mayhem broke out on the terraces (Linlithgowshire Gazette, 6 March 1936 via BNA)
That observation is borne out by contemporary reports. In 1935 the Linlithgowshire Gazette commented: 'The referee literally added more colour to an already colourful tie. He is a coloured student from Edinburgh and shows a very keen grasp of the rules, which he interprets with an admirable contempt for any attempt at intimidation.' A few months later he was praised for his control of a juvenile cup-tie at Winchburgh, whose players included a young Willie Thornton, when fighting broke out on the terraces.
Elliott was appointed to referee the women's world championship match in Edinburgh in 1939 (Evening News, 16 June 1939 via BNA)
Eustace Elliott can just be seen (far left) in this photo of the women's match at The Gymnasium in Edinburgh in June 1939 (Glasgow Herald Archive)
Perhaps his biggest match was in June 1939, billed as a World Championship between Edinburgh City Ladies against Dick Kerr Ladies. The Scottish and English champions met at the Gymnasium, St Bernard's ground, on a summer Saturday evening, and the Scottish team won 5-2 in front of a crowd of around 12,000. The Sunday Post reporter, former Scotland goalkeeper Jack Harkness, attended his first women's match and was particularly impressed by the legendary Nancy Thomson, praising her ball control and passing; he also noted that 'colour was added to the picture by Mr Elliott, West African student, who acted as referee.'
A fulsome tribute to Eustace Elliott in 1939, which included the photograph at the top of this page (Sunday Post, 21 May 1939 via BNA)
The same paper had featured him a few weeks earlier with a photo in cricket gear, saying that 'Scotland owes this coloured all-rounder a big debt' and outlined his impressive record of playing and coaching in a variety of sports. Although they thought he would return to Sierra Leone, in fact he settled here for life.
In September 1939, just after war broke out, Elliott was appointed secretary of the Edinburgh Referees Association. I cannot find any more football references to him but he continued to play cricket.
In September 1939, just after war broke out, Elliott was appointed secretary of the Edinburgh Referees Association. I cannot find any more football references to him but he continued to play cricket.
Eustace Elliott played cricket for a Colonial XI captained by Learie Constantine in 1944 (The Scotsman, 13 September 1944 via BNA)
For over a decade before the war he had featured for Edinburgh Indians and Portman CC, who played on the Edinburgh Meadows, and in 1944 he turned out for a Colonial team which included the great Learie Constantine.
Elliott was born about 1894 in Sierra Leone, where his father was a chemist, and was already in his thirties when he came to Edinburgh University in the early 1920s. After finishing his medical studies he married Ellen Hastings, a widow, and worked as a laboratory assistant in the city until shortly before his death in 1963.
Eustace Elliott may not have refereed at the highest level, but he is certainly a trailblazing figure in an era when black sportsmen were a rarity in the UK, and black officials were virtually unknown.
Eustace Egerton Elliott
Born c1894 in Sierra Leone to Anthony William Elliott, dispensing chemist, and Fanny Jackson.
Married 8 November 1938 to Ellen Hastings.
Died 25 March 1963 in Edinburgh.
NB as far as I know, the first BAME referees in England were Alf Buksh and Emerson Griffith in the 1970s, while the first in senior football in Scotland was Ramzan Bashir in the early 2000s.
Elliott was born about 1894 in Sierra Leone, where his father was a chemist, and was already in his thirties when he came to Edinburgh University in the early 1920s. After finishing his medical studies he married Ellen Hastings, a widow, and worked as a laboratory assistant in the city until shortly before his death in 1963.
Eustace Elliott may not have refereed at the highest level, but he is certainly a trailblazing figure in an era when black sportsmen were a rarity in the UK, and black officials were virtually unknown.
Eustace Egerton Elliott
Born c1894 in Sierra Leone to Anthony William Elliott, dispensing chemist, and Fanny Jackson.
Married 8 November 1938 to Ellen Hastings.
Died 25 March 1963 in Edinburgh.
NB as far as I know, the first BAME referees in England were Alf Buksh and Emerson Griffith in the 1970s, while the first in senior football in Scotland was Ramzan Bashir in the early 2000s.
- Published on
This is the third of my articles for Black History Month 2020, on pioneering Scottish black footballers.
A grainy image of Robert Walker - see larger photo below for context (courtesy Jan Dawes)
While Andrew Watson is hailed as Scotland's first black internationalist, he was not in fact the first high profile black footballer in the country.
That honour belongs to Robert Walker of Third Lanark and Parkgrove, who played in the 1876 Scottish Cup final and was a trialist for Scotland.
Once described as a 'curly-haired son of Africa', Walker was largely forgotten until his existence was highlighted in 2015 by Richard McBrearty of the Scottish Football Museum. However, with a common surname and a fleeting connection to Glasgow, his identity remained a mystery.
I can now tell his story and give him his due place in football history.
That honour belongs to Robert Walker of Third Lanark and Parkgrove, who played in the 1876 Scottish Cup final and was a trialist for Scotland.
Once described as a 'curly-haired son of Africa', Walker was largely forgotten until his existence was highlighted in 2015 by Richard McBrearty of the Scottish Football Museum. However, with a common surname and a fleeting connection to Glasgow, his identity remained a mystery.
I can now tell his story and give him his due place in football history.
A reference to Robert Walker in the Scottish Referee, 8 February 1904 (British Newspaper Archive)
His full name was Robert Gustave Walker and he was born in Sierra Leone to a white Scottish father and a black local woman. He came to Scotland as a child and was brought up near Dumfries, then as a fresh-faced youth came to Glasgow where he became a member of Queen's Park FC.
Although he played for Queen's Park Juniors he never got into the first team and in the summer of 1875 he moved to near neighbours Third Lanark. Aged just 18, his pace on the right wing was a great asset to the team in 1875-76, and he played his part as Thirds reached the Scottish Cup final, scoring against Western in the quarter final and against Dumbarton in a semi-final replay. They came desperately close to lifting the trophy in March 1876, taking the lead in the final only for Queen's Park to equalise, and the Hampden giants then won the replay 2-0.
Walker's precocious talent was recognised as he was selected twice that season for Scotland international trial matches, for the Blues on 19 February and the Improbables on 1 March, without making the final cut. Perhaps if he had given a better showing he might have been our first internationalist.
Like many footballers, in summer he took part in sports meetings, and in September 1876 at the Queen's Park Sports he came across Andrew Watson, perhaps for the first time. Walker placed second in the half mile race for members, while Watson competed in the high jump.
Throughout the 1876-77 season Walker continued to feature on the right wing for Third Lanark, occasionally scoring goals, and again was asked to play in a Scotland trial in February, representing Mr McGeoch's team. However, that was as close as he came to an international cap.
Although he played for Queen's Park Juniors he never got into the first team and in the summer of 1875 he moved to near neighbours Third Lanark. Aged just 18, his pace on the right wing was a great asset to the team in 1875-76, and he played his part as Thirds reached the Scottish Cup final, scoring against Western in the quarter final and against Dumbarton in a semi-final replay. They came desperately close to lifting the trophy in March 1876, taking the lead in the final only for Queen's Park to equalise, and the Hampden giants then won the replay 2-0.
Walker's precocious talent was recognised as he was selected twice that season for Scotland international trial matches, for the Blues on 19 February and the Improbables on 1 March, without making the final cut. Perhaps if he had given a better showing he might have been our first internationalist.
Like many footballers, in summer he took part in sports meetings, and in September 1876 at the Queen's Park Sports he came across Andrew Watson, perhaps for the first time. Walker placed second in the half mile race for members, while Watson competed in the high jump.
Throughout the 1876-77 season Walker continued to feature on the right wing for Third Lanark, occasionally scoring goals, and again was asked to play in a Scotland trial in February, representing Mr McGeoch's team. However, that was as close as he came to an international cap.
An extract from a chapter on Parkgrove FC, describing Robert Walker as 'a curly-haired son of Africa'. From '25 Years Football' by Archie Steel, published in 1896.
In the autumn of 1877 he left Third Lanark, despite having been in their team for the opening match of the season against Lennox. In October he joined Govan side Parkgrove where he played for 1877-78 alongside Andrew Watson, who was just starting to make a name for himself. It was unusual for a player to switch clubs during the season, so was it a coincidence that the only two black players in Scottish football should join forces, or did they feel a common bond? Regardless, it was a successful combination as Parkgrove reached the Scottish Cup quarter final before going under to eventual winners Vale of Leven.
I would love to have witnessed the fifth round tie between Parkgrove and Partick, which was full of players whose names still resonate today. The Partick team included Fergie Suter and Jimmy Love, whose move to Darwen in the autumn of 1878 would be the catalyst for professionalism in football.
Parkgrove, meanwhile, had Walker and Watson who were black, their goalkeeper was Tommy Marten of Chinese extraction, with Wales internationalist Thomas Britten thrown in for good measure. It was a more cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse team than any other Scottish club in the next hundred years.
The teams actually had to meet twice, a 1-1 draw followed by a 2-1 victory for Parkgrove, who were no doubt helped that between the two Scottish Cup ties Partick made a New Year trip to Lancashire for friendlies against Darwen and Blackburn Rovers.
In 1878, Walker's football career came to an end when he left Scotland for Liverpool to pursue a career in marine engineering.
This is one of several striking similarities between his life and that of Andrew Watson: they were the same age, both sons of a relationship between a white Scot working abroad and a local woman; they were both sent back to the UK for their education and barely knew their fathers; both took up football when they arrived in Glasgow as young men; and both retired to London when their maritime career was over.
I would love to have witnessed the fifth round tie between Parkgrove and Partick, which was full of players whose names still resonate today. The Partick team included Fergie Suter and Jimmy Love, whose move to Darwen in the autumn of 1878 would be the catalyst for professionalism in football.
Parkgrove, meanwhile, had Walker and Watson who were black, their goalkeeper was Tommy Marten of Chinese extraction, with Wales internationalist Thomas Britten thrown in for good measure. It was a more cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse team than any other Scottish club in the next hundred years.
The teams actually had to meet twice, a 1-1 draw followed by a 2-1 victory for Parkgrove, who were no doubt helped that between the two Scottish Cup ties Partick made a New Year trip to Lancashire for friendlies against Darwen and Blackburn Rovers.
In 1878, Walker's football career came to an end when he left Scotland for Liverpool to pursue a career in marine engineering.
This is one of several striking similarities between his life and that of Andrew Watson: they were the same age, both sons of a relationship between a white Scot working abroad and a local woman; they were both sent back to the UK for their education and barely knew their fathers; both took up football when they arrived in Glasgow as young men; and both retired to London when their maritime career was over.
Robert Walker, seated left, in the only known photo of him, taken with colleagues in London towards the turn of the century (courtesy of Jan Dawes). What the men are doing is not clear but there seems to be a whisky bottle involved!
Thanks to Robert Walker's descendant and family historian Jan Dawes, the story of his eventful life can be told, and she has also kindly provided the only known photograph of him.
His father was Alexander Walker, a Scottish merchant who spent most of his working life in Sierra Leone where he was a prominent figure, at one point president of the Chamber of Commerce. Alexander came home on leave to Dumfries in 1852 to get married to Jane Haig, but it appears it was a marriage of convenience as he soon went back to Sierra Leone without his new wife, and the following year the first of three sons was born to his black partner, Judith Jarrett. Their youngest son was baptised in Freetown on 23 January 1857 as Robert Gustave Walker.
Robert spent very little time in Sierra Leone and he and his elder brothers Walter and Allan were brought up by their great aunt Agnes at Preston Mill, south of Dumfries, where he was known locally as 'Black Bob' and probably went to Kirkbean parish school (whose most famous former pupil was John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy). The boys may have finished their schooling in Dumfries.
Their father continued to be based mainly in Sierra Leone, although latterly he worked as a shipping agent in London until his death in 1870. He left a comfortable legacy to his four surviving children (Allan had died young while he had a son and daughter from yet another relationship), albeit they had to wait until they were 24 years old to access it.
Walter became a farmer near Dumfries and Robert (Bob) chose his own path. He came to Glasgow in 1874 but whether to study or to work is currently unknown. There is a family story that he may have studied medicine, but he is not in the matriculation lists of Glasgow University and student records of other colleges have not survived.
After four years in Glasgow he went to Liverpool to embark on a maritime career. He married there in 1881 to Jane Watson, daughter of a Scottish engineer, and over the next few years on Merseyside he served on a variety of merchant navy ships and passed his exams as a Second Engineer and then First Engineer (exactly the same Local Marine Board certificates that Andrew Watson would take later in the decade).
It was the springboard to a successful career as he rose to become Chief Engineer for the Elder Dempster line, which plied routes between Britain and Africa and no doubt gave him the opportunity to visit his birthplace in Sierra Leone.
His father was Alexander Walker, a Scottish merchant who spent most of his working life in Sierra Leone where he was a prominent figure, at one point president of the Chamber of Commerce. Alexander came home on leave to Dumfries in 1852 to get married to Jane Haig, but it appears it was a marriage of convenience as he soon went back to Sierra Leone without his new wife, and the following year the first of three sons was born to his black partner, Judith Jarrett. Their youngest son was baptised in Freetown on 23 January 1857 as Robert Gustave Walker.
Robert spent very little time in Sierra Leone and he and his elder brothers Walter and Allan were brought up by their great aunt Agnes at Preston Mill, south of Dumfries, where he was known locally as 'Black Bob' and probably went to Kirkbean parish school (whose most famous former pupil was John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy). The boys may have finished their schooling in Dumfries.
Their father continued to be based mainly in Sierra Leone, although latterly he worked as a shipping agent in London until his death in 1870. He left a comfortable legacy to his four surviving children (Allan had died young while he had a son and daughter from yet another relationship), albeit they had to wait until they were 24 years old to access it.
Walter became a farmer near Dumfries and Robert (Bob) chose his own path. He came to Glasgow in 1874 but whether to study or to work is currently unknown. There is a family story that he may have studied medicine, but he is not in the matriculation lists of Glasgow University and student records of other colleges have not survived.
After four years in Glasgow he went to Liverpool to embark on a maritime career. He married there in 1881 to Jane Watson, daughter of a Scottish engineer, and over the next few years on Merseyside he served on a variety of merchant navy ships and passed his exams as a Second Engineer and then First Engineer (exactly the same Local Marine Board certificates that Andrew Watson would take later in the decade).
It was the springboard to a successful career as he rose to become Chief Engineer for the Elder Dempster line, which plied routes between Britain and Africa and no doubt gave him the opportunity to visit his birthplace in Sierra Leone.
News that Robert Walker had passed his exam as a First Class Engineer (Liverpool Mercury, 22 Sept 1884 via BNA). Andrew Watson passed the same exam in 1893.
Announcement in the Willesden Chronicle that Walker would no longer be responsible for the debts of his wife Jane (BNA)
Meanwhile his domestic life was complicated. He and Jane had five daughters followed by four sons but the relationship was on thin ice and in 1894 he put adverts in the local papers to say he would no longer be responsible for his wife's debts. While still married he embarked on a new partnership with Alice Stokes and had three more children.
When his sea-going career was over he lived with Alice in London and died in Hammersmith in 1936, aged 79. Sadly, there is no gravestone to mark his last resting place in Hammersmith Cemetery.
What of his legacy? Walker succeeded in football (and in his career) despite being black, and it is remarkable that Scottish sport in general was so ethnically diverse in the 1870s, a phenomenon which does not appear to have been replicated elsewhere in the UK.
It was not just the footballers Watson, Walker and Marten: looking at the bigger picture, I have previously written about rugby player James Robertson and athlete William Forman, both black, while Scotland rugby internationalist Alfie Clunies-Ross was of Malayan descent. And those are just the ones we know about – there may well be more, waiting to be discovered.
All of these black or Asian sportsmen appear to have been judged on their skill rather than their race, and were able to compete without any obvious discrimination or adverse comment in the press. This is in stark contrast to, say, attitudes towards the first women footballers, or the sectarianism and racism that became so pervasive in the twentieth century.
Robert Walker is important as Scottish football's first black pioneer, and now that his story has finally come to light, his place in history can be assured.
When his sea-going career was over he lived with Alice in London and died in Hammersmith in 1936, aged 79. Sadly, there is no gravestone to mark his last resting place in Hammersmith Cemetery.
What of his legacy? Walker succeeded in football (and in his career) despite being black, and it is remarkable that Scottish sport in general was so ethnically diverse in the 1870s, a phenomenon which does not appear to have been replicated elsewhere in the UK.
It was not just the footballers Watson, Walker and Marten: looking at the bigger picture, I have previously written about rugby player James Robertson and athlete William Forman, both black, while Scotland rugby internationalist Alfie Clunies-Ross was of Malayan descent. And those are just the ones we know about – there may well be more, waiting to be discovered.
All of these black or Asian sportsmen appear to have been judged on their skill rather than their race, and were able to compete without any obvious discrimination or adverse comment in the press. This is in stark contrast to, say, attitudes towards the first women footballers, or the sectarianism and racism that became so pervasive in the twentieth century.
Robert Walker is important as Scottish football's first black pioneer, and now that his story has finally come to light, his place in history can be assured.
Robert Walker's signature in the 1911 census return
Robert Gustave Walker
Born January 1857 (baptised 23 January) in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Died 11 March 1936 in Hammersmith, London.
Football career:
Queen's Park 1874-75 (did not play for first team).
Third Lanark 1875-76 (Scottish Cup finalist) and 1876-77.
Parkgrove 1877-78.
Scotland trial matches (3): 19 February 1876, 1 March 1876, 17 February 1877.
Born January 1857 (baptised 23 January) in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Died 11 March 1936 in Hammersmith, London.
Football career:
Queen's Park 1874-75 (did not play for first team).
Third Lanark 1875-76 (Scottish Cup finalist) and 1876-77.
Parkgrove 1877-78.
Scotland trial matches (3): 19 February 1876, 1 March 1876, 17 February 1877.
- Published on
This is the second of my articles for Black History Month 2020, on pioneering Scottish black footballers.
Willie Clarke, wearing a Bradford City shirt, as seen on a cigarette card
While Andrew Watson is well known as the first black Scottish football internationalist, it may come as a surprise to learn that the second to pull on the dark blue shirt was Willie Clarke, who played for Scotland juniors in 1897.
Clarke was the first black professional in Scotland and went on to a successful career in England, becoming the first black player to score a goal in the Football League.
William Gibb Clarke (or Clark) was born in 1878 in the Ayrshire town of Mauchline. Just like Andrew Watson, he had Guyanese heritage: he took his colour from his father Alexander who had been born in British Guiana, the product of a union between a local woman and Duncan Clark, a Scot who had gone to the colony as a wood cutter. It appears that, after Duncan Clark died there in the 1850s, sufficient money was available to send Alexander to Scotland to complete his education. As a 16-year-old he arrived at the remote Barr School on the Kintyre peninsula, about 20 miles north of Campbeltown, and lodged with the schoolmaster. There may have been a family connection with the area.
Amazingly, there is a description of him in 1859: 'Among the scholars was a private pupil of the master's, a respectably-born black boy, who a fortnight before had arrived from the West indies, and whose tawny complexion and woolly head looked very remarkable among the red-haired and fair-visaged Highlanders.'
Alexander settled in Ayrshire, where he worked as an engine fitter and married Jemima Cunningham. Together they raised a large family and their seventh child (of eleven) was William, born in 1878.
When Willie was a small boy the family moved to Glasgow, and it was here that he took his first steps in football. From the juvenile side Kelburn in 1896 he joined Crown Athletic, a junior team whose home ground was Fauldhouse Park in the Gorbals. (Most accounts say he also played for Benburb, but this is inaccurate.)
The Scottish Referee soon spotted his potential and wrote 'A very promising player is W Clark, the Crown outside right. He shoots on the run with great force and gets along smoothly with his new partner.'
Clarke was the first black professional in Scotland and went on to a successful career in England, becoming the first black player to score a goal in the Football League.
William Gibb Clarke (or Clark) was born in 1878 in the Ayrshire town of Mauchline. Just like Andrew Watson, he had Guyanese heritage: he took his colour from his father Alexander who had been born in British Guiana, the product of a union between a local woman and Duncan Clark, a Scot who had gone to the colony as a wood cutter. It appears that, after Duncan Clark died there in the 1850s, sufficient money was available to send Alexander to Scotland to complete his education. As a 16-year-old he arrived at the remote Barr School on the Kintyre peninsula, about 20 miles north of Campbeltown, and lodged with the schoolmaster. There may have been a family connection with the area.
Amazingly, there is a description of him in 1859: 'Among the scholars was a private pupil of the master's, a respectably-born black boy, who a fortnight before had arrived from the West indies, and whose tawny complexion and woolly head looked very remarkable among the red-haired and fair-visaged Highlanders.'
Alexander settled in Ayrshire, where he worked as an engine fitter and married Jemima Cunningham. Together they raised a large family and their seventh child (of eleven) was William, born in 1878.
When Willie was a small boy the family moved to Glasgow, and it was here that he took his first steps in football. From the juvenile side Kelburn in 1896 he joined Crown Athletic, a junior team whose home ground was Fauldhouse Park in the Gorbals. (Most accounts say he also played for Benburb, but this is inaccurate.)
The Scottish Referee soon spotted his potential and wrote 'A very promising player is W Clark, the Crown outside right. He shoots on the run with great force and gets along smoothly with his new partner.'
Teams for the Ireland v Scotland junior international, including Clarke of Crown Athletic (Belfast News Letter, 29 March 1897 via British Newspaper Archive)
In the course of an excellent season he was selected by the Scottish Junior FA for the team to face Ireland in Belfast on 27 March 1897, and played his part in Scotland's 3-1 win. Although clearly a junior international is of lesser status than the full Scotland team, it does indicate his colour was not a hindrance when it came to on-field recognition.
He was also due to play for the Glasgow Junior FA before events took a hand and he turned senior.
Professional clubs had started to take an interest and in April he was invited for trials by Preston North End and Celtic, but had to decline both due to a bout of bronchitis. That opened the door for Third Lanark, and at the end of the month he played a trial for them in a friendly against Blantyre, making a good enough impression to be invited back. In May 1897 he played outside right for the Third Lanark first team in three Glasgow League games, once against Queen's Park and twice against Rangers, scoring in a 4-3 win over the latter.
He was also due to play for the Glasgow Junior FA before events took a hand and he turned senior.
Professional clubs had started to take an interest and in April he was invited for trials by Preston North End and Celtic, but had to decline both due to a bout of bronchitis. That opened the door for Third Lanark, and at the end of the month he played a trial for them in a friendly against Blantyre, making a good enough impression to be invited back. In May 1897 he played outside right for the Third Lanark first team in three Glasgow League games, once against Queen's Park and twice against Rangers, scoring in a 4-3 win over the latter.
Clarke signs for Third Lanark (Scottish Referee, 7 May 1897, via BNA). The players who could 'testify to his worth' were Rangers' internationalists David Mitchell and Jock Drummond.
He signed for the club after the second of those games, becoming the first black Scottish professional player (beating John Walker of Leith Athletic by nine months), but little did he suspect that he would never make another first team appearance for Thirds. What is more, the form he signed would have a significant impact on his career much further down the line.
He started the 1897-98 season in the Third Lanark reserve team but after just a handful of games, in October he fractured his collarbone in a friendly at Hampden against Queen's Park Strollers. This put him out of action for weeks, not just from the football field but would also have made it difficult to follow his profession as an upholsterer.
He does not appear to have played again that season and Thirds released him to join Arthurlie, in the Scottish Football Combination. They were a good side and reached the Scottish Qualifying Cup final, losing to East Stirlingshire, while in the Scottish Cup they were knocked out by his old club Third Lanark in the first round.
He started the 1897-98 season in the Third Lanark reserve team but after just a handful of games, in October he fractured his collarbone in a friendly at Hampden against Queen's Park Strollers. This put him out of action for weeks, not just from the football field but would also have made it difficult to follow his profession as an upholsterer.
He does not appear to have played again that season and Thirds released him to join Arthurlie, in the Scottish Football Combination. They were a good side and reached the Scottish Qualifying Cup final, losing to East Stirlingshire, while in the Scottish Cup they were knocked out by his old club Third Lanark in the first round.
Scottish Referee, 11 August 1899 (via BNA)
Scottish Referee, 18 August 1899 (via BNA)
East Stirlingshire clearly liked what they had seen and took him to Bainsford in the summer of 1899, where he became an instant crowd favourite with a hat-trick in a pre-season friendly. Shire played in the Scottish Central Combination but had greater ambitions and in 1900 were elected to the Scottish League.
This posed a problem for the club as several players, including Clarke, were registered to Scottish League sides. Third Lanark still held Clarke's league registration and wanted a transfer fee of £25, so although East Stirlingshire would have preferred to keep him they simply didn't have the money and had to let him go.
Under the rules of the time he was able to escape the requirement for a fee by moving to England, so quite by chance this was the launchpad to a fine career. He pitched up at Bristol, and never returned.
This posed a problem for the club as several players, including Clarke, were registered to Scottish League sides. Third Lanark still held Clarke's league registration and wanted a transfer fee of £25, so although East Stirlingshire would have preferred to keep him they simply didn't have the money and had to let him go.
Under the rules of the time he was able to escape the requirement for a fee by moving to England, so quite by chance this was the launchpad to a fine career. He pitched up at Bristol, and never returned.
Praise for Bristol Rovers' new signing Willie Clarke in the Bristol Mercury, 22 August 1900 (via BNA)
His English career is covered in detail in the excellent new book Football's Black Pioneers, but in brief:
He spent the 1900/01 season with Bristol Rovers in the Southern League, making 20 league appearances for the club as well as scoring a hat-trick against Weymouth in the FA Cup.
This was the springboard to greater things and in 1901 he signed for Aston Villa. He spent four years at Villa Park, becoming the first black player to score a goal in the Football League on Christmas Day 1901. After a couple of seasons he drifted out of the picture and moved on to Bradford City in 1905.
He spent the 1900/01 season with Bristol Rovers in the Southern League, making 20 league appearances for the club as well as scoring a hat-trick against Weymouth in the FA Cup.
This was the springboard to greater things and in 1901 he signed for Aston Villa. He spent four years at Villa Park, becoming the first black player to score a goal in the Football League on Christmas Day 1901. After a couple of seasons he drifted out of the picture and moved on to Bradford City in 1905.
Willie Clarke (front row, first left) in the Bradford City team which embarked on their Division One campaign in 1908-09.
They were in Division 2 but won the league title in 1908 and he scored their first goal in the top division. In the twilight of his career he had a year and a half at Lincoln City, before a final season at Croydon Common in the Southern League Division 2.
Clarke served throughout the First World War in the Middlesex Regiment and the Royal Engineers. Having married for a second time in 1914 (his first wife died suddenly), he spent the rest of his life in Tunbridge Wells where he worked as a carpet fitter, and died there in 1949.
William Gibb Clarke
Born 3 March 1878 Mauchline, Ayrshire
Died 25 January 1949, aged 70 at Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Football career
1895-96 Kelburn (Glasgow Juveniles);
1896-97 Crown Athletic (Glasgow Juniors);
Trials for Third Lanark Apr-May 1897; signed as a professional June 1897.
1897-98 Third Lanark (played for reserves in the Scottish Football Combination; injured in October).
1898-99 Arthurlie (Scottish Football Combination; Scottish Qualifying Cup finalists)
1899-00 East Stirlingshire (Scottish Central Combination and Scottish County League)
1900-01 Bristol Rovers (Southern League).
1901-05 Aston Villa (Division One).
1905-09 Bradford City (Divisions Two and One).
Dec 1909-11 Lincoln City (Division Two).
1911-12 Croydon Common (Southern League Division Two).
Clarke served throughout the First World War in the Middlesex Regiment and the Royal Engineers. Having married for a second time in 1914 (his first wife died suddenly), he spent the rest of his life in Tunbridge Wells where he worked as a carpet fitter, and died there in 1949.
William Gibb Clarke
Born 3 March 1878 Mauchline, Ayrshire
Died 25 January 1949, aged 70 at Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Football career
1895-96 Kelburn (Glasgow Juveniles);
1896-97 Crown Athletic (Glasgow Juniors);
Trials for Third Lanark Apr-May 1897; signed as a professional June 1897.
1897-98 Third Lanark (played for reserves in the Scottish Football Combination; injured in October).
1898-99 Arthurlie (Scottish Football Combination; Scottish Qualifying Cup finalists)
1899-00 East Stirlingshire (Scottish Central Combination and Scottish County League)
1900-01 Bristol Rovers (Southern League).
1901-05 Aston Villa (Division One).
1905-09 Bradford City (Divisions Two and One).
Dec 1909-11 Lincoln City (Division Two).
1911-12 Croydon Common (Southern League Division Two).
- Published on
Parkgrove Football Club has a unique place in Scottish sporting history, as a hotbed of multi-cultural football as far back as the 1870s.
At a time when society was overwhelmingly white, the team from Govan had no less than three ethnic minority players: Andrew Watson and Robert Walker who were black, and a goalkeeper of Asian heritage called Tommy Marten.
His existence was highlighted in 25 Years Football, which was published in 1896 by the former Rangers player Archie Steel, writing under the pseudonym 'Old International'. He described his book as 'the most authentic and exhaustive treatise on football ever written', and his little paperback is indeed an invaluable resource with anecdotes of many clubs and players from the early years of Scottish football.
At a time when society was overwhelmingly white, the team from Govan had no less than three ethnic minority players: Andrew Watson and Robert Walker who were black, and a goalkeeper of Asian heritage called Tommy Marten.
His existence was highlighted in 25 Years Football, which was published in 1896 by the former Rangers player Archie Steel, writing under the pseudonym 'Old International'. He described his book as 'the most authentic and exhaustive treatise on football ever written', and his little paperback is indeed an invaluable resource with anecdotes of many clubs and players from the early years of Scottish football.
Extract from 25 Years Football by 'Old International' (1896)
In his section on Parkgrove, Steel wrote how the club was 'a motley group, having at one time more than one coloured gentleman in their ranks', identifying Watson's 'dusky features' and Walker as a 'curly-haired son of Africa'.
Steel, who played against Parkgrove in a Scottish Cup tie in 1878, also said: 'Their goalkeeper was by no means a lily, as Tommy Martin hailed from that land of toy ingenuity whose sons show a decided partiality for Glasgow University education. Tommy's flat nose and high cheek-bones indicated his Mongolian breed; still, he was rather a pleasant-looking son of Japan, and by no means a novice at goalkeeping.'
The historian Richard McBrearty, of the Scottish Football Museum, first highlighted the importance of the Parkgrove trio in an article for Show Racism the Red Card.
That inspired me to researched the background to Tommy Marten's life. It soon became apparent that Archie Steel's paragraph, although interesting, is somewhat misleading. He spells his surname wrong, he was not from Japan, and nobody called Thomas Marten (or Martin) matriculated at Glasgow University.
Here, for the first time, is his story.
Thomas William Henry Marten was born in 1857 in Surakarta, a town in Java which was then part of the Dutch East Indies, now in Indonesia. His parents were an English shipping merchant called Elliott John Marten and his ethnic Chinese partner Oeij Sieuw Nio, who were unmarried at the time although they did eventually tie the knot in 1877. The wider Marten family had extensive shipping interests in the area.
Steel, who played against Parkgrove in a Scottish Cup tie in 1878, also said: 'Their goalkeeper was by no means a lily, as Tommy Martin hailed from that land of toy ingenuity whose sons show a decided partiality for Glasgow University education. Tommy's flat nose and high cheek-bones indicated his Mongolian breed; still, he was rather a pleasant-looking son of Japan, and by no means a novice at goalkeeping.'
The historian Richard McBrearty, of the Scottish Football Museum, first highlighted the importance of the Parkgrove trio in an article for Show Racism the Red Card.
That inspired me to researched the background to Tommy Marten's life. It soon became apparent that Archie Steel's paragraph, although interesting, is somewhat misleading. He spells his surname wrong, he was not from Japan, and nobody called Thomas Marten (or Martin) matriculated at Glasgow University.
Here, for the first time, is his story.
Thomas William Henry Marten was born in 1857 in Surakarta, a town in Java which was then part of the Dutch East Indies, now in Indonesia. His parents were an English shipping merchant called Elliott John Marten and his ethnic Chinese partner Oeij Sieuw Nio, who were unmarried at the time although they did eventually tie the knot in 1877. The wider Marten family had extensive shipping interests in the area.
TWH Marten won a prize for art while at school in Bath (Western Daily Press, 27 September 1872, via British Newspaper Archive)
Tommy Marten in his school cricket team, 14 August 1873 (Bath Chronicle, via BNA)
An only child, Tommy was sent to England for his education, boarding at the Weston School in Bath, known as Mr Browning's. He was an active sportsman there, playing cricket for the school, and was also a prize-winner at art, which suggests that if he did study in Glasgow it might have been at the Art School (which has no records of pupils in this era).
Another reason for him coming to Scotland as a young adult could have been his family links: his uncle William Marten, who was also in business in Java, had married Elizabeth Rodger of a well-known Glasgow shipping family with strong links to the China trade. It would have made sense for Tommy to start his career in a family firm.
The earliest mention of him playing football was for Parkgrove against Hamilton Accies in October 1876, when he kept goal in a team which was led by Andrew Watson.
Another reason for him coming to Scotland as a young adult could have been his family links: his uncle William Marten, who was also in business in Java, had married Elizabeth Rodger of a well-known Glasgow shipping family with strong links to the China trade. It would have made sense for Tommy to start his career in a family firm.
The earliest mention of him playing football was for Parkgrove against Hamilton Accies in October 1876, when he kept goal in a team which was led by Andrew Watson.
Tommy Marten was in goal for Parkgrove v Hamilton Accies on 14 October 1876 (Glasgow Herald, via BNA)
In those early days, very few match reports listed full teams, but he is mentioned in further matches in 1877 against Third Lanark and Queen's Park. By the following year he had departed, and there is a record of him sailing back to Java late in 1879.
He appears to have spent the rest of his life based in the town of Banyuwangi (also spelled Banjoewangie) on the east coast of Java, where he was a successful commercial and shipping agent, at one point running the ferry service to Bali. He never married and died in 1911, aged 55.
He appears to have spent the rest of his life based in the town of Banyuwangi (also spelled Banjoewangie) on the east coast of Java, where he was a successful commercial and shipping agent, at one point running the ferry service to Bali. He never married and died in 1911, aged 55.
Tommy Marten's newspaper announcement of the death of 'my dear mother, widow of EJ Marten, aged 53' in 1892 (Java-bode, via Delpher)
Marten clearly made an impression during his short time in Scotland, but sadly the trail he blazed along with his fellow black and ethnic minority (BAME) sportsmen in the 1870s soon went cold.
The three association footballers at Parkgrove were emulated in that decade by prominent rugby players Alfie Clunies-Ross (mother from Malaya) and James Robertson (mother from Gambia). However, although those pioneer footballers were able to play in Scotland without any obvious discrimination due to their colour, nobody followed in their footsteps.
It is a long story, but after Andrew Watson's departure in the 1880s Scottish football had an almost complete dearth of BAME players for generations. Apart from the brief appearances of Willie Clarke and John Walker at the turn of the century, Scotland's next homegrown black footballer was Dougie Johnson at Brechin City in 1964 and it is a sad fact that there were more BAME players in Scotland in the 1870s than in the 1970s.
This makes it all the more important to recognise the coming together of Tommy Marten, Andrew Watson and Robert Walker at Parkgrove FC, and celebrate Scotland’s first multi-racial sporting club.
Thomas William Henry Marten
Born 19 February 1857 in Surakarta, Central Java.
Died December 1911 in Banyuwangi, East Java.
NB as he lived in a Dutch colony, his name is also recorded as Thomas Willem Henri Marten.
I have not been able to track down a photograph of Tommy Marten, and would be delighted if someone could find one!
The three association footballers at Parkgrove were emulated in that decade by prominent rugby players Alfie Clunies-Ross (mother from Malaya) and James Robertson (mother from Gambia). However, although those pioneer footballers were able to play in Scotland without any obvious discrimination due to their colour, nobody followed in their footsteps.
It is a long story, but after Andrew Watson's departure in the 1880s Scottish football had an almost complete dearth of BAME players for generations. Apart from the brief appearances of Willie Clarke and John Walker at the turn of the century, Scotland's next homegrown black footballer was Dougie Johnson at Brechin City in 1964 and it is a sad fact that there were more BAME players in Scotland in the 1870s than in the 1970s.
This makes it all the more important to recognise the coming together of Tommy Marten, Andrew Watson and Robert Walker at Parkgrove FC, and celebrate Scotland’s first multi-racial sporting club.
Thomas William Henry Marten
Born 19 February 1857 in Surakarta, Central Java.
Died December 1911 in Banyuwangi, East Java.
NB as he lived in a Dutch colony, his name is also recorded as Thomas Willem Henri Marten.
I have not been able to track down a photograph of Tommy Marten, and would be delighted if someone could find one!
- Published on
Sometimes, sports history takes you on an unexpected path, to places you would rather not visit. This is one of those times.
by Andy Mitchell
When I was researching a talk on the history of sport in Dunblane, I came across the story of an ancient curling stone which was found in 1834. Buried in a cottage garden on the outskirts of town, it was inscribed with the year 1551 and was claimed to be the oldest stone in existence.
The stone's age was later trumped by an even older example found in Stirling, and in any case it has since disappeared. It could have been merely a footnote in the town's sporting heritage but what intrigued me was the name of the property where it was discovered: New Orleans Cottage. Why on earth would someone in Dunblane call their home after a city in the deep south of America?
My search for the answer revealed a shameful link to the American slave trade, as well as a bitter legal battle for the fortune that was amassed on the back of human misery.
by Andy Mitchell
When I was researching a talk on the history of sport in Dunblane, I came across the story of an ancient curling stone which was found in 1834. Buried in a cottage garden on the outskirts of town, it was inscribed with the year 1551 and was claimed to be the oldest stone in existence.
The stone's age was later trumped by an even older example found in Stirling, and in any case it has since disappeared. It could have been merely a footnote in the town's sporting heritage but what intrigued me was the name of the property where it was discovered: New Orleans Cottage. Why on earth would someone in Dunblane call their home after a city in the deep south of America?
My search for the answer revealed a shameful link to the American slave trade, as well as a bitter legal battle for the fortune that was amassed on the back of human misery.
The report which started it all: the discovery of an ancient curling stone in Dunblane (Perthshire Advertiser, 20 November 1834 via British Newspaper Archive). The name of New Orleans Cottage came from another source.
New Orleans Cottage belonged to a man called Thomas Henderson. He was born in what is now British Guiana in 1808, while his father Patrick, originally from Dunblane, was a soldier in the British Army occupying Berbice, a Dutch colony which would soon be ceded to the United Kingdom.
After Patrick died there in 1811 his family - wife Janet, son Thomas and daughter Jean - returned to Scotland where his widow remarried to John Maiklem, a former soldier now working as a weaver in Stirling.
When Thomas grew up he bought a piece of land and built his cottage in Ramoyle, a small community on the edge of Dunblane. He could afford it because he had a rich uncle in America, his father's younger brother.
Quite how rich his uncle Stephen was became clear when he died in New Orleans in 1838. He had somehow accumulated a fortune that was reported to be worth £318,750, the equivalent of upwards of £30 million in today's money.
We sometimes have a conceit of ourselves in Scotland that the people who profited from slavery were the rich and powerful, the tobacco lords and sugar aristocracy, nothing to do with the common folk. Yet Stephen Henderson was a humble mason's son from Dunblane.
Born in 1773, he had crossed the Atlantic to seek his fortune in the New World where, after a while, he joined forces with a man called William Kenner. They set up a trading company based in New Orleans and their firm of Kenner, Henderson & Co bought cotton and sugar from the Louisiana estates and shipped it to Liverpool, while for the return journeys they imported English and European goods to sell in local stores. Henderson was an astute businessman and became known locally as 'Monsieur Croesus' and 'the Scottish Marvel'.
But that was not all he bought and sold. Behind those accolades the Scot had a dark mercenary attitude that exploited the laws on slavery. The direct importation of foreign slaves into Louisiana was outlawed early in the 1800s but it remained legal to bring slaves from elsewhere in the United States, a loophole which meant that slaves could still be transported and sold internally. Many were shipped from South Carolina to Louisiana to meet the plantations' insatiable demand for labour.
The Kenner & Henderson sign announced their 'showroom' in New Orleans where planters could buy anything from building materials to human life. The slaves were packed into pens to await a purchaser, and for example in June 1806 the firm advertised the sale of 74 'prime slaves of the Fantee nation' (modern day Ghana) who had been brought from Charleston on board the schooner William, while in October that year they sold 66 'prime young slaves of the Congo nation' brought on the Carolina.
Prices were inflated because of the legal restrictions and a single adult male slave might sell for upwards of $600. The slave market profits were enormous but so was the potential for misery, as while the slaves enriched their owners they were often treated appallingly. Conditions on the sugar cane estates which lined the Mississippi were known to be so brutal that slaves spoke with dread of being 'sold down the river', a phrase which resonates to this day.
After Patrick died there in 1811 his family - wife Janet, son Thomas and daughter Jean - returned to Scotland where his widow remarried to John Maiklem, a former soldier now working as a weaver in Stirling.
When Thomas grew up he bought a piece of land and built his cottage in Ramoyle, a small community on the edge of Dunblane. He could afford it because he had a rich uncle in America, his father's younger brother.
Quite how rich his uncle Stephen was became clear when he died in New Orleans in 1838. He had somehow accumulated a fortune that was reported to be worth £318,750, the equivalent of upwards of £30 million in today's money.
We sometimes have a conceit of ourselves in Scotland that the people who profited from slavery were the rich and powerful, the tobacco lords and sugar aristocracy, nothing to do with the common folk. Yet Stephen Henderson was a humble mason's son from Dunblane.
Born in 1773, he had crossed the Atlantic to seek his fortune in the New World where, after a while, he joined forces with a man called William Kenner. They set up a trading company based in New Orleans and their firm of Kenner, Henderson & Co bought cotton and sugar from the Louisiana estates and shipped it to Liverpool, while for the return journeys they imported English and European goods to sell in local stores. Henderson was an astute businessman and became known locally as 'Monsieur Croesus' and 'the Scottish Marvel'.
But that was not all he bought and sold. Behind those accolades the Scot had a dark mercenary attitude that exploited the laws on slavery. The direct importation of foreign slaves into Louisiana was outlawed early in the 1800s but it remained legal to bring slaves from elsewhere in the United States, a loophole which meant that slaves could still be transported and sold internally. Many were shipped from South Carolina to Louisiana to meet the plantations' insatiable demand for labour.
The Kenner & Henderson sign announced their 'showroom' in New Orleans where planters could buy anything from building materials to human life. The slaves were packed into pens to await a purchaser, and for example in June 1806 the firm advertised the sale of 74 'prime slaves of the Fantee nation' (modern day Ghana) who had been brought from Charleston on board the schooner William, while in October that year they sold 66 'prime young slaves of the Congo nation' brought on the Carolina.
Prices were inflated because of the legal restrictions and a single adult male slave might sell for upwards of $600. The slave market profits were enormous but so was the potential for misery, as while the slaves enriched their owners they were often treated appallingly. Conditions on the sugar cane estates which lined the Mississippi were known to be so brutal that slaves spoke with dread of being 'sold down the river', a phrase which resonates to this day.
A map of some sugar plantations along the Mississippi River, including Destrehan and the Kenner & Henderson estate [from 'American Uprising' by Daniel Rasmussen, a book which tells the story of the slave revolt in 1811]
To escape this life, and perhaps inspired by the success of the revolution in Haiti, in 1811 there was a widespread slave revolt in Louisiana, known as the German Coast Uprising. The rebels included those from an estate run by Kenner & Henderson, but the slaves stood no chance against a ruthless and well-armed white militia. Many were captured, tortured and executed, with the final indignity of having their disembodied heads impaled on wooden pikes to be eaten by crows. It was a savage gesture to discourage others from thinking of rebellion.
Meanwhile Henderson continued to prosper and was already a very wealthy man when he took a step towards respectability in 1815 by marrying Zelia Destrehan, the daughter of a prominent plantation owner. Soon, he acquired her father's estate at Destrehan, which he added to his portfolio of properties, including estates in Louisiana (Elm Park, Forest and a half share of Mount Houmas) and elegant mansions in Virginia and New Orleans.
Meanwhile Henderson continued to prosper and was already a very wealthy man when he took a step towards respectability in 1815 by marrying Zelia Destrehan, the daughter of a prominent plantation owner. Soon, he acquired her father's estate at Destrehan, which he added to his portfolio of properties, including estates in Louisiana (Elm Park, Forest and a half share of Mount Houmas) and elegant mansions in Virginia and New Orleans.
Stephen Henderson's mansion house at Destrehan plantation, now a museum and visitor centre [credit: OzarksRazorback]
Zelia died in 1830 and, as they never had any children, when Henderson died he had no direct heirs to inherit his fortune. Instead he left a long and rambling will in which he wrote: 'My greatest object is to do the greatest quantity of good and to the greatest number of persons and to the poorest people.'
Then, in a dying man's crude attempt to rewrite his own story, he stated: 'I have always trusted my blacks with much indulgence and even personal kindness. I have always been opposed to slavery.' Essentially he claimed he had only gone along with it to fit in, ensuring that his own slaves were well treated. He specified that his slaves should be freed after his death and sent to Liberia, but there was a significant catch: most of them had to wait 25 years for their liberty.
The truth is that Henderson left a legacy of misery: his 'property' included hundreds of slaves, while his money derived not just from their labour but from the profits of buying and selling their lives.
He left detailed instructions about what was to happen to his money, scattering it with largesse, although he found space to slander his parents: 'My whole family may be considered as drunkards, and this misfortune must have come upon the side of my father; although that he was an antiquarian, learned and intelligent, to get drunk once a month was to him a jubilee. My mother was a Drummond, good natured but without much capacity. They were profligate and indolent; being poor, they were always in bankruptcy.'
He showed he had not forgotten his roots as he wanted his home town to benefit from a large legacy. He allocated two thousand dollars a year to go to the poor of Dunblane, to be administered by the resident minister of the Presbyterian Church and the two highest civil officers of the town. He also left two thousand dollars a year for ten years for the erection of a school house in Dunblane and for the education of the poor. 'I feel no obligation for these acts of charity; it is only done to help the poor who like myself may be thrown upon the world without a penny or a friend,' he wrote.
Even at the exchange rate of about five dollars to the pound, this money would have transformed many lives in what was then a poor community, described by a contemporary visitor as 'Dirty Dunblane'. But the money never came.
Then, in a dying man's crude attempt to rewrite his own story, he stated: 'I have always trusted my blacks with much indulgence and even personal kindness. I have always been opposed to slavery.' Essentially he claimed he had only gone along with it to fit in, ensuring that his own slaves were well treated. He specified that his slaves should be freed after his death and sent to Liberia, but there was a significant catch: most of them had to wait 25 years for their liberty.
The truth is that Henderson left a legacy of misery: his 'property' included hundreds of slaves, while his money derived not just from their labour but from the profits of buying and selling their lives.
He left detailed instructions about what was to happen to his money, scattering it with largesse, although he found space to slander his parents: 'My whole family may be considered as drunkards, and this misfortune must have come upon the side of my father; although that he was an antiquarian, learned and intelligent, to get drunk once a month was to him a jubilee. My mother was a Drummond, good natured but without much capacity. They were profligate and indolent; being poor, they were always in bankruptcy.'
He showed he had not forgotten his roots as he wanted his home town to benefit from a large legacy. He allocated two thousand dollars a year to go to the poor of Dunblane, to be administered by the resident minister of the Presbyterian Church and the two highest civil officers of the town. He also left two thousand dollars a year for ten years for the erection of a school house in Dunblane and for the education of the poor. 'I feel no obligation for these acts of charity; it is only done to help the poor who like myself may be thrown upon the world without a penny or a friend,' he wrote.
Even at the exchange rate of about five dollars to the pound, this money would have transformed many lives in what was then a poor community, described by a contemporary visitor as 'Dirty Dunblane'. But the money never came.
Zelia Destrehan Henderson
Pierre Adolph Rost
One of the executors of the will, Pierre Adolph Rost, crossed the Atlantic to meet the town's Church of Scotland minister, Reverend John Grierson, who apparently told him that the people of Dunblane did not want the legacy as 'if a large fund was created for the support of the poor, the town would be become the receptacle of the poor of all the neighbouring counties'. Nothing was said about why he might have refused money for a new school.
However, Rost stood to be a significant beneficiary of the will, having also married into the Destrehan family, and he had taken over the Destrehan estate (and its slaves) following Henderson's death. Conveniently, John Grierson died in 1840 so his story could not be contradicted; then a court in Louisiana ruled that Stephen Henderson was of unsound mind when he made his bequests, and that the money should go to his wider family instead, including nieces and nephews on both sides of the Atlantic.
That might have been the end of it as far as Dunblane was concerned, until a court case in Scotland in 1842 revealed some of the sums at stake. John Maiklem, step-father of Thomas Henderson and his sister Jean, successfully sued for ten per cent of their bequest from their late uncle. The case revealed that Thomas and Jean had already received £4,875, and were due a further £2,600, the equivalent of well over half a million pounds today.
This alerted James Boe, the new minister in Dunblane, who together with the Sheriff Substitute launched a legal bid to unlock a substantial windfall for the people of the town. They appear to have had no knowledge of (or had no qualms about) the slavery origins of the money.
It was a complicated case, fought at every step by the Henderson relatives, and the wheels of justice moved so slowly that a final decision was not reached by the Court of Session until 1862. By a majority, Scotland's law lords ruled against the Dunblane claim, which ended the matter.
However, Rost stood to be a significant beneficiary of the will, having also married into the Destrehan family, and he had taken over the Destrehan estate (and its slaves) following Henderson's death. Conveniently, John Grierson died in 1840 so his story could not be contradicted; then a court in Louisiana ruled that Stephen Henderson was of unsound mind when he made his bequests, and that the money should go to his wider family instead, including nieces and nephews on both sides of the Atlantic.
That might have been the end of it as far as Dunblane was concerned, until a court case in Scotland in 1842 revealed some of the sums at stake. John Maiklem, step-father of Thomas Henderson and his sister Jean, successfully sued for ten per cent of their bequest from their late uncle. The case revealed that Thomas and Jean had already received £4,875, and were due a further £2,600, the equivalent of well over half a million pounds today.
This alerted James Boe, the new minister in Dunblane, who together with the Sheriff Substitute launched a legal bid to unlock a substantial windfall for the people of the town. They appear to have had no knowledge of (or had no qualms about) the slavery origins of the money.
It was a complicated case, fought at every step by the Henderson relatives, and the wheels of justice moved so slowly that a final decision was not reached by the Court of Session until 1862. By a majority, Scotland's law lords ruled against the Dunblane claim, which ended the matter.
Newspaper advert for the sale of New Orleans Cottage and its contents (Stirling Observer, 21 November 1844, via BNA)
A map from 1885 showing the location of [New] Orleans Cottage in the Ramoyle area of Dunblane
Thomas Henderson and his sister, now Mrs Buchan, were able to keep their legacy and they lived comfortably in Stirling for many years. Thomas sold New Orleans Cottage and in time it became known simply as Orleans Cottage. It had a succession of owners until it was finally demolished in the 1920s and the site is now underneath a much larger house.
The bulk of the legacy appears to have remained in Louisiana, claimed by the extended family of Henderson relatives, although they would likely have lost it in the American civil war.
Today, Stephen Henderson's role in promoting and profiting from slavery has been airbrushed in a kind of collective amnesia. An epitaph on a grand churchyard memorial near New Orleans talks of his 'moral worth' and claims that he passed through life with 'an unblemished character'. His old estate at Destrehan, which was used to shoot scenes for the film 12 Years a Slave, is now a tourist attraction which focuses largely on the lifestyle of the white planters although it does make an effort to interpret the slave experience. Another of his grand houses at White Sulphur Springs in Virginia is part of the Greenbrier luxury resort, known as the President's Cottage after it was stayed in by several US Presidents.
There are no known portraits of Stephen but he did leave a little-known memorial in Dunblane Cathedral. His 'profligate and indolent' parents were originally buried in the kirkyard but in 1831 he paid for them to be disinterred and reburied in crypts below the medieval building. Two large stone slabs on the floor, hidden underneath the carved oak pews, mark their final resting place.
One wonders how life for the people of Dunblane might have been transformed if Henderson's legacy had been spent in the way he intended. Perhaps it is better, after all, that the town was untainted by the profits of the untold misery he inflicted on thousands of his fellow human beings.
The bulk of the legacy appears to have remained in Louisiana, claimed by the extended family of Henderson relatives, although they would likely have lost it in the American civil war.
Today, Stephen Henderson's role in promoting and profiting from slavery has been airbrushed in a kind of collective amnesia. An epitaph on a grand churchyard memorial near New Orleans talks of his 'moral worth' and claims that he passed through life with 'an unblemished character'. His old estate at Destrehan, which was used to shoot scenes for the film 12 Years a Slave, is now a tourist attraction which focuses largely on the lifestyle of the white planters although it does make an effort to interpret the slave experience. Another of his grand houses at White Sulphur Springs in Virginia is part of the Greenbrier luxury resort, known as the President's Cottage after it was stayed in by several US Presidents.
There are no known portraits of Stephen but he did leave a little-known memorial in Dunblane Cathedral. His 'profligate and indolent' parents were originally buried in the kirkyard but in 1831 he paid for them to be disinterred and reburied in crypts below the medieval building. Two large stone slabs on the floor, hidden underneath the carved oak pews, mark their final resting place.
One wonders how life for the people of Dunblane might have been transformed if Henderson's legacy had been spent in the way he intended. Perhaps it is better, after all, that the town was untainted by the profits of the untold misery he inflicted on thousands of his fellow human beings.
The interior of Dunblane Cathedral, where Stephen Henderson's parents were buried and he commissioned a memorial to them. Two carved stone slabs are on the floor under the back row of pews.
NB Dunblane Cathedral also has this memorial to William McCowan, a local man who opposed slavery and signed up to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. It is the tallest monument in the cathedral graveyard. You can read the article I wrote about William McCowan here (published in the Stirling Observer).
Categories
- Aberdeen (1)
- Albion Rovers (1)
- Alloa (1)
- Arthur Kinnaird (3)
- Aston Villa (1)
- athletics (5)
- Australia (6)
- Ayrshire (8)
- Belgium (1)
- black heritage (18)
- Blackburn (1)
- boxing (1)
- Bridge of Allan (2)
- Cambridge (1)
- Canada (8)
- Celtic (1)
- collecting (2)
- cricket (10)
- curling (3)
- Darwen (5)
- Denmark (4)
- Dingwall (1)
- Dougray Scott (1)
- Doune (1)
- Dumbarton (1)
- Dunblane (10)
- Dundee (4)
- Dundee United (1)
- Edinburgh (28)
- England (15)
- Everton (1)
- FIFA (3)
- Film and TV (5)
- First World War (11)
- football (179)
- France (10)
- Germany (1)
- Glasgow (18)
- goal scoring (6)
- golf (1)
- gravestones (9)
- Grimsby (1)
- Hampden Park (5)
- heading (1)
- Heart of Midlothian (6)
- Helensburgh (1)
- Hibernian (2)
- hockey (2)
- Ice hockey (1)
- Italy (2)
- Juventus (1)
- Laws of the Game (8)
- Leith Athletic (1)
- lion taming (2)
- literature (8)
- Mexico (1)
- Newcastle United (1)
- Olympics (9)
- origins (63)
- Partick (5)
- Perthshire (2)
- photography (8)
- Poland (1)
- programmes (2)
- publications (25)
- Queen's Park (17)
- Rangers (5)
- record breaking (2)
- rowing (5)
- rugby (10)
- scandal (16)
- Scotland (103)
- South America (5)
- Spain (2)
- speedway (1)
- St Mirren (1)
- swimming (1)
- tennis (5)
- Third Lanark (6)
- Trophies (4)
- USA (4)
- women (6)
Archives
- September 2026 (1)
- August 2026 (2)
- July 2026 (1)
- June 2026 (1)
- March 2026 (1)
- December 2025 (1)
- November 2025 (3)
- October 2025 (1)
- August 2025 (1)
- June 2025 (1)
- May 2025 (3)
- April 2025 (1)
- March 2025 (1)
- February 2025 (1)
- January 2025 (2)
- December 2024 (1)
- October 2024 (2)
- September 2024 (1)
- July 2024 (1)
- April 2024 (2)
- February 2024 (1)
- June 2023 (1)
- February 2023 (1)
- January 2023 (1)
- December 2022 (1)
- November 2022 (2)
- September 2022 (1)
- July 2022 (1)
- June 2022 (1)
- May 2022 (1)
- March 2022 (1)
- February 2022 (3)
- January 2022 (1)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (1)
- October 2021 (1)
- September 2021 (1)
- August 2021 (1)
- July 2021 (4)
- June 2021 (1)
- May 2021 (2)
- April 2021 (1)
- March 2021 (1)
- January 2021 (1)
- December 2020 (1)
- November 2020 (1)
- October 2020 (5)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (1)
- July 2020 (1)
- June 2020 (1)
- May 2020 (1)
- April 2020 (2)
- March 2020 (2)
- January 2020 (1)
- December 2019 (1)
- October 2019 (1)
- September 2019 (1)
- August 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (1)
- May 2019 (2)
- March 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (3)
- November 2018 (1)
- October 2018 (2)
- September 2018 (2)
- August 2018 (1)
- July 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (1)
- May 2018 (3)
- April 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (1)
- December 2017 (1)
- November 2017 (1)
- October 2017 (1)
- September 2017 (2)
- August 2017 (1)
- June 2017 (3)
- May 2017 (3)
- March 2017 (2)
- February 2017 (2)
- January 2017 (2)
- October 2016 (3)
- September 2016 (1)
- August 2016 (1)
- July 2016 (1)
- June 2016 (1)
- May 2016 (2)
- April 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (2)
- February 2016 (1)
- January 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (1)
- October 2015 (2)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (2)
- July 2015 (2)
- May 2015 (1)
- April 2015 (1)
- March 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (3)
- November 2014 (3)
- October 2014 (4)
- September 2014 (4)
- August 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (4)
- June 2014 (2)
- May 2014 (5)
- April 2014 (2)
- March 2014 (2)
- February 2014 (3)
- January 2014 (3)
- December 2013 (3)
- November 2013 (3)
- October 2013 (4)
- September 2013 (3)
- August 2013 (3)
- July 2013 (4)
- May 2013 (3)
- April 2013 (2)
- March 2013 (5)
- February 2013 (1)
- January 2013 (3)
- December 2012 (2)
- November 2012 (5)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (4)
- August 2012 (3)
- July 2012 (4)
- June 2012 (4)
- May 2012 (1)
Author
All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.