SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport
- 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).
- Published on
Dunblane's original Golf Course, laid out by Old Tom Morris and opened in 1892
Recently I gave a talk to Dunblane Local History Society about the town's fantastic sporting heritage.
Today, of course, Dunblane has a great sporting hall of fame. One immediately thinks of Andy and Jamie Murray, who have brought considerable prestige to the town, but there are many other sporting giants among us. To name just a few: Fiona Brown and Frankie Brown could be part of the Scotland women’s football squad at the World Cup this summer; Louise Martin (made a Dame in the recent honours list) is president of the Commonwealth Games Federation; Elaine Hopley rowed across the Atlantic in record time; world class athlete Andy Butchart; Callum Davidson, now coaching, played for Scotland at football, having also represented Scotland at golf and tennis as a boy; Grant McPherson was an ice hockey ace. I could easily add to that list.
Yet there was a time when sport was even more of an integral part of life here.
Dunblane offered an extraordinary range of sporting opportunities in the 19th century. Despite the town population being less than a third of what it is now, there were clubs for curling, bowling, football, golf, cricket, quoiting, cycling and angling. There were annual sports meetings each summer, shooting competitions for the Volunteers, and Dunblane Hydro boasted a tennis court and a croquet lawn.
Click here to download a pdf of my talk about those sporting activities, as I attempt to explain why Dunblane had such a vibrant athletic culture, and reveal that some of our Victorian sporting heritage is still with us, even though you may not have noticed it.
Today, of course, Dunblane has a great sporting hall of fame. One immediately thinks of Andy and Jamie Murray, who have brought considerable prestige to the town, but there are many other sporting giants among us. To name just a few: Fiona Brown and Frankie Brown could be part of the Scotland women’s football squad at the World Cup this summer; Louise Martin (made a Dame in the recent honours list) is president of the Commonwealth Games Federation; Elaine Hopley rowed across the Atlantic in record time; world class athlete Andy Butchart; Callum Davidson, now coaching, played for Scotland at football, having also represented Scotland at golf and tennis as a boy; Grant McPherson was an ice hockey ace. I could easily add to that list.
Yet there was a time when sport was even more of an integral part of life here.
Dunblane offered an extraordinary range of sporting opportunities in the 19th century. Despite the town population being less than a third of what it is now, there were clubs for curling, bowling, football, golf, cricket, quoiting, cycling and angling. There were annual sports meetings each summer, shooting competitions for the Volunteers, and Dunblane Hydro boasted a tennis court and a croquet lawn.
Click here to download a pdf of my talk about those sporting activities, as I attempt to explain why Dunblane had such a vibrant athletic culture, and reveal that some of our Victorian sporting heritage is still with us, even though you may not have noticed it.
Curling pond laid out in Dunblane's Laigh Hills in the 1830s - the site layout is still visible.
Dunblane FC in 1888, with the Perthshire Cup, a trophy they won 12 times.
- Published on
When England meet Scotland on 10 June there will be intensive, round-the-clock preparation, with every movement of the players planned and monitored. They are thorough professionals, their focus entirely on the match. They will fly into Glasgow the day before and leave immediately afterwards.
It wasn’t always like that, though. We’ve been taking a dip into the archives to see how the players used to fill their time before the big match, and have found some surprising diversions which kept them occupied.
First, Douglas Gorman tells the story of a magnificent signed sheet from the Turnberrry Lighthouse, then Andy Mitchell relates a few anecdotes of past visits.
It wasn’t always like that, though. We’ve been taking a dip into the archives to see how the players used to fill their time before the big match, and have found some surprising diversions which kept them occupied.
First, Douglas Gorman tells the story of a magnificent signed sheet from the Turnberrry Lighthouse, then Andy Mitchell relates a few anecdotes of past visits.
Signed page from the Turnberry Lighthouse visitors' book. Image provided by National Records of Scotland, NLC110/3/1
When the England international team alighted from their train at Mauchline in Ayrshire on Thursday 13 April 1939 they were met by driving wind and rain, and a warning from the stationmaster that they would face 'an awfu licking' at Hampden Park on the Saturday.
As they quickly transferred to a motor bus, Stanley Rous, FA Secretary, retorted 'We have a grand team and I am confident that we will win' and they travelled the twenty miles to their pre-match base at the Turnberry Hotel on the Ayrshire coast. Tom Whittaker of Arsenal, trainer to the team, reported that his eleven was fighting fit. At this time the Football Association did not, and indeed would not, appoint a manager for its international team but Rous understood the need for proper preparation and probably worked with Whittaker to get the team together for a full day before the game. In earlier years some England teams had simply arrived in Glasgow on the Friday night.
However, their preparation did not extend to packing a spare kit. The rain fell so heavily on Saturday that a drenched team needed to change their shirts, and had to borrow replacements from Queen's Park for the second half.
This was one of the first all-ticket matches at Hampden Park and apparently when SFA President Douglas Bowie travelled from Ayr to welcome the visitors at Turnberry his first question to Will Cuff, Everton Chairman and FA Vice President, was did he have any tickets to spare!
On the Friday the English team had the opportunity to relax and paid a visit to the Turnberry Lighthouse. We know this as eleven members of the party signed the visitors’ book, including some of the most famous names in English football: Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton, Stan Cullis, Eddie Hapgood among them. Also on the page are Tom Whittaker, Frank Broome (a travelling reserve), Vic Woodley, Joe Mercer, Len Goulden, Ken Willingham and Bill Morris.
Not all the players signed, and perhaps they did not go: the signatures of Willie Hall, Pat Beasley (a late substitute for Eric Brook of Manchester City), Wilf Copping (the other reserve) and Stanley Rous do not appear. Hall was a keen golfer so that may explain his absence, while Rous would have had administrative details to attend to, and indeed had to provide a late substitute for a talk he was due to give to Glasgow referees.
Curiously, Stanley Matthews signed the visitors' book for a second time when he returned, this time with his family, in 1947.
The Turnberry Lighthouse visitors’ book is preserved in the Northern Lighthouse Board archive, which is now held at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. The former keepers’ accommodation is now a luxury retreat in the Trump empire, which would take a footballer’s salary to hire at a reported £7,000 a night, while the lighthouse itself remains an important aid to navigation in the Firth of Clyde.
As they quickly transferred to a motor bus, Stanley Rous, FA Secretary, retorted 'We have a grand team and I am confident that we will win' and they travelled the twenty miles to their pre-match base at the Turnberry Hotel on the Ayrshire coast. Tom Whittaker of Arsenal, trainer to the team, reported that his eleven was fighting fit. At this time the Football Association did not, and indeed would not, appoint a manager for its international team but Rous understood the need for proper preparation and probably worked with Whittaker to get the team together for a full day before the game. In earlier years some England teams had simply arrived in Glasgow on the Friday night.
However, their preparation did not extend to packing a spare kit. The rain fell so heavily on Saturday that a drenched team needed to change their shirts, and had to borrow replacements from Queen's Park for the second half.
This was one of the first all-ticket matches at Hampden Park and apparently when SFA President Douglas Bowie travelled from Ayr to welcome the visitors at Turnberry his first question to Will Cuff, Everton Chairman and FA Vice President, was did he have any tickets to spare!
On the Friday the English team had the opportunity to relax and paid a visit to the Turnberry Lighthouse. We know this as eleven members of the party signed the visitors’ book, including some of the most famous names in English football: Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton, Stan Cullis, Eddie Hapgood among them. Also on the page are Tom Whittaker, Frank Broome (a travelling reserve), Vic Woodley, Joe Mercer, Len Goulden, Ken Willingham and Bill Morris.
Not all the players signed, and perhaps they did not go: the signatures of Willie Hall, Pat Beasley (a late substitute for Eric Brook of Manchester City), Wilf Copping (the other reserve) and Stanley Rous do not appear. Hall was a keen golfer so that may explain his absence, while Rous would have had administrative details to attend to, and indeed had to provide a late substitute for a talk he was due to give to Glasgow referees.
Curiously, Stanley Matthews signed the visitors' book for a second time when he returned, this time with his family, in 1947.
The Turnberry Lighthouse visitors’ book is preserved in the Northern Lighthouse Board archive, which is now held at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. The former keepers’ accommodation is now a luxury retreat in the Trump empire, which would take a footballer’s salary to hire at a reported £7,000 a night, while the lighthouse itself remains an important aid to navigation in the Firth of Clyde.
The Daily Record published this on 14 April 1939 showing the England players at the Turnberry Hotel. From left: Whittaker (trainer), Woodley, Copping, Willingham, Beasley and Hapgood. (British Newspaper Archive)
While we tend to think of the cross-border invasion being a Tartan Army thing, it also used to happen in the opposition direction.
In 1939, over 40,000 England supporters reportedly travelled to the match, with the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) running 33 special trains for 16,000 supporters, including 600 who 'invaded' Ardrossan early on Saturday morning on two excursions organised by Sheffield and Manchester newspapers.
Each train had two kitchens which served supper on departure, breakfast on arrival at Ardrossan and, after a stroll around the town, lunch en route to King’s Park station near Hampden. It was all rounded off by dinner on the return journey. The on-board darts competition to pass the time seemed a risky endeavour!
They squeezed into a packed Hampden and had an outing to remember, as England bounced back from a half-time deficit to win the match through Tommy Lawton’s late header. At the time it was a rare triumph for the visitors, but it would be 1962 before the next Scotland win at Hampden over the old enemy.
Saturday 15 April 1939
Hampden Park, Glasgow (149,269)
Scotland 1 (Dougal 20), England 2 (Beasley 67, Lawton 88).
Scotland: Jerry Dawson (Rangers); Jimmy Carabine (Third Lanark) and George Cummings (Aston Villa); Bill Shankly (Preston North End), Bobby Baxter (captain, Middlesbrough) and Sandy McNab (West Bromwich Albion); Alex McSpadyen (Partick Thistle), Tommy Walker (Heart of Midlothian), Jimmy Dougal (Preston North End), Alex Venters (Rangers) and Jackie Milne (Middlesbrough).
England: Vic Woodley (Chelsea); Bill Morris (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Eddie Hapgood (captain, Arsenal); Ken Willingham (Huddersfield Town), Stan Cullis (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Joe Mercer (Everton); Stanley Matthews (Stoke City), Willie Hall (Tottenham Hotspur), Tommy Lawton (Everton), Len Goulden (West Ham United) and Pat Beasley (Huddersfield Town).
Referee: William R Hamilton (Belfast)
The Ayrshire coast remained a popular training base, for both countries, from the 1920s to the 1950s. The English generally stayed at Troon, sometimes arriving as early as Wednesday evening, and trained at Somerset Park in Ayr. The Scotland team base was not far away at the Marine Hotel in Largs, with training sessions at the local junior team’s Barrfield Park.
In 1939, over 40,000 England supporters reportedly travelled to the match, with the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) running 33 special trains for 16,000 supporters, including 600 who 'invaded' Ardrossan early on Saturday morning on two excursions organised by Sheffield and Manchester newspapers.
Each train had two kitchens which served supper on departure, breakfast on arrival at Ardrossan and, after a stroll around the town, lunch en route to King’s Park station near Hampden. It was all rounded off by dinner on the return journey. The on-board darts competition to pass the time seemed a risky endeavour!
They squeezed into a packed Hampden and had an outing to remember, as England bounced back from a half-time deficit to win the match through Tommy Lawton’s late header. At the time it was a rare triumph for the visitors, but it would be 1962 before the next Scotland win at Hampden over the old enemy.
Saturday 15 April 1939
Hampden Park, Glasgow (149,269)
Scotland 1 (Dougal 20), England 2 (Beasley 67, Lawton 88).
Scotland: Jerry Dawson (Rangers); Jimmy Carabine (Third Lanark) and George Cummings (Aston Villa); Bill Shankly (Preston North End), Bobby Baxter (captain, Middlesbrough) and Sandy McNab (West Bromwich Albion); Alex McSpadyen (Partick Thistle), Tommy Walker (Heart of Midlothian), Jimmy Dougal (Preston North End), Alex Venters (Rangers) and Jackie Milne (Middlesbrough).
England: Vic Woodley (Chelsea); Bill Morris (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Eddie Hapgood (captain, Arsenal); Ken Willingham (Huddersfield Town), Stan Cullis (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Joe Mercer (Everton); Stanley Matthews (Stoke City), Willie Hall (Tottenham Hotspur), Tommy Lawton (Everton), Len Goulden (West Ham United) and Pat Beasley (Huddersfield Town).
Referee: William R Hamilton (Belfast)
The Ayrshire coast remained a popular training base, for both countries, from the 1920s to the 1950s. The English generally stayed at Troon, sometimes arriving as early as Wednesday evening, and trained at Somerset Park in Ayr. The Scotland team base was not far away at the Marine Hotel in Largs, with training sessions at the local junior team’s Barrfield Park.
This itinerary for the England party travelling to Scotland in April 1906 originally belonged to Colin Veitch
It reflects an era when internationals were more relaxed, but in the very early days, the England team barely had time to sample the Scottish air. This itinerary from 1906 show that the players travelled on the Friday, catching a train at their nearest suitable station, either on the east or west coast, joining forces at Carlisle, then on to Glasgow. They had afternoon tea in the saloon coach and arrived at Glasgow Central at 6.15pm, with dinner served in the St Enoch Hotel at 7pm prompt.
There was no time to hang around. The Saturday schedule included lunch at 12.30, departure from the hotel at 2.30, kick-off at 3.30, and the post-match dinner back at the hotel at 6.30. The train south departed Glasgow Central just after 9pm, and dropped people off through the night at various stations en route to London where it arrived at 6.30 am. For those fearful a sleepless night, 'Arrangements can be made for sleeping accommodation to Euston if required, and at the Park Hotel, Preston, for those members who cannot reach home.'
The next visit in 1908 saw a complete change of pace. The England team stayed at Dunblane Hydro, where former Scotland international Robert Christie (now a local architect) was delegated to look after them and was ‘assiduous in seeing to their comfort and fraternising with them.’ His programme for the guests included a visit to Dunblane Cathedral, where the players and officials were entertained by an organ recital. Changed days! But they must have enjoyed it as the team returned to Dunblane in 1910.
There was no time to hang around. The Saturday schedule included lunch at 12.30, departure from the hotel at 2.30, kick-off at 3.30, and the post-match dinner back at the hotel at 6.30. The train south departed Glasgow Central just after 9pm, and dropped people off through the night at various stations en route to London where it arrived at 6.30 am. For those fearful a sleepless night, 'Arrangements can be made for sleeping accommodation to Euston if required, and at the Park Hotel, Preston, for those members who cannot reach home.'
The next visit in 1908 saw a complete change of pace. The England team stayed at Dunblane Hydro, where former Scotland international Robert Christie (now a local architect) was delegated to look after them and was ‘assiduous in seeing to their comfort and fraternising with them.’ His programme for the guests included a visit to Dunblane Cathedral, where the players and officials were entertained by an organ recital. Changed days! But they must have enjoyed it as the team returned to Dunblane in 1910.
Players together in 1927: Rigby of England has the cue, the others are Thomson and McMullan (Scotland) and Kelly, Brown, Bishop, Hulme and Goodall (England). (British Newspaper Archive)
On occasion, the players even socialised together. In 1927, the Sunday Post took the above photo of the Scotland and England players over a billiards table.
It was not just the players who enjoyed spending time in Scotland. We often think of the Tartan Army excursions down south, but it was the same in the other direction. The mass invasion by visiting England fans started early in the century and continued long after the War. In 1956, for example, there were 16 special trains from England, not to mention 11 plane-loads from London and Birmingham and hundreds of buses.
As a final comment, have a read of my article about the Scots who felt at home in London, published in the Scotsman in August 2013: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/scots-footballers-history-with-london-1-3039856
It was not just the players who enjoyed spending time in Scotland. We often think of the Tartan Army excursions down south, but it was the same in the other direction. The mass invasion by visiting England fans started early in the century and continued long after the War. In 1956, for example, there were 16 special trains from England, not to mention 11 plane-loads from London and Birmingham and hundreds of buses.
As a final comment, have a read of my article about the Scots who felt at home in London, published in the Scotsman in August 2013: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/scots-footballers-history-with-london-1-3039856
- Published on
One hundred years ago today, on 3 May 1917, two Dunblane footballers were killed in action in the First World War. They were among no less than 19 footballers from the town who lost their lives in the conflict, all of whom are are recorded in my book Come Awa' the Heather, the story of Dunblane Football Club.
Lance Corporal David McInroy, who lived in Bridgend, was a stonemason on the Kippendavie Estate when he signed up to the Lothian Regiment of the Royal Scots in 1915. He had played for Dunblane Rovers, the juvenile team, and was also a member of the town's angling and curling clubs. He was killed in France aged 34, leaving his wife Jeanie and four children. His nephew James McInroy DCM had already been killed in 1915, so it was a second tragedy for the family.
Lance Corporal David McInroy, who lived in Bridgend, was a stonemason on the Kippendavie Estate when he signed up to the Lothian Regiment of the Royal Scots in 1915. He had played for Dunblane Rovers, the juvenile team, and was also a member of the town's angling and curling clubs. He was killed in France aged 34, leaving his wife Jeanie and four children. His nephew James McInroy DCM had already been killed in 1915, so it was a second tragedy for the family.
David McInroy
Hugh Bruce
Private Hugh Bruce had been a forward for Dunblane FC for a decade up to 1912, and was described in his obituary as 'a prime favourite with the followers of the team, a most gentlemanly, cool and clever exponent of the game.' Also a stonemason, working for a local builder, he lived in Well Place and enlisted with the Black Watch in 1916. However, he was seconded to the Royal Scots Fusiliers and was killed by a sniper while working behind the lines. He was 35 years old and left a wife and four children.
One hundred years on, the memories of Dunblane's fallen is kept alive, not just by the ceremonies at the war memorial but also by the annual trips to the battlefields run by the High School.
One hundred years on, the memories of Dunblane's fallen is kept alive, not just by the ceremonies at the war memorial but also by the annual trips to the battlefields run by the High School.
- Published on
As any author knows, after you go to press things will crop up that you wish you had known about. Since I published my history of Dunblane FC in November, a number of extra details and photos have come to light about some players.
But one thing I hadn’t expected was that Dunblane had another internationalist in their ranks. His name was John McGuire.
All I knew about him was that he was a local lad who was in the team’s last Perthshire Cup winning team of 1913, and had gone on to play for St Johnstone, Crieff Morrisonians and Dundee Hibs - not exactly the pedigree of a top level player.
Recently, however, I found out that McGuire emigrated and carried on playing football across the Atlantic, where he won the American Cup twice and in 1925 was selected for the USA national team. What is more, he was inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame.
John McGuire has a fascinating life story. He was born in Dunblane on 3 March 1893, the son of Willie McGuire (1858-1939), a founder of Dunblane FC and a professional athlete on the Highland Games circuit.
Brought up in Millrow, John played with the successful local juvenile side, Dunblane Rovers, and broke into the Dunblane team in 1911 as an 18 year old, making an immediate impact by scoring five goals in a 10-0 defeat of Comrie in the Perthshire Cup.
But one thing I hadn’t expected was that Dunblane had another internationalist in their ranks. His name was John McGuire.
All I knew about him was that he was a local lad who was in the team’s last Perthshire Cup winning team of 1913, and had gone on to play for St Johnstone, Crieff Morrisonians and Dundee Hibs - not exactly the pedigree of a top level player.
Recently, however, I found out that McGuire emigrated and carried on playing football across the Atlantic, where he won the American Cup twice and in 1925 was selected for the USA national team. What is more, he was inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame.
John McGuire has a fascinating life story. He was born in Dunblane on 3 March 1893, the son of Willie McGuire (1858-1939), a founder of Dunblane FC and a professional athlete on the Highland Games circuit.
Brought up in Millrow, John played with the successful local juvenile side, Dunblane Rovers, and broke into the Dunblane team in 1911 as an 18 year old, making an immediate impact by scoring five goals in a 10-0 defeat of Comrie in the Perthshire Cup.
Dunblane Rovers juveniles in 1911. I believe John McGuire is in the front row, third from left.
Next season he was inside right as Dunblane won the Perthshire Cup for the twelfth and last time, beating Breadalbane 3-0 in the 1913 final. The following week he was given a trial by St Johnstone in a league match against Abercorn, and that summer he signed for Saints. He played at centre forward for the first half of the season, but only featured sporadically thereafter and was allowed to leave in the summer.
Dropping back to the amateur ranks, he joined Crieff Morrisonians but after just two matches the club closed for the war. Exempted from military service, apparently due to an old head injury for which he sometimes wore a cap while playing, he worked as a tailor in Perth and from 1915 to 1919 played for Dundee Hibs, who were in the wartime Eastern League.
In the spring of 1919 he emigrated to Toronto, where he signed up with Ulster United. The local press soon described him as a 'star centre forward', but he was not around for long as after he got married in 1920, to Annie McNaughton, he moved to New York. There, his football career really took off.
He joined the unlikely sounding Robins Dry Dock FC, at a time when many US soccer teams were backed by industrial concerns. Based in Brooklyn, they were crowned national champions on 19 April 1921: McGuire scored his team’s first goal as Robins Dry Dock won 4-2 against Scullin Steel of St Louis, Missouri, in the USFA National Challenge Cup Final, played in front of 6,000 spectators at Fall River.
Dropping back to the amateur ranks, he joined Crieff Morrisonians but after just two matches the club closed for the war. Exempted from military service, apparently due to an old head injury for which he sometimes wore a cap while playing, he worked as a tailor in Perth and from 1915 to 1919 played for Dundee Hibs, who were in the wartime Eastern League.
In the spring of 1919 he emigrated to Toronto, where he signed up with Ulster United. The local press soon described him as a 'star centre forward', but he was not around for long as after he got married in 1920, to Annie McNaughton, he moved to New York. There, his football career really took off.
He joined the unlikely sounding Robins Dry Dock FC, at a time when many US soccer teams were backed by industrial concerns. Based in Brooklyn, they were crowned national champions on 19 April 1921: McGuire scored his team’s first goal as Robins Dry Dock won 4-2 against Scullin Steel of St Louis, Missouri, in the USFA National Challenge Cup Final, played in front of 6,000 spectators at Fall River.
Robins Dry Dock FC, US National Challenge Cup winners in 1921. John McGuire is third row down, far left (number 11; photo from Spalding Football Annual)
The following season, his team had changed its name to Todd Shipyards (the owners of the Dry Dock), and again they made the national final, also against Scullin Steel. McGuire scored twice in the first 20 minutes to put his side two up, but Scullin fought their way back into the game to win the cup, scoring their third a few minutes from the end.
McGuire’s third final in as many years was on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1923, by which time he had joined Paterson FC in New Jersey. The opposition was yet again Scullin Steel, and a record crowd of 16,000 in the old baseball ground at Harrison, NJ saw an exciting 2-2 draw after extra time. There should have been a replay the following week, but Scullin announced they could not play as four of their team were professional baseball players and obliged to resume their summer contracts, and another three were injured. Paterson were awarded the cup by default.
One curious game he played for Paterson was in September 1922, against the touring Dick Kerr’s ladies team from England. McGuire scored once in a 6-3 victory.
He carried on moving clubs, spending one year each with New York Field Club (1923-24), New Bedford Whalers (1924-25) and Brooklyn Wanderers (1925-26), and it was during this last season that he won his international cap. At the age of 32, he played for USA in a 6-1 win over Canada, at Brooklyn on 8 November 1925.
Having hung up his boots in 1926, Johnny McGuire remained in Brooklyn, where he worked as a machinist, for the rest of his life. He was one of the earliest inductees to the US Soccer Hall of Fame in 1951, just the second year of its existence, and died on 18 November 1962.
McGuire’s third final in as many years was on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1923, by which time he had joined Paterson FC in New Jersey. The opposition was yet again Scullin Steel, and a record crowd of 16,000 in the old baseball ground at Harrison, NJ saw an exciting 2-2 draw after extra time. There should have been a replay the following week, but Scullin announced they could not play as four of their team were professional baseball players and obliged to resume their summer contracts, and another three were injured. Paterson were awarded the cup by default.
One curious game he played for Paterson was in September 1922, against the touring Dick Kerr’s ladies team from England. McGuire scored once in a 6-3 victory.
He carried on moving clubs, spending one year each with New York Field Club (1923-24), New Bedford Whalers (1924-25) and Brooklyn Wanderers (1925-26), and it was during this last season that he won his international cap. At the age of 32, he played for USA in a 6-1 win over Canada, at Brooklyn on 8 November 1925.
Having hung up his boots in 1926, Johnny McGuire remained in Brooklyn, where he worked as a machinist, for the rest of his life. He was one of the earliest inductees to the US Soccer Hall of Fame in 1951, just the second year of its existence, and died on 18 November 1962.
Todd Shipyards FC, Eastern champions and National Challenge Cup finalists in 1922. John McGuire is front row, second left (photo from Spalding Football Annual)
- Published on
One hundred years ago this week, the First World War took an insidious turn: on 22 April 1915, the Germany army released over 5,000 cylinders of chlorine gas from their positions north of Ypres, and the poisonous cloud drifted south into the trenches of unsuspecting French colonial troops.
This was the first time poison gas was used on the Western Front, and not surprisingly the defending soldiers abandoned their trenches and fled. Once the initial panic subsided, the five mile break in the Allied defensive line was filled by Canadian troops who had been in the next segment.
In a desperate action over the next two days, the Canadians held firm to prevent a German breakthrough, but at terrible cost: over ten per cent of them, around 2,000 men, were killed. Many of the bodies were never recovered.
One of them was Sergeant William Prince of the 10th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment). However, once the dust had settled came the strange discovery that it was not his real name. He was actually William Eadie, a Scot from Dunblane who had been a goalkeeper with Queen’s Park, Partick Thistle, East Fife as well as his home town team.
So, how did a Scottish footballer come to be fighting with the Canadian infantry under an assumed name?
William was born on 14 June 1882 at Calderwood Cottage in Dunblane, to David Eadie, a cotton dyer at the local mill, and his wife Mary. He was the youngest of four sons who would all go on to be decent players: James would captain Perthshire while with Dunblane and go on to be a regular for Queen’s Park, while David and Alexander played for a local amateur team, Strathallan.
William also started with Strathallan but when his work took him to Glasgow he joined his brother at Queen’s Park. He only made around a dozen first team appearances, sometimes alongside his brother, and in 1906 he signed for St Mirren but only made the first team once. However, as a reserve and an amateur he was free to play regularly for Dunblane and for three seasons was the regular custodian, helping the team to win the Perthshire Cup in 1906, reach the Scottish Qualifying Cup semi-final twice, and was capped by the county.
When Partick Thistle required an emergency replacement for their injured goalkeeper, they turned to William in December 1908 and he played five times. What happened to him for the next four years is not clear but in January 1913 the ‘well known amateur’ was reported to have signed for East Fife. Then on 20 March that year he sailed from Glasgow for a new life in Canada (despite being named in the East Fife team for that day!)
When war broke out, like so many others, he wanted to join the fight and at Valcartier in Quebec, on 26 September 1914, he signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Yet there is something very strange about his attestation paper: he signed his name three times as William Prince, and cut 13 years off his age with a date of birth of 24 June 1895; however, he named his next of kin as his brother, David Eadie, at an address in Edinburgh. Compounding the mystery, his medical form gives his height at 5 feet 3 inches, surely too small for a goalkeeper.
Was it a gross clerical error, mixing up two men? Was he trying to hide something? We may never know, but the name certainly stuck as seven months later, on 23 April 1915, Sgt William Prince went into a hail of bullets on the Western Front. His military record states ‘Killed in action’, ‘Body not recovered’ and ‘This soldier enlisted under an assumed name’. As far as the Canadian Army was concerned the matter was closed.
His sacrifice is commemorated on the memorial known as The Brooding Soldier just north of St Julien in Flanders. The inscription reads: ‘This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attacks, 22 to 24 April 1915. 2,000 fell and here lie buried.’
He is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing as ‘Eadie W.P. served as Prince W.’ but despite coming from a well-known local family is not named on the Dunblane war memorial; this was because families had to ask for the honour and by then his father had died and his mother and brother had moved to Edinburgh.
There are no known photos of William Eadie, and the mystery of his military name change will probably never be satisfactorily resolved. He is one of at least 18 footballers from Dunblane who lost their lives in the First World War, and whose stories will be told in my forthcoming book about the club.
This was the first time poison gas was used on the Western Front, and not surprisingly the defending soldiers abandoned their trenches and fled. Once the initial panic subsided, the five mile break in the Allied defensive line was filled by Canadian troops who had been in the next segment.
In a desperate action over the next two days, the Canadians held firm to prevent a German breakthrough, but at terrible cost: over ten per cent of them, around 2,000 men, were killed. Many of the bodies were never recovered.
One of them was Sergeant William Prince of the 10th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment). However, once the dust had settled came the strange discovery that it was not his real name. He was actually William Eadie, a Scot from Dunblane who had been a goalkeeper with Queen’s Park, Partick Thistle, East Fife as well as his home town team.
So, how did a Scottish footballer come to be fighting with the Canadian infantry under an assumed name?
William was born on 14 June 1882 at Calderwood Cottage in Dunblane, to David Eadie, a cotton dyer at the local mill, and his wife Mary. He was the youngest of four sons who would all go on to be decent players: James would captain Perthshire while with Dunblane and go on to be a regular for Queen’s Park, while David and Alexander played for a local amateur team, Strathallan.
William also started with Strathallan but when his work took him to Glasgow he joined his brother at Queen’s Park. He only made around a dozen first team appearances, sometimes alongside his brother, and in 1906 he signed for St Mirren but only made the first team once. However, as a reserve and an amateur he was free to play regularly for Dunblane and for three seasons was the regular custodian, helping the team to win the Perthshire Cup in 1906, reach the Scottish Qualifying Cup semi-final twice, and was capped by the county.
When Partick Thistle required an emergency replacement for their injured goalkeeper, they turned to William in December 1908 and he played five times. What happened to him for the next four years is not clear but in January 1913 the ‘well known amateur’ was reported to have signed for East Fife. Then on 20 March that year he sailed from Glasgow for a new life in Canada (despite being named in the East Fife team for that day!)
When war broke out, like so many others, he wanted to join the fight and at Valcartier in Quebec, on 26 September 1914, he signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Yet there is something very strange about his attestation paper: he signed his name three times as William Prince, and cut 13 years off his age with a date of birth of 24 June 1895; however, he named his next of kin as his brother, David Eadie, at an address in Edinburgh. Compounding the mystery, his medical form gives his height at 5 feet 3 inches, surely too small for a goalkeeper.
Was it a gross clerical error, mixing up two men? Was he trying to hide something? We may never know, but the name certainly stuck as seven months later, on 23 April 1915, Sgt William Prince went into a hail of bullets on the Western Front. His military record states ‘Killed in action’, ‘Body not recovered’ and ‘This soldier enlisted under an assumed name’. As far as the Canadian Army was concerned the matter was closed.
His sacrifice is commemorated on the memorial known as The Brooding Soldier just north of St Julien in Flanders. The inscription reads: ‘This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attacks, 22 to 24 April 1915. 2,000 fell and here lie buried.’
He is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing as ‘Eadie W.P. served as Prince W.’ but despite coming from a well-known local family is not named on the Dunblane war memorial; this was because families had to ask for the honour and by then his father had died and his mother and brother had moved to Edinburgh.
There are no known photos of William Eadie, and the mystery of his military name change will probably never be satisfactorily resolved. He is one of at least 18 footballers from Dunblane who lost their lives in the First World War, and whose stories will be told in my forthcoming book about the club.
Killed in action: the official record of William Eadie's death
The attestation paper which William Eadie signed as William Prince
- Published on
In the summer of 1914, a bereaved mother in Scotland received a package from Canada. It contained a rather attractive gold medal, with her son's name inscribed on it: W. McFarlane, Norwood Wanderers, Champions of Canada 1913.
Perhaps that medal is still in existence. I would dearly love to find it, a tangible link to a footballer from Dunblane who is a member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
The story of Willie McFarlane is fascinating. Born around 1885 in Dunblane, one of six children, his father was a builder and the family lived in Strathallan House, on the Doune Road. The young man trained as a joiner but was also a talented outside left. Starting out with his local side, he was part of a successful Dunblane team in 1905-06 that won the Perthshire Cup, thumping St Johnstone 7-2 in the final, and also reached the Scottish Cup first round and the final of the Dewar Shield.
In the summer he joined Saints, where his performances soon attracted wider attention, with Blackburn Rovers asking the Perth team to name their fee, before William Wilton of Rangers stepped in with a successful offer of £90 in February 1907. The Dundee Courier gushed about his abilities: 'He is possessed of exceptional speed, is full of tricks, and his crosses to the goalmouth are features of his play.' Rangers gave McFarlane a £35 signing fee, plus terms of £3 10s a week, and a job as a plumber.
Yet somehow it never worked out in Glasgow. McFarlane played only one match for Rangers, a defeat to Falkirk, and that summer moved on to Third Lanark. In a season at Cathkin he featured in just eight league matches, then had a year at East Fife, before ending up back at Dunblane in 1909.
In 1911, he emigrated and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There, his football talents found a new outlet with Norwood Wanderers, the top local team, and as provincial champions they were invited to take part in the first ever Dominion of Canada national championship. Given the distances involved, all four teams travelled to Fort William in Northern Ontario in September 1913, and Norwood came out on top of the mini-league. Details are here.
The entire Norwood Wanderers squad was inducted in 2004 into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, with the composite montage (above) containing the only known image of McFarlane.
Sadly, McFarlane would not live to help Norwood defend their title, as he succumbed to pneumonia early in 1914. By a strange quirk, the championship medals were presented to the Norwood players a month after his death, leaving officials with a quandary. The solution was reported in the Winnipeg Tribune: 'The medal of the late William McFarlane will be given to President Fisher, of the Manitoba FA, and he will send it to the deceased player’s mother in Scotland.'
Intriguingly, it is possible that the gold medal is still with the family, perhaps even still in Dunblane - and that would be a great find! It looks like the one below, which was awarded to his left-wing partner Billy Bradshaw.
Perhaps that medal is still in existence. I would dearly love to find it, a tangible link to a footballer from Dunblane who is a member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
The story of Willie McFarlane is fascinating. Born around 1885 in Dunblane, one of six children, his father was a builder and the family lived in Strathallan House, on the Doune Road. The young man trained as a joiner but was also a talented outside left. Starting out with his local side, he was part of a successful Dunblane team in 1905-06 that won the Perthshire Cup, thumping St Johnstone 7-2 in the final, and also reached the Scottish Cup first round and the final of the Dewar Shield.
In the summer he joined Saints, where his performances soon attracted wider attention, with Blackburn Rovers asking the Perth team to name their fee, before William Wilton of Rangers stepped in with a successful offer of £90 in February 1907. The Dundee Courier gushed about his abilities: 'He is possessed of exceptional speed, is full of tricks, and his crosses to the goalmouth are features of his play.' Rangers gave McFarlane a £35 signing fee, plus terms of £3 10s a week, and a job as a plumber.
Yet somehow it never worked out in Glasgow. McFarlane played only one match for Rangers, a defeat to Falkirk, and that summer moved on to Third Lanark. In a season at Cathkin he featured in just eight league matches, then had a year at East Fife, before ending up back at Dunblane in 1909.
In 1911, he emigrated and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There, his football talents found a new outlet with Norwood Wanderers, the top local team, and as provincial champions they were invited to take part in the first ever Dominion of Canada national championship. Given the distances involved, all four teams travelled to Fort William in Northern Ontario in September 1913, and Norwood came out on top of the mini-league. Details are here.
The entire Norwood Wanderers squad was inducted in 2004 into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, with the composite montage (above) containing the only known image of McFarlane.
Sadly, McFarlane would not live to help Norwood defend their title, as he succumbed to pneumonia early in 1914. By a strange quirk, the championship medals were presented to the Norwood players a month after his death, leaving officials with a quandary. The solution was reported in the Winnipeg Tribune: 'The medal of the late William McFarlane will be given to President Fisher, of the Manitoba FA, and he will send it to the deceased player’s mother in Scotland.'
Intriguingly, it is possible that the gold medal is still with the family, perhaps even still in Dunblane - and that would be a great find! It looks like the one below, which was awarded to his left-wing partner Billy Bradshaw.
Images of the medal and of Norwood Wanderers courtesy of Les Jones of CanadaSoccer
- Published on
Dunblane player register for 1889-90
A researcher's workload can be laborious but rewarding, as I found this week when transcribing 26 years of Dunblane FC player records from the Scottish Football Association archive.
The big leather-bound registers, which are held within the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park, are a treasure trove, detailing names, addresses and appearances of every player since 1888 who has taken part in a cup competition: the Scottish Cup, the Scottish Qualifying Cup and the short-lived Scottish Consolation Cup. The inclusion of addresses allows further research by cross-checking against census records, so that dates of birth can often be established. This effectively means everyone who has played senior football can be traced - a great resource not just for sports researchers but also for family historians who have a footballer amongst their ancestors.
As far as Dunblane (my home town) is concerned, the work had a natural limit as the club ceased to exist in 1914. But even in those 26 seasons, I now have a massive spreadsheet with 184 players listed. They range from the famous, such as the Christie brothers (internationalists Bob and Alex, plus their younger brother Sydney), to the obscure. Some became professionals, such as Archie McGeoch who was with Arsenal and Dundee, William Robertson at Hearts and Dundee, or Jamie Kinnaird and William Weir who both went to Sunderland Albion. Most have local addresses, some even in my own street, but in later seasons, when the club had no league and only took part in cup-ties, it is clear they had to cast their net wide with players coming from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fife.
Ultimately I will work on building up a complete record of all matches and players at the club. The registers will also allow me to research those players who lost their lives in the First World War, who I first wrote about in my last Dunblane blog.
The big leather-bound registers, which are held within the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park, are a treasure trove, detailing names, addresses and appearances of every player since 1888 who has taken part in a cup competition: the Scottish Cup, the Scottish Qualifying Cup and the short-lived Scottish Consolation Cup. The inclusion of addresses allows further research by cross-checking against census records, so that dates of birth can often be established. This effectively means everyone who has played senior football can be traced - a great resource not just for sports researchers but also for family historians who have a footballer amongst their ancestors.
As far as Dunblane (my home town) is concerned, the work had a natural limit as the club ceased to exist in 1914. But even in those 26 seasons, I now have a massive spreadsheet with 184 players listed. They range from the famous, such as the Christie brothers (internationalists Bob and Alex, plus their younger brother Sydney), to the obscure. Some became professionals, such as Archie McGeoch who was with Arsenal and Dundee, William Robertson at Hearts and Dundee, or Jamie Kinnaird and William Weir who both went to Sunderland Albion. Most have local addresses, some even in my own street, but in later seasons, when the club had no league and only took part in cup-ties, it is clear they had to cast their net wide with players coming from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fife.
Ultimately I will work on building up a complete record of all matches and players at the club. The registers will also allow me to research those players who lost their lives in the First World War, who I first wrote about in my last Dunblane blog.
Dunblane's record in 1911-12 when they played six matches in the Qualifying Cup and another four in the Consolation Cup.
- Published on
Dunblane FC with the Perthshire Cup in c1889, including WW1 casualty Robert Christie (back, second left)
In September 1914, Dunblane FC was due to play a Scottish Qualifying Cup tie against Tulloch but was unable to raise a team.
The decision to scratch from the competition, and indeed to undertake no further matches that season, was reported in the local paper with a glow of pride: 'Well played Dunblane!' said the Perthshire Advertiser. 'No football will be played at Duckburn Park this season. Nearly all the players on the club's books, not forgetting the officials, have resolved to serve their King and country in the present emergency.'
No-one could have foreseen was that this would be the end of the club known as 'The Heather', not just for the war, but for ever. At least a dozen former players lost their lives in the conflict and Dunblane, which had been one of the county's most successful clubs, would never play a match again.
Since its formation in 1876 by local schoolboys, Dunblane had won the Perthshire Cup no less than 12 times; only St Johnstone had a better record. However, the club had declined in the professional era and there were dire forecasts in the summer of 1913: the annual meeting of the club showed a deficit of £16, and there were so few nominations for the committee that its future was said to be in doubt. The deficit was cleared by holding a cycle parade at Duckburn Park but it was a short term fix and it is quite possible that the club would not have lasted much longer in any case.
The signing-up of the players and officials en masse took a heavy toll. In June 1915 it was reported that 'between thirty and forty past and present members of Dunblane FC are in service at present'. By 1918, the Stirling Observer wrote that a whole team had been lost, mostly with the Black Watch. Of those who were killed, the best known was Robert Main Christie, former Scotland internationalist and President of the SFA, killed in a mustard gas attack in 1918. Another well-known name was William Eadie, a goalkeeper who won the Perthshire Cup with Dunblane in 1906 and had also played for Queen's Park, St Mirren, Partick Thistle and East Fife. The others included the town postman, Peter Gardiner, and 38-year-old John Bayne who had served in the South African war and was a former player with Reading and St Johnstone.
Here is a list of all those known to have been killed in action:
Pte Alex McKay, Black Watch, killed 1 April 1915
Sgt William Eadie, Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), killed 23 April 1915
Pte John Bayne, Black Watch, killed 21 July 1915
Pte James McInroy DCM, Black Watch, killed 26 Sept 1915
Sgt-Major Peter Gardiner, Black Watch, killed 30 July 1916
L/C William Crawford, Black Watch, killed 19 October 1916
L/C David John McInroy, Royal Scots, killed 3 May 1917
Pte Hugh Bruce, Black Watch, killed May 1917
Pte Thomas Cullen, Black Watch, killed 26 September 1917
Pte John Waller, Black Watch, killed 10 December 1917
Pte John Strang MM, London Post Office Rifles Regt, killed 23 April 1918
Major Robert Main Christie QM, Labour Corps, killed 15 May 1918.
After the war, there was no prospect of the original Dunblane FC getting back off the ground. However, the local juvenile club, Dunblane Rovers, stepped up to the junior leagues, and they too played at Duckburn Park. Probably the highlight of their short existence was a 4-0 victory in 1931 over a strong Rangers side, in a fund-raising friendly. However, Rovers also struggled to draw crowds and ironically they closed with the outbreak of the Second World War.
While it is still my intention to write a full history of 'The Heather', and more information will surely follow, it is important to mark this, the 100th anniversary of the demise of Dunblane's football club and the sacrifice of its players.
The decision to scratch from the competition, and indeed to undertake no further matches that season, was reported in the local paper with a glow of pride: 'Well played Dunblane!' said the Perthshire Advertiser. 'No football will be played at Duckburn Park this season. Nearly all the players on the club's books, not forgetting the officials, have resolved to serve their King and country in the present emergency.'
No-one could have foreseen was that this would be the end of the club known as 'The Heather', not just for the war, but for ever. At least a dozen former players lost their lives in the conflict and Dunblane, which had been one of the county's most successful clubs, would never play a match again.
Since its formation in 1876 by local schoolboys, Dunblane had won the Perthshire Cup no less than 12 times; only St Johnstone had a better record. However, the club had declined in the professional era and there were dire forecasts in the summer of 1913: the annual meeting of the club showed a deficit of £16, and there were so few nominations for the committee that its future was said to be in doubt. The deficit was cleared by holding a cycle parade at Duckburn Park but it was a short term fix and it is quite possible that the club would not have lasted much longer in any case.
The signing-up of the players and officials en masse took a heavy toll. In June 1915 it was reported that 'between thirty and forty past and present members of Dunblane FC are in service at present'. By 1918, the Stirling Observer wrote that a whole team had been lost, mostly with the Black Watch. Of those who were killed, the best known was Robert Main Christie, former Scotland internationalist and President of the SFA, killed in a mustard gas attack in 1918. Another well-known name was William Eadie, a goalkeeper who won the Perthshire Cup with Dunblane in 1906 and had also played for Queen's Park, St Mirren, Partick Thistle and East Fife. The others included the town postman, Peter Gardiner, and 38-year-old John Bayne who had served in the South African war and was a former player with Reading and St Johnstone.
Here is a list of all those known to have been killed in action:
Pte Alex McKay, Black Watch, killed 1 April 1915
Sgt William Eadie, Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), killed 23 April 1915
Pte John Bayne, Black Watch, killed 21 July 1915
Pte James McInroy DCM, Black Watch, killed 26 Sept 1915
Sgt-Major Peter Gardiner, Black Watch, killed 30 July 1916
L/C William Crawford, Black Watch, killed 19 October 1916
L/C David John McInroy, Royal Scots, killed 3 May 1917
Pte Hugh Bruce, Black Watch, killed May 1917
Pte Thomas Cullen, Black Watch, killed 26 September 1917
Pte John Waller, Black Watch, killed 10 December 1917
Pte John Strang MM, London Post Office Rifles Regt, killed 23 April 1918
Major Robert Main Christie QM, Labour Corps, killed 15 May 1918.
After the war, there was no prospect of the original Dunblane FC getting back off the ground. However, the local juvenile club, Dunblane Rovers, stepped up to the junior leagues, and they too played at Duckburn Park. Probably the highlight of their short existence was a 4-0 victory in 1931 over a strong Rangers side, in a fund-raising friendly. However, Rovers also struggled to draw crowds and ironically they closed with the outbreak of the Second World War.
While it is still my intention to write a full history of 'The Heather', and more information will surely follow, it is important to mark this, the 100th anniversary of the demise of Dunblane's football club and the sacrifice of its players.
- Published on
Scotland v England 1884. Back: J Lindsay (Dumbarton), JK McDowall (SFA), J McAulay (Dumbarton), J Sinclair (referee), RM Christie (Queen's Park), J Forbes (Vale of Leven), J Macpherson (Vale of Leven). Front: W Anderson (QP), FW Shaw (Pollokshields Ath), C Campbell (QP), Dr J Smith (QP), W Arnott (QP), W McKinnon (Dumbarton).
I recently wrote the story of Robert Main Christie, the Dunblane man whose amazing list of sporting achievements included playing for Scotland against England aged 18, scoring a goal in an FA Cup final, winning the Scottish Cup, curling for Scotland, and founding the local golf club. You can read the article, published in the Scotsman, here.
It was a timely coincidence that Andy Murray, a major contemporary sporting talent from the town, was showered with awards this week, including freedom of Stirling and an honorary degree.
By contrast, Christie's life was all but forgotten and only in death is he commemorated, having been gassed in the final year of the first World War. He was such an interesting man that many details had to be left out of the article, not least that as I write this I can see the schoolhouse where Christie's father was the dominie, next door to the family home where he was brought up. Contemporary accounts describe how Christie and his friends founded a football team in about 1877 aged just 12 or 13, and in time Dunblane FC grew to be a power in Perthshire, winning the county cup eleven times; the story of the team could well be my next big project.
He was also very active in curling, a regular player in the local rink and also a vocal critic of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club at their annual meetings. And an enthusiastic golfer, and angler, and billiards player.
His death was as horrible as it was tragic. Aged 52, he could probably have stayed at home with his wife and five kids, but spent most of the war in khaki: in France, Greece and back to France. In May 1918, while commanding the 101st Labour Company, he and his troops came under a bombardment of German shells at the little village of Foncquevillers. The high explosives did plenty of damage, but unknown to the men who survived was that other shells contained mustard gas, silent and odourless but utterly deadly: a few hours after exposure the first symptoms began to show, and soon the skin and lungs were covered with burns and ulcers for which there was no treatment, no respite apart from death. Christie died after four days of agony, but I came across others who suffered for weeks, even months, before dying. Some of the memorials to him in Dunblane are pictured below: on the main war memorial, in the cathedral and in the masonic lodge.
He was one of over 100 local residents to be killed in the conflict, and they are all commemorated in a fascinating new book by local historian Ed Campbell: Dunblane War Memorial: Remembering Dunblane's Fallen (£12.99, on sale from local shops or Reveille Press).
It was a timely coincidence that Andy Murray, a major contemporary sporting talent from the town, was showered with awards this week, including freedom of Stirling and an honorary degree.
By contrast, Christie's life was all but forgotten and only in death is he commemorated, having been gassed in the final year of the first World War. He was such an interesting man that many details had to be left out of the article, not least that as I write this I can see the schoolhouse where Christie's father was the dominie, next door to the family home where he was brought up. Contemporary accounts describe how Christie and his friends founded a football team in about 1877 aged just 12 or 13, and in time Dunblane FC grew to be a power in Perthshire, winning the county cup eleven times; the story of the team could well be my next big project.
He was also very active in curling, a regular player in the local rink and also a vocal critic of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club at their annual meetings. And an enthusiastic golfer, and angler, and billiards player.
His death was as horrible as it was tragic. Aged 52, he could probably have stayed at home with his wife and five kids, but spent most of the war in khaki: in France, Greece and back to France. In May 1918, while commanding the 101st Labour Company, he and his troops came under a bombardment of German shells at the little village of Foncquevillers. The high explosives did plenty of damage, but unknown to the men who survived was that other shells contained mustard gas, silent and odourless but utterly deadly: a few hours after exposure the first symptoms began to show, and soon the skin and lungs were covered with burns and ulcers for which there was no treatment, no respite apart from death. Christie died after four days of agony, but I came across others who suffered for weeks, even months, before dying. Some of the memorials to him in Dunblane are pictured below: on the main war memorial, in the cathedral and in the masonic lodge.
He was one of over 100 local residents to be killed in the conflict, and they are all commemorated in a fascinating new book by local historian Ed Campbell: Dunblane War Memorial: Remembering Dunblane's Fallen (£12.99, on sale from local shops or Reveille Press).
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.