Bill Harvey (footballer, born 1908)

William Arthur Harvey (2 May 1908 – 1978) was an English footballer who played as a forward. He scored 23 goals from 70 appearances in the Football League for Barnsley, Chesterfield and Darlington. He also played for a variety of non-league clubs, mainly in the north-east of England. These included Chopwell Institute, Annfield Plain, Eden Colliery Welfare, Boston United,[1] and Stockton.

For other people with similar names, see William Harvey (disambiguation).

Bill Harvey
Personal information
Full name William Arthur Harvey[1]
Date of birth (1908-05-02)2 May 1908[1]
Place of birth Chopwell,[1] England
Date of death 1978 (aged 69–70)
Place of death Wakefield, England
Height 5 ft 9 1⁄2 in (1.77 m)[2]
Playing position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Chopwell Institute
– Annfield Plain
1929–1932 Barnsley 42 (12)
193?–1935 Eden Colliery Welfare
1935–1937 Chesterfield 14 (4)
1937–1938 Boston United 28 (14)
1938–1939 Darlington 14 (7)
1939 Stockton
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Personal life

Harvey was born in Chopwell, County Durham,[1] to Michael Harvey, a coal miner, and his wife Esther. At the time of the 1911 Census, the family were living in Blackhall Mill, Chopwell, and the two-year-old Willie was the youngest of six surviving children.[3] In 1931, he married Sarah, sister of his Barnsley teammate John Wallbanks.[4][5]

He was one of many footballers refused unemployment benefit after football was classified as a seasonal occupation;[6] those normally employed in seasonal work were ineligible for benefit unless they had worked during their off-season. Harvey's brothers-in-law Fred and Jimmy Wallbanks faced the same predicament.[6]

Harvey died in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1978 at the age of 70.[1][7]

Football career

Harvey began his football career with hometown club Chopwell Institute. His performances earned him selection for Durham in inter-county amateur competition in 1927.[8] While on the books of his next club, Annfield Plain of the North-Eastern League, he was selected for the Rest of the League team for the annual match against the reigning champions. He scored 23 league goals in the 1928–29 season before, in March 1929, making his first move into the Football League with Second Division club Barnsley.[2]

He scored 12 goals from 42 league appearances, the last of which came in the 1931–32 season.[1] He played more often for Barnsley's reserve team in the Midland League, and in a match against Wombwell in March 1932, suffered a fractured skull.[9] He was given a free transfer at the end of the season,[10] and returned to his home town.[6]

Harvey dropped out of league football for some time. When he returned, signing for Chesterfield in May 1935, he was reported to have scored 40 goals since Christmas for Eden Colliery Welfare in the North-Eastern League.[11] He spent the season as backup to Maurice Dando, contributing 4 goals – a hat-trick in a 5–0 defeat of Wrexham and the only goal of the home fixture against Lincoln City – from 14 league matches as Chesterfield won the Third Division Northern Section title.[12] For the reserves, he scored at least 26 goals in Midland League competition.[12] For the new season at the higher level, Chesterfield brought in Walter Ponting to play at centre-forward, and Harvey spent the whole season in the reserves, for whom he scored at least 34 goals.[13] Although he was available for transfer, no league club were prepared to meet the fee,[14] so he again dropped out of the Football League, joining Midland League club Boston United for 1937–38.

He had scored nine times against that club for Chesterfield's reserves in the previous two seasons, including five in a 7–1 win in March 1936.[12][13] With Wilf Notley established at centre forward, Boston used Harvey either at inside forward or at outside right,[15] from which position he reportedly missed shooting chances because of his unwillingness to cut inside;[16] nevertheless, he produced 14 goals from 28 Midland League matches.[17] He contributed the ninth goal to Boston's biggest FA Cup win, by 10 goals to nil against Bilsthorpe Colliery in the Preliminary Round.[18] Boston re-signed him for 1938–39,[19] but in August 1938 he returned once more to the Football League with Darlington.[14]

He made a goalscoring debut in the Football League Jubilee Fund match against local rivals Hartlepools United,[20] but Tom Feeney was preferred when the league season started.[21] Darlington did not select him at centre forward until mid-October, moving Feeney to right half; Harvey marked the occasion by scoring twice away to Hull City, but his club lost 3–2.[22] He kept his position for the 3–1 win against Lincoln City, in which he was fouled for a penalty kick converted by Mike Boyle and then scored the third goal himself.[23] By the end of the season, Harvey had played only 14 times in the league, and scored 7 goals;[1] in all matches, including cup competitions and the North-Eastern League team, he contributed 36 goals. He began the 1939–40 season with Stockton, newly elected to the North-Eastern League,[24] just before league football was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.

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References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. "Players on the move". Yorkshire Evening Post. 16 March 1929. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Image". and "1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription 11 Fife Terrace Blackhall Mill Ebchester Durham, Chopwell, Durham, England". Willie Harvey. Age: 2. Census reference: RG14PN30528 RG78PN1750 RD557 SD4 ED21 SN118. Retrieved 11 November 2014 – via Findmypast.
  4. "England & Wales marriages 1837–2008 Transcription". William A Harvey. Marriage quarter: 4. Marriage year: 1931. Spouse's last name: Wallbanks. District: Gateshead. County: Durham. Volume: 10A. Page: 1710. Retrieved 19 August 2015 – via Findmypast.
  5. 'Argus' (20 February 1932). "Sporting news of the day reviewed". Sunderland Echo. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "No play or pay. Footballers refused the dole". Daily Mail. Hull. 21 May 1932. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. At Chopwell Exchange the players whose money is stopped included Fred and Jim Wallbanks, of Scarborough and Norwich City respectively, brothers of Jack Wallbanks, the Barnsley centre forward. Billy Harvey, of Barnsley, who was brought up with the Wallbanks' family, also failed to get the benefit. Several of the players concerned have only left their clubs through the clubs' inability to pay summer wages.
    "Seasonal occupation. Sunderland footballers' dole claims refused". Sunderland Echo. 21 May 1932. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive. Unemployment benefit is now being refused to professional footballers who have not been retained by their clubs or who are not receiving summer wages. This rule is made under the Anomalies Act Regulations which came into force last October and under which benefit is not allowed to people normally employed in seasonal occupation.
  7. "Chesterfield FC: Football League players, 1921 to 2017". cfchistory.com. Stuart Basson. 6 May 2017. Archived from the original (XLSX) on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. "County amateurs". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 23 December 1926. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    "Durham Football Association". Yorkshire Post. 24 February 1927. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Sports snaps". Daily Mail. Hull. 28 March 1932. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. 'Argus' (12 May 1932). "Sporting news of the day reviewed". Sunderland Echo. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "New players". Derbyshire Times. 10 May 1935. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "Chesterfield FC, 1935–6" (XLSX). cfchistory.com. Stuart Basson. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  13. "Chesterfield FC, 1936–7" (XLSX). cfchistory.com. Stuart Basson. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  14. 'Argus' (9 August 1938). "Under the searchlight". Sunderland Echo. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. "Boston United's Season 1937/8". bufc.drfox.org.uk. Ken Fox. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  16. "Grantham held at home". Grantham Journal. 6 November 1937. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. "Season 1937/8 – Statistics". bufc.drfox.org.uk. Ken Fox. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  18. "Boston United 10–0 Bilsthorpe Colliery". bufc.drfox.org.uk. Ken Fox. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  19. "Chelsea player for Boston". Lincolnshire Echo. 1 July 1938. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. "Darlington lead". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 20 August 1938. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. 'Sentinel' (25 August 1938). "'Pools' side to meet Carlisle". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. "Leading clubs have bad day in the league". Yorkshire Post. 17 October 1938. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. "Everton play like champions". Yorkshire Post. 24 October 1938. p. 15 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. 'Sentinel' (7 June 1939). "Park Drive 'derby' rivalry". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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