Here are the Anniversaries from 26 August – part of our regular daily look at Arsenal’s history.
Our most recent article on Arsenal’s history is Arsenal at the end of the world: May to August 1914.
26 August 1893: The start of the infamous Tennant-Macfarlane Case in which James Tennant was tricked into signing for East Stirlingshire when drunk. He later moved to Woolwich Arsenal and on 12 March 1900 Tennant scored two in the record win over Loughborough
26 August 1904: Joe Hulme born in Stafford and played for York City and Blackburn. Herbert Chapman brought him to Arsenal in 1926 and he spent 12 years at Highbury, thus sharing in all the great moments of the Chapman and post-Chapman era.
26 August 1913: Alf Kirchen born in Norfolk. In 1934 he was signed by Tom Parker (holder of Arsenal’s consecutive appearance record), then manager of Norwich City. Arsenal paid £6000 for him in March 1935.
26 August 1924: Dan Lewis joined from Clapton Orient. He played for Arsenal in goal for six seasons, despite Chapman trying out various other keepers, and despite his faux pas in the 1927 cup final.
26 August 1933: Arsenal started as Champions and head for the second of three successive titles with a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham with David Jack scoring. Despite winning only two in the first seven Arsenal ran out champions once again.
26 August 1939: Wolverhampton 2 Arsenal 2. First game of the 1939/40 season which was abandoned after three games. Arsenal transferred to the League South A which they won.
26 August 1958: Tommy Docherty debut. He scored in a 3-0 win against Burnley – his only ever goal for Arsenal. He played 83 times for Arsenal before moving on to Chelsea.
26 August 1987: Kevin Richardson signed from Watford. He had already won the league with Everton, and went on to win it again under George Graham, leaving the club in 1990 for Real Sociedad.
26 August 1993: Frank “Tiger” Hill died in California aged 87. He played just 81 games for Arsenal but won the league three seasons running. After injury curtailed his playing days he had an extensive career as a manager, and was one of the vanguard fighting against the oppressive retain and transfer system.
26 August 1999: Luís Boa Morte sold to Southampton. He had played 25 times for Arsenal and played just 14 with Southampton before getting an extended run with first Fulham and then West Ham before retiring from football in 2013.
26 August 2000: Sylvain Wiltord brought in from Bordeaux. He had played 99 games for Bordeaux before moving for a club record fee of £13m. He scored the goal at Old Trafford to win the league in 2002.
26 August 2000: Arsenal beat Charlton 5-3 keeping the record of five goals scored once every 20 games running, and go top of the league.
26 August 2003: Giovanni van Bronckhorst loaned to Barcelona for the season. At the end of the season the transfer was made permanent and he stayed there until 2007, ending his career in 2010 at Feyenoord where he was captain.
26 August 2010: Sébastien Squillaci joined Arsenal from Sevilla FC, for whom he had played 49 times, on a three year contract for £3.5 million.
26 August 2012: Having opened the season for only the third time since entering the league in 1893, with a 0-0 draw, Arsenal’s season continued with a second 0-0 draw in a row. It was the first time this had ever happened.
26 August 2016 Takuma Asano loaned to Stuttgart for the season.
Elsewhere on this day, on 26 August 1346, the English army won the battle of Crecy. This was part of the rather poorly named Hundred Years’ War which in fact lasted from 1337 to 1453 – thus spoiling the old joke in which the history teacher asks, “What do you know about the 100 Years War?” and the student replies, “It’s length sir.” By and large it involved the House of Plantagenet, rulers of England, fighting the House of Valois, rulers of France, over the succession to the French throne. It thus had nothing to do with the ordinary men of England except that it impoverished their families, and by and large a lot of them died. The nobility as usual came out of it in tact.
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
The current series from the Arsenal History Series being developed on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal, covering all aspects off the life and work of the man who rescued Arsenal from extinction, secured the club’s future by moving it to Highbury, and then brought in Herbert Chapman as manager.
The previously untold tale of how it was that Norris came to choose Highbury as the suitable location for Arsenal’s new ground.
The series is being worked on daily, and the articles thus far are here.
Among the many other series we have run are…
- Arsenal in the 30s
- Arsenal players in the 30s
- Arsenal in the summer
- The First League Season, including a review of each player who played in that season
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
- Arsenal in the 70s
There are details of many other series covered by this site on our home page.