The Anniversary Files
Here are the Arsenal (and occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the complete files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website. An index to the Anniversary files can be found in the left column of this site under “Pages”
The current historical series on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal. An index of all our series can be found on the home page.
5 June 1903: Fred Dwight signed. He played for Chesham Town from 1899 until 1901 when he moved to Fulham, and then after a further two years moved on to Woolwich Arsenal in 1903.
5 June 1914: All Saints Church Dreadsall in Derbyshire was gutted by fire, the cause blamed on a suffragette arson attack.
5 June 1915: Henry Norris was given the rank of Lieutenant as he started to work for the War Office on recruitment programmes
5 June 1919: A black man was stoned to death by a mob and race riots involving an estimated 10,000 men roaming the streets looking for and attacking black men took place. The police, rioters, and the media all blamed West Indian men for the trouble. The courts however blamed the obvious culprits: white mobs. Liverpool council and police force drew up a plan to house all black citizens in compounds and then repatriate them.
5 June 1922: An interview with Sir Henry Norris appeared in the prestigious football journal, Athletic News which raised the question of transfer fees which were once more on the rise. Sir Henry wanted them controlled but player wages liberated. The former of course never happened.
5 June 1991: Kwame Ampadu sold to WBA. He had played just twice for Arsenal, but went on to have another 16 years in football including playing four times for Ireland. He then returned to Arsenal as an Academy coach.
5 June 1999: Keown, Seaman and Parlour played for England v Sweden in a world cup qualifier. It ended 0-0.
5 June 2013 It was announced that Arsenal’s record signing, Andrey Arshavin, would be released on 30 June 2013. He returned to Zenit St Petersburg and played on to the end of the 2014/5 season. In 2018 he was reported as playing for FC Kairat in the Kazakhstan Premier League.
The current series: Covering all aspects of 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, our current series of articles is on Henry Norris at the Arsenal. The articles thus far are here.
“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available on Kindle. Please see here for more details