AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood I am in the process of writing a book on the early Arsenal, correcting the mistakes of earlier publications, filling in the gaps, and hopefully revealing much more than previous volumes about the daily lives of the players and the supporters of the club. In this venture I am being increasingly assisted …
By Tony Attwood The 1880s was an era of strikes – indeed it was an era that carried on all the way to the first world war. The TUC had been formed in 1868 and miners, girls who make matchboxes, gas workers, dock workers and many more trades saw strike action happening… The unskilled workers …
Read More “To know the origins of Arsenal you must know about life in 1886”
By Tony Attwood In the last article I tried to upset the applecart by investigating the details of Arsenal’s birth as Dial Square, and most particularly its first match on the Isle of Dogs. In doing that I ventured into a world that is rarely seen in football histories – a view of what the …
Read More “Arsenal was born in 1886. What sort of world did this fragile child of football enter?”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal were founded in 1886 and played their first match against Eastern Wanderers on the Isle of Dogs. You knew that, of course. But are you quite sure that is right? There has already been an article about the founding fathers on this site in the series on the first managers and …
Read More “Dial Square FC did not play its first match on the Isle of Dogs. The evidence.”
This article continues from the previous page, with the text of a newspaper column concerning the very last game Woolwich Arsenal played at Plumstead. Once the game was over, the kit was packed, and the club headed for Highbury. There’s a brief discussion as to why it was so necessary, at the end of the …
Read More “The last tango in Plumstead: Arsenal’s final game part 2”
This is a reprint of the newspaper report of the last ever match played by Woolwich Arsenal at Plumstead. I am deeply grateful to Andy Kelly for providing this. This is the first half of the report. The rest will follow shortly. Woolwich Arsenal – the index Untold Arsenal – Making the Arsenal – the …
Read More “Arsenal: the final farewell. Newspaper report on the last ever game at the Manor”
By Tony Attwood This is the final article in the series that traces the history of the 11 players who took part in the final Woolwich Arsenal game at Plumstead, against Middlesbrough on 26 April 1913. The game was a 1-1 draw in front of the worst crowd of the season – 3000. Details of …
Read More “George Burrell and the full team of the final match in Plumstead”
Looking at the record one might think that Archibald Devine was a player who could not settle! Archibald F Devine was born in Lochore, Fife, on 2 April 1887 and started out playing Scottish junior (ie non-league) football, before moving into the league. For him, changing clubs was what it was all about. He wasn’t …
Read More “Archibald Devine; 14 transfers; 11 clubs, 1 cap, 1 cup winner’s medal”
By Tony Attwood Stephen J Stonley [but see the note in the comments about his middle name] was a centre forward, born in Sunderland in 1891. He played for… Seaham. I only have the information that Stonley played for “Seaham” but it appears there are several teams now with the Seaham name, however none date …
Read More “Stephen Stonley: continuing to score as the Arsenal were relegated”
This article continues the series dedicated to the men who played in the final ever game at Plumstead. Today, WA Spittle. There’s a list of the team for the final game of the 1912/13 season at the foot of the page. William Spittle was an inside forward, born in Southfields April 1893. He played for …
Read More “WA Spittle: seven games for the first team but never once on the winning side”
By Tony Attwood Note: this is one of a series of articles that researches the history of the eleven players who played in the last ever Woolwich Arsenal match at Plumstead Angus McKinnon, was born in Paisley on 6 December 1885. His Arsenal career covered the period 1908 to 1922 and included 217 appearances for …
By Tony Attwood George Grant had an Arsenal career spanning Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal and Arsenal, ending with the cessation of football for the first world war. A career that ran from the Norris takeover in 1910 to 1919. In all he made 57 appearances and scored four goals. Unlike most of our team in …
Read More “George M Grant: played for Woolwich, The Arsenal and Arsenal and against Arsenal!”
By Tony Attwood This article is one of the series on the players who played in the last ever Woolwich Arsenal game in Kent on 26 April 1913. Joseph Fidler was a left back born in Sheffield in 1885. His playing career is not well charted, and I have not been able to find details …
Read More “Joseph E Fidler: played the last game at Woolwich and first game at Highbury”
When exactly did Royal Arsenal become Woolwich Arsenal? By Andy Kelly There is some confusion as to when Royal Arsenal changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal. Most club histories say that the name changed when the club adopted professionalism in 1891 whereas some say that the name changed when it became a limited liability company …
Read More “Royal, Woolwich, The Arsenal, Arsenal – when, what, where, who?”
By Tony Attwood There are millions of stories about Arsenal that appear everywhere. But as we have already found on this site, sometimes those stories are just a little bit short of the truth. Here is another one. It is the story that says that Herbert Chapman changed the name of the club from The …
Read More “The proof: Herbert Chapman did NOT change the name of Arsenal”
I recently did an article on Arsenal’s first ever league match – against Newcastle. Rather curiously the return match of this fixture was in the same month (obviously the 19th century fixtures computer worked in a different way from today). Here’s what the Newcastle paper of the day made of it all… “There was a …
Read More “What the papers say: Newcastle v Arsenal 30 September 1893”
We have just published a couple of articles in the “My grandfather played for Arsenal” series. Third third story has been published in outline before, and following the article I received this note… Hugh MacDonald was my grandfather. I never knew him as he died in 1920 after suffering the effects of poison gas in …
Read More “Hugh MacDonald was my grandfather and he played for Arsenal”
By Simon Weir. Background research by Tony Attwood My great great uncle PATRICK BOYLAN played for Woolwich Arsenal in the 1896/97 season. Patrick signed in 1896 and played one season in the first team and reserves before returning to Greenock Morton. His photo in his Arsenal kit can be seen here: http://weir223.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=weir223&view=63&bview=19&pid=37&rand=50026290 Also a wee …
This is a start to another series of articles on this blog: in each case starting from the point that a correspondent writes about his/her relative who played for Arsenal. I’ve no idea how many entries we will get, but my main thought is to get some insights. If you want to join in, email …
Read More “My grandfather played for Arsenal: William Fairclough”
By Tony Attwood The final Woolwich Arsenal game played in Kent took place on April 26th 1913. Just over three months later Arsenal opened up at Highbury. The match was a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, and Woolwich Arsenal were relegated, having failed to win any of their previous eight games. A crowd of 3,000 turned …
Read More “The final farewell to Woolwich Arsenal: 26 April 1913”
Did clubs in London and the south actually snub Arsenal? by Andy Kelly It is well documented that Arsenal were the first club in the South of England to turn professional. It is also well documented that when they adopted professionalism they were expelled from the London FA and snubbed wholesale by the amateur clubs …
Read More “It is time to expose the errors in the early history of Arsenal”
Woolwich Arsenal’s first League Game: 2nd Div: 4 Sept: 1893. By Tony Attwood In recent posts I have been looking at the individual players who played in our first ever league game in the last decade of the 19th century. Now, here’s a match report, from the Newcastle Daily Journal found by Newcastle blogger Eddy …
Read More “The first ever Arsenal league game – the newspaper report”
Charles Booth was born on 15 August 1869 and died September 1898 aged just 28. Booth was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and started at Gainsborough Trinity. There is a tantalising insight into Charlie on http://fredspiksley.blogspot.com/ and I am really hopeful of finding out more from this source. This source has a reference to the fact …
Read More “Charlie Booth: the final member of our first ever league team”
Arthur Elliott was an inside left, who like all the players in this series, played for Woolwich Arsenal in the first ever game that the club played in the league. But unfortunately, like so many members of that side, the details that we have about him are sketchy. He was born in Nottingham in 1870 …
Read More “Arthur Elliott: Arsenal’s untraceable record holder”
