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Hugh or Henry? (An Obscure Question)

In the 1929-30 season, Charlton had a player called Brown. He only played six matches; two in the league and four in the cup. The trouble is that different sources give him different names. In both of Colin Cameron's books he is called Hugh, but in the Club Handbook he is listed as Henry. He has been named that every year since they started printing players forenames in 2000/1 (earlier handbooks frustratingly only list surnames and initials).

I wondered if there are any programme collectors out there, or perhaps someone from the Museum, who have access to any original documents bearing his name.

My gut reaction is to trust Colin Cameron on this. And it is easy to imagine how an error made in one club handbook could get repeated year on year - especially for such an obscure player who only an obsessive nut would be interested in. I don't wan't to jump to any conclusions though. If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

Comments

  • edited May 2014
    I've found another one now. F. Burrill. The handbook has him as Francis, Valiant 500 has him as Frederick, whilst in Home and Away it's Fred. This guy isn't as obscure though as he played in a cup final for Wolves. I've checked websites from his other clubs and West Ham, Wolves and Southend all name him as Frank. Perhaps Mr Cameron wasn't as infallible as I'd thought?
  • I will check with Richard Redden who compiled the info for the handbook some years ago. He added in the christian names of all the players which had not been done previously.
  • Wow, that's excellent. Thanks killerjerrylee.
  • I spoke to Richard this afternoon and he has promised to investigate.
  • Thank you very much KJL that's much appreciated. Actually I'll be working in Euston on Tuesday, so I'll have the opportunity to go the The British Library after work. I've ordered Michael Joyce's book Football League players' records, 1888 to 1939. It will be interesting to see what that says.
  • This is what I learned. Chiefly from Michael Joyce's (MJ) book, but confirmed wherever possible from the records of other clubs:

    Brown- His real name was Henry but he preferred to be known as Ernie. No record of him being Hugh other than in V500. To add to the records in V500, he was born on 17/03/1902 and died in 1984. He played in two positions: Inside Right or Outside Right.

    Burrill - His real name was Frederick but he was usually known as Frank. Being a cup finalist, there were a lot of references to him; all except the full one in MJ referred to him as Frank. No references were found to Francis, so it would be very interesting to know what Richard has on that. Other information: He was either born on 20/04/1894 (MJ) or 16/06/1894 (Wolves records). I'm inclined to believe the MJ one more as that was more specific naming Manor Park as the place, not just London. Anyway, I think Manor Park would have counted as Essex in those days. He played for Fourth Avenue School in Manor Park, then as a schoolboy for East Ham. He represented West Ham 17 times in the Southern League before moving on to Southend. He is also believed to have represented Southend in the Southern League but I couldn't find a record of how many times. He played Inside Right or Inside Left. Whilst at Wolves he scored 17 times in 69 Appearances. He died in 1962.

    Champion - His real name appears to be Ernest Frank as stated by the Handbook; not G. Frank as stated in V500. His position was right back.

    Edmunds - Charles Trevor, as stated in the handbook, was his full name. Trevor, as stated in V500, was his preferred name. His position was Centre Forward. V500 states that at the end of the 1932/33 he left Charlton and later went to live in France. Other records show that he played 16 matches, scoring 5 goals, for Red Star Olympique (now Red Star FC 93) in the inaugural season of the Professional League in France (1932/33). Olympique's records show him as Edward Edmunds, and make him out to be Scottish, not Welsh. After two seasons in France, he returned to England scoring 35 goals for Worcester City in the Birmingham and District League between 1935-37. He then signed for Redditch who were in the Birmingham Combination - no details found of he's exploits there.

  • I will research this at the weekend. When I edited the annual handbook I put in full Christian names of all players for the first time plus their positions. Richard
  • General rule of thumb is that Henry can't be trusted...
  • Thanks Richard.
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