After the recent post about Minnie Seed I’m returning to the chronological telling of the JS life story, which this week is about his school days, his working at the colliery from age 14, and ‘signing for’ Whitburn FC, his local team.
After this I suspect each post will consist of one or two seasons in his playing career, so we’re some way away from his Charlton years I’m afraid.
Nonetheless, I hope you’ll give them a go as he had a fairly remarkable life.
I’ll update this thread whenever I publish a post.
Thanks, Jim.
Comments
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2020/04/031913-1915-sunderland-fc-to-sunderland.html
Top right of the page there's a list of the other published posts. I've been working away on other posts, but they're still in draft form.
2014/15?
:-(
In the JS Story he dealt with his England career in four words, ‘and of course England’ , and his exploits in WW1, where he was gassed twice, in a single paragraph. I’ve dealt with the latter period in the blog already, although research is still ongoing.
Discovering that his little sister was a fairly renowned munitionette footballer was a bit of a breakthrough, and that research took a long time. By the end of it I needed a bit of a lie down in a darkened room.
Got to point this out though. Whitburn reserves 1911. Just look at 'that' hat. Proper ecky thump that.
I was wondering why those caps were so enormous, and I came to the conclusion that it was to keep the rain off. It must have been like having an umbrella on your head.
So not three years, not three months, just 24 hours!
Have just posted a short-ish piece about Jimmy's five full England caps:
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2024/02/jimmys-england-career.html
There's a Jimmy Seed preview of the Scotland v England match (4 April 1925) which reads a bit like something posted on Charlton Life - England were struggling to compete against Scotland, but don't worry, Jimmy had a cunning plan!
PS I have another article somewhere where JS describes the England players arriving at Hamden Park and hearing an extraordinary sound: a man's voice, but incredibly loud! Apparently they were testing out a new fangled 'Public Address System' - something that none of the players had ever encountered before!
No wonder they lost!
I'll add that if and when I find it.
Have been working on this for some time, and it is still a work in progress, but here is what we know so far. It's un-edited, so apologies for any typos and repetitions.
Thanks also to the Charlton Museum for supplying me with a scan of a letter that Jimmy Seed wrote to an old war comrade. It was donated to the museum recently by the family of the recipient, Arthur Hartshorne.
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2021/12/first-world-war.html
This time World War One is over, Jimmy Seed has just been gassed for the second time, and on his return Sunderland management decide his lungs are too damaged to play football. Fortunately, others disagreed and took a chance on a young Sunderland player who'd never even played for the first team.
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2024/02/04-1919-post-ww1-sunderland-to-mid.html (best viewed on a PC or tablet, although does work ok on a phone if your eyesight is ok.)
Currently working on Seed's time with Spurs, but am scanning some Charlton bits and pieces as I'm going along.
1936 Charlton 0 Arsenal 2 (68,160)
Just wondered if anyone knows anything about the mini dugout referred to in the above cartoon? Or was it just a journalistic device?
Have always thought Seed sat in the directors' box area near the halfway line (below).
This is taken from The Jimmy Seed Story, and some extracts from a 1957 history of Spurs.
I'll be adding more photos and archive material from Seed's photo albums and archives as I come across them.
https://jamesseed.blogspot.com/2024/02/1920-signed-by-spurs-and-wins-fa-cup.html
Found this clipping this afternoon. Not sure if it was known that Alf was tipped for the job @HenryIrving?
Let down by poor away form. Only two games lost at home at the Valley, only two away matches won.
2nd Wolves 51
4th Charlton. 46