Professional Football Player 1898, Bolton Wanderers?

[lcrago]

Hi group members,


On the SRI marriage record for Helen Aitken (an ancestor), her husband Hugh Morgan listed his occupation as professional football player and his usual residence as Bolton England. Helen Aitken and Hugh Morgan married on 6 Dec 1899 in Shotts, Lanark.

Is it presumptuous to assume Hugh Morgan played for the Bolton Wanderers? Any ideas of how to confirm his association with the Bolton Wanderers or with another professional football team?

Suggestions about sources to trace his professional career also very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Laura Crago

[AndrewP]

Hi Laura,

This should be your Hugh Morgan?

http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/pl ... organ.html

Does the 20-Sep-1869 birth date fit? This Hugh Morgan was playing for Liverpool when he was called up to play for the English national team. The year previous when he had played for St Mirren (in Paisley), he had been caled up to play for the Welsh national team. He may have played for other teams, such as Bolton Wanderers, at other times but at the times he was called up to play for these national teams, he was at St Mirren in 1898 and Liverpool in 1899.

Hugh Morgan does sound like a Welsh name. Does his family history lead in that direction?

See also:
http://www.stmirren.info/Players/Hugh%20Morgan.htm

See also:
http://red11.org/mufc/alltransfer.htm
Looks like he also played for Manchester United. Transferred from Bolton Wanderers in 1900 and transferred to Manchester City in 1901.

See also:
http://www.keano16.btinternet.co.uk/man ... anhugh.htm
Although they show a different birth year from the other sites, they list his previous clubs (previous to Manchester United) as Harthill Thistle, Airdrieonians, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers.

All the best,

AndrewP

[DavidWW]

Hi Laura,

This should be your Hugh Morgan?

http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/pl ... organ.html

Date of birth shown as 20-Sep-1869. No other personal info

See also: http://www.stmirren.info/Players/Hugh%20Morgan.htm

Date of birth shown as 20-Sep-1869, Longriggend

See also: http://red11.org/mufc/alltransfer.htm

No personal info. Transferred from Bolton Wanderers in 1900 and transferred to Manchester City in 1901.

See also: http://www.keano16.btinternet.co.uk/man ... anhugh.htm

Birth year shown as 1875; Clubs (previous to Manchester United) as Harthill Thistle (very close to Shotts), Airdrieonians, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers.

So, simple to find to the man? Errr....... no !

There is indeed a Hugh MORGAN b 20-Sep-1869, parents James MORGAN, Coal Miner, and Bridget MORGAN MS MARLEY, - she died 07-Sep-1900. This family appears in the 1881 census, both parents born Ireland, and young Hugh born Clarkstown, which is partly in Shotts parish.

So that's him then?

Except that his marriage register entry shows his parents as James MORGAN and Janet MORGAN MS CRAWFORD. That this couple existed is proven by the 1890 death of Janet in Shotts district, at Harthill. But no trace so far in 1881.

Just to confuse matters there is a family at 27 Longriggend in 1881, James MORGAN, Head, Coal Miner, with a 6 year old Hugh, born Glasgow, - sometime soon after that, the family moved to New Monkland. In this case, the mother is Bridget MORGAN MS GILL[E/ON], - she died in 1900.

So work out that little lot

David

[DavidWW]

Courtesy of a lead from Bruce Durie of Strathclyde Yoonie, this looks like a classic case of mis-direction.

What I'd be near certain happened here is that a football club biographer somewhere has assumed that Hugh was born close to where he started his football career, in Harthill, and found a matching birth in Shotts, but didn't validate the info, e.g. cross-checked the parents on the birth register entry with those on Hugh's marriage register entry. He wasn't wasn't born anywhere near Shotts

Other football club websites have either made the same mistake or perpetuated the error.

Hugh was born in 1876 in Kilbarchan.

Looks like the family started out in Dalry, both of Hugh's parents were resident there at the time of their marriage, moved "up the road" to Kilbarchan a few years later, and then the family moved to the Shotts area. Hugh's father is shown in 1881 as born in the parish of Ayr.

An absolutely classic case of mis-direction.

David

[lcrago]

Dear Andrew and David,

Thanks for all the hard work on my behalf, particularly in tracing Hugh Morgan's birth. (The SRI marriage record does indeed list Hugh Morgan's parents as James Morgan, coal miner, and Janet Crawford.) I hadn't started my search for Hugh's birth yet, so thanks David, for doing my research for me!!

Hugh Morgan and wife Helen-- I add-- appear in the 1901 England census as living in Bolton, with 6 mo. old son Douglas. Professional football players back then obviously didn't make as much as they do now; on the 1901 census Hugh listed two occupations: railway clerk/professional football player.

Andrew, your leads about team transfers are enormously helpful in my search for Hugh and Helen. So, too, was the information you provided about his earlier career in Scotland. I now have a contextual/geographical basis for understanding how the two met. I'll do some work on the Harthill team as well to see if I can find any intersections there between Hugh Morgan and the Aitken brothers in Helen's family.

Kudoos to both of you for working so hard for me. Both of you provided new research paths for me, both in England and in Scotland. Exciting!!

Laura

[lcrago]

Thanks again David!!

Indeed, Hugh Morgan was born 1 Aug 1876 in Kilbarchan, Renfrew.

Parents: James Morgan, pit labourer, and Janet Chochrane Morgan, m.s. Crawford. The birth record also offers further confirmation that Hugh's parents married in Dalry, Ayr. The marriage date cited on Hugh's birth record was 11 Oct 1864.

A bit off topic, but the more I reflect on it, the more I also think the Ayr connection was somehow important to the future marriage of Helen Aitken-Hugh Duncan. Hugh Morgan's future mother-in-law, i.e. Helen Aitken's mother, Helen McNish/McNeish was born in Dreghorn, Ayr on 14 Jun 1841 and in the 1851 census was living in Girvan with her parents. She also married William Aitken in Girvan.

Because I've traveled so far afield, I add that the above material, of course, also could somehow be related back to occupations, the subject of this forum. The Ayr connections cited above could be used as some sort of evidence for how mining as an occupation, with the consequent itinerant lifestyle it entailed in nineteenth-century Scotland, somewhat parodoxically worked to overemphasize bonds of birthplace and childhood among miners. Perhaps a topic for another day/thread, though. It's too unconnected to professional football teams!!

A millions thanks once more,
Laura

[DavidWW]

Hi Laura

You're welcome, - my interest was initially sparked by the conflicting info given on the different football www sites, and it wisnae me that spotted the Kilbarchan link.

1881 ..........

Dwelling: 25 Redan
Census Place: Kilbarchan, Renfrew, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0203577 GRO Ref Volume 568 EnumDist 9 Page 20
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
James MORGAN M 51 M Ayr, Ayr, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Shale Miner
Janet MORGAN M 40 F Dalry, Ayr, Scotland
Rel: Wife
Isaac MORGAN 8 M Renfrew, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
Hugh MORGAN 5 M Renfrew, Scotland
Rel: Son
Janet F. MORGAN 2 F Renfrew, Scotland
Rel: Daur


The Ayr connection and later moves of the family, along with the given names of Hugh's MORGAN grandparents .- Arthur and Lucy - might indicate an Irish connection.

On the other hand these moves might just indicate the perfectly normal movement of a mining family in the main coal fields of Scotland, - Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Lothians, and, not for this family, - Fife, miners being muchmore mobile in the 19th century that is generally realised.

David