Players - Harry Bradshaw

Harry Bradshaw
Birthdate: 24 August 1873
Birthplace: Liverpool, England
Date of death: 25 December 1899
Other clubs: Liverpool Nomads (1889-91), Everton (1891-92), Northwich Victoria (1892-93), Tottenham Hotspur (1898-99), Thames Ironworks (1899)
Signed from: Northwich Victoria
Signed for LFC: 13.10.1893
International debut: 20.02.1897 vs. Ireland
International caps: 1/0
Liverpool debut: 28.10.1893
Last appearance: 02.04.1898
Debut goal: 04.11.1893
Last goal: 19.03.1898
Contract expiry: 06.05.1898
Win ratio: 44.93% W:62 D:30 L:46
Games/goals ratio: 2.71
Honours: Second Division 1893/94, 1895/96
Total games/goals opposite LFC: 1 / 0
League games / goals: 118 / 43
Total games / goals: 138 / 51

Player Profile

The first Liverpool player to achieve international honours when he played outside-left as England beat Ireland 6-0 on 20 February 1897. Thomas Henry or just "Harry" as he was called, was Liverpool's centre-forward and the biggest star that the club had ever boasted. He started out with Liverpool Nomads in 1889, before featuring in Everton's reserves in the Lancashire Combination for one season. He stayed one year at Northwich Victoria where he played 22 games and scored eight goals in the Second Division. Bradshaw scored seven goals from 14 appearances to help Liverpool to the Second Division Championship in their debut season in the Football League in 1893/94. In the difficult season which followed, with the club being immediately relegated, he was the club's only 'ever-present' in the League and found the net 17 times. Although he would immediately pick up another second division winners' medal in 1895/96, Bradshaw's total of League goals was a lot less, 11. But as he had switched to the wing by then, this was understandable. His versatility in being able to play on the left and right wing or as a centre-forward was a useful asset but he was criticised for dallying on the ball with the "usual results". The pros, though, far outweighed the cons and soon after his England debut Lloyds Weekly Newspaper claimed that Bradshaw "undoubtedly ranks as one of the finest rising forwards in the country at the present time." Bradshaw joined Tottenham before the 1898/99 season and featured mainly as an outside-left playing an exhausting total of 52 matches and scoring 13 goals in his only season at Spurs.

Bradshaw moved to Thames Ironworks (later West Ham) in the summer of 1899 and was made club captain. He played his last game of football on 9 December 1899 in which he scored a goal in a 2-1 loss against Millwall. He got kicked in the leg and was ordered to rest for three weeks. On Christmas morning Harry watched Spurs play Portsmouth. At 2:15 pm he went home to his residence at 5 Shelbourne Road, Tottenham, where a short while later he vomited excessively and complained of violent pains in the head and chest. Before a doctor could attend to him 26-year-old Harry had a fit and died! Both sets of players from Thames Ironworks and Queen's Park Rangers wore black armbands in their game five days after Thames' captain died.

Elizabeth Bradshaw, Harry's widow, stated that during a football match four years ago he was kicked on the head, and on the following Saturday, was again kicked in the same place. From that time forward he suffered from pains in the head and discharges from the ears. Harry had to put his hands to his ears to ease the suffering from heading the ball. The post mortem showed Harry's death to be due to a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. On 2 April 1900 Tottenham and Thames Ironworks played a charity match to raise money for Harry's family; his widow and two young children.
Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 118 14 0 0 6 138
1893-1894 14 3 0 0 1 18
1894-1895 30 3 0 0 1 34
1895-1896 26 2 0 0 4 32
1896-1897 25 3 0 0 0 28
1897-1898 23 3 0 0 0 26
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
9 810 Nottingham Forest
7 630 Preston North End
7 630 Wolves
7 630 WBA
7 630 Derby
6 540 Aston Villa
6 540 Everton
5 450 Bolton Wanderers
5 450 Stoke City
5 450 Bury
5 450 Sheffield Wednesday
5 450 Blackburn Rovers
5 450 Grimsby Town
4 360 Notts County
4 360 Birmingham City
4 360 Port Vale
4 360 Sheffield United
4 360 Newcastle United
4 360 Sunderland
4 360 Burnley
3 270 Manchester United
3 270 Burton Swifts
3 270 Rotherham Town
2 180 Burton Wanderers
2 180 Darwen
2 180 Northwich Vict.
2 180 Loughborough
2 180 Barnsley
2 180 Crewe
2 180 Walsall
2 180 Arsenal
2 180 Leicester City
2 180 Manchester City
1 90 Millwall
1 90 Hucknall St Johns
Total Venue
68 Home
67 Away
3 Neutral
Total Competition
118 League
14 FA Cup
6 Test Match
Total W D L Win % Manager
54 19 15 20 35.2% Tom Watson
52 22 12 18 42.3% William Edward Barclay
32 21 3 8 65.6% John McKenna
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 43 5 0 0 3 51
1893-1894 7 2 0 0 1 10
1894-1895 17 1 0 0 0 18
1895-1896 11 1 0 0 2 14
1896-1897 4 0 0 0 0 4
1897-1898 4 1 0 0 0 5
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 28.10.1893 Woolwich Arsenal Manor Ground League
50 12.04.1895 Preston North End Deepdale League
100 19.12.1896 Derby Baseball Ground League
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 0 04.11.1893 Newcastle United Anfield League
50 50 26.02.1898 Derby Baseball Ground FA Cup
Related Articles
One-Cap Wonders!

Owen Collins looks at the players who have gained international recognition without necessarily making the grade at the club but particularly one name on this list is a great surprise given his success.

Liverpool Mercury notes

Published in the Liverpool Mercury on Monday 6 November 1893.

Related Quotes

"The record of 1899-1900, however, would not be complete without some reference to poor Tom Bradshaw, who came from Spurs with Joyce. How well I remember that match with Queens Park Rangers during the Christmas holidays, when Joyce brought over the sad message to the Memorial Grounds that our comrade had passed away. Poor Tom was one of the cleverest wing forwards I have ever known and he was immensely popular with everybody."

Former Liverpool forward Thomas Bradshaw remembered by Syd King in 'Book Of Football' published 1906. Bradshaw died age 26, while on Thames Ironworks' (West Ham) books

Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
Liverpool Nomads 1889-1891 Liverpool N/A N/A N/A N/A
Everton 1891-1892 Lancashire Combination N/A N/A N/A N/A
Northwich Vict. 1892-1893 England Second Division 18 8 24 12
Northwich Vict. 1893-1894 England Second Division 4 0 4 0
Tottenham 1898-1899 Southern League 43 8 52 13
Thames Ironworks 1899 Southern League 5 1 5 1
Total 70 17 85 26