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Harry Lees (English footballer)

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Harry Lees
Personal information
Full name Harry Hamilton Lees
Date of birth (1900-05-11)11 May 1900
Place of birth Clapham, England
Date of death 14 January 1966(1966-01-14) (aged 65)
Place of death Birches Bridge, Staffordshire
Height 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1.74 m)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1922 Woodthorpe (Nottinghamshire)
1922–1923 Ebbw Vale
1923–1927 Wolverhampton Wanderers 120 (40)
1927–1929 Darlington 54 (20)
1929–1930 Shrewsbury Town
1930–1931 Stourbridge
1931–1932 Leamington Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Harry Hamilton Lees (11 May 1900 – 14 January 1966) was an English footballer who scored 60 goals from 174 appearances in the Football League playing at centre forward or inside left for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Darlington in the 1920s. He also played non-league football for clubs including Woodthorpe, Ebbw Vale, Shrewsbury Town, Stourbridge and Leamington Town.[2]

Life and career

[edit]

Harry Hamilton Lees was born on 11 May 1900[3] in Clapham,[a] the son of Matthew Lees, a commercial traveller for a glass manufacturing company, and his wife Edith.[5] When Lees was three, the family moved to West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, where he attended West Bridgford Higher Grade School, captained the football and cricket teams, and qualified to take a job in a chartered accountant's office when he left.[1][6] He was playing football for Woodthorpe of the Midland Amateur Alliance when a chance invitation to take part in a charity match earned him a move to Ebbw Vale of the Southern League Welsh Section, which he only agreed to because the club's manager, Ike Waterall, "promis[ed him] a business position as well as a playing position."[1]

He became a prolific goalscorer. In February 1923, when he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Football League Second Division, he was reported as "one of the most promising players spotted for many years ... [who] has scored 42 goals in four months, including four hat tricks and four goals in a match twice."[7] He made his first-team debut in the visit to Bradford City on 10 February, a 1–1 draw, and appeared twice more in what remained of the season as Wolves were relegated to the Third Division North.[3] Lees was a regular in the team in the 1923–24 season as Wolves finished as Second Division champions; he top-scored for the team with 21 goals, including a run of 12 in seven matches (14 in ten) that featured hat-tricks against Wrexham and New Brighton.[8][9]

He continued as a regular in the 1924–25 Second Division, contributing nine goals to the team's sixth-place finish, and remained with the club for a further three seasons, albeit playing increasingly infrequently.[3] He was placed on the transfer list in October 1926,[10] and there was interest from First Division club Derby County but terms could not be agreed.[11] Lees played occasionally for the senior team in the second half of the season; replacing the injured Wilf Chadwick for the FA Cup fifth round tie against Hull City, he provided the only goal of the game, albeit a fortunate one, when his shot bounced back off a defender and he scored from the rebound while the Hull players appealed for handball.[12] He played in the first five matches of September 1927 before a leg injury forced him out, and he never regained his place.[3][13]

In October 1927, Lees signed for Third Division North club Darlington.[14] He scored 15 league goals in what remained of the campaign as the team failed to regain their Second Division status. In January 1928, both he and Tom Ruddy scored hat-tricks in a 9–2 win against Lincoln City that remained Darlington's record Football League victory.[15] He added 5 goals from 26 matches in 1928–29 before putting an end to his Football League career.[3]

Lees returned to Wolverhampton, where his wife, Evelyn, had a hairdressing business,[16][17] and signed for Birmingham & District League club Shrewsbury Town in July 1929.[18] He spent the 1930–31 season with another Birmingham League club, Stourbridge, and was reported to have scored 20 goals for them.[19] His final season was with Birmingham Combination club Leamington Town, to add experience to a team of new young players.[19]

He was reported to have turned down offers from Football League clubs because of his involvement in the hairdressing business.[20] The 1939 Register lists Evelyn working as a ladies' hairdresser, while Lees is an unemployed clerk.[17] He was later employed as works accountant for a company in Tipton, and retained an active interest in Wolverhampton Wanderers until illness intervened a couple of years before his death.[16] Lees died at his home in Birches Bridge, Codsall, Staffordshire, on 14 January 1966 at the age of 65.[16]

Career statistics

[edit]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[3]
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1922–23 Second Division 3 0 0 0 3 0
1923–24 Third Division North 40 21 5 1 45 22
1924–25 Second Division 39 12 2 0 41 12
1925–26 Second Division 21 5 0 0 21 5
1926–27 Second Division 12 2 2 2 14 4
1927–28 Second Division 5 0 0 0 5 0
Total 120 40 9 3 129 43
Darlington 1927–28 Third Division North 28 15 3 1 31 16
1928–29 Third Division North 26 5 3 2 29 7
Total 54 20 6 3 60 23
Career total 106 0 5 0 111 0

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Joyce's Players' Records (2004) lists Nottingham as place of birth.[2] Although Lees was raised in the Nottingham area,[1] primary and more recent secondary sources confirm his birth was registered in the Wandsworth district of London,[3][4] and he himself said he was born in Clapham, which is within that district.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Lees, Harry (22 February 1925). "Promotion problem". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Player search: Lees, HH (Harry)". English Football Archive. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Harry Hamilton Lees in household of Mathew Henry Lees, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire: England and Wales Census 1911". Family Search. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Local History: Did you go to Secondary school in West Bridgford?". Nottingham Local News. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Wolves' latest recruit". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 2 February 1923. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Goal aces". Wolves Heroes. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  9. ^ "North and South. The record holder". Derby Daily Telegraph. 2 February 1924. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Harry Lees on transfer list". Birmingham Gazette. 8 October 1926. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Unsworth, W. Leslie (13 November 1926). "Whirligig of Football. More transfers coming". Evening Express. Liverpool. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Wanderer (21 February 1927). "Lucky passport for the Wanderers". Birmingham Gazette. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Wulfruna (24 September 1927). "'Wolves' roused". Sports Argus. Birmingham. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Lees for Darlington". Birmingham Gazette. 28 October 1927. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "High scoring games". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  16. ^ a b c "Harry Lees' death recalls Wolves' promotion fight". Express and Star. Wolverhampton. 19 January 1966. p. 35 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ a b "1939 England and Wales Register for Harry H Lees". RG 101/5344A OQAH.
  18. ^ "Darlington player for Shrewsbury". Birmingham Gazette. 30 July 1929. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ a b "Leamington Town F.C. Team building with young players". Midland Daily Telegraph. Coventry. 15 August 1931. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Leamington Town's capture". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 15 August 1931. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
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