Horace Fairhurst
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 2 June 1893 | ||
| Place of birth | Bolton, England | ||
| Date of death | 7 January 1921 (aged 27) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| –1919 | Darwen | ||
| 1919–1921 | Blackpool | 47 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Horace Fairhurst (2 June 1893 – 7 January 1921) was an English professional footballer. He played as a defender.
After playing for Darwen for a number of years, Fairhurst joined fellow Lancashire club Blackpool in May 1919 after previously playing for them during the 1916–17 and 1917–18 World War I wartime seasons.[1]
Career
[edit]Fairhurst first played for Blackpool in the 1917–18 wartime season, on 1 September 1917 against Oldham Athletic, while he was serving at the Royal Army Medical Corps Depot in the town. He made a total of 27 appearances for the club that season. He returned to the club on 8 February 1919, in a 1–1 draw at Burnley and made a total of ten appearances for the Seasiders that season. The club then signed him in May 1919.
He made his official league debut at left-back on 8 September 1919, in a 6–0 home win over Lincoln City in the 1919–20 season. He made 27 league appearances as Blackpool finished fourth in Division Two. His nine appearances for the reserve team won him a Central League championship medal.[1]
In his twentieth league appearance of the 1920–21 season, on 27 December 1920, Fairhurst suffered a head injury during Blackpool's single-goal win over Barnsley at Oakwell.[2] At one point it looked as though he would recover, and he reported for training at the Balmoral Hotel for the FA Cup tie at Darlington on 8 January; however, he was deemed "not recovered sufficiently to run the risk of playing him".[3] He was initially named in the Blackpool team to face Notts County on New Year's Day, but he had "a touch of gastritis"[3] and did not travel. He died at home on 7 January 1921 as a result of the injury, with the club stating, "We have lost one of the best backs in England".[3] He was buried at Tonge Cemetery on 13 January. He had made just short of 50 league appearances for the Seasiders. On 4 May, Blackpool played a benefit match against Preston North End with the proceeds to go to his widow and to the children of his partner at full-back, Bert Tulloch, whose wife had died the same weekend as Fairhurst.[1]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c Wolstenholme, Gerry (May 2008). The Khaki Years, Blackpool Football Club The World War I Seasons 1915/16 - 1918/19. Blackpool: Blackpool Programme and Memorabilia Collectors Club. pp. 13–19. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008.
- ^ "English Division Two (old) Barnsley 0 Blackpool 1". Soccerbase. 27 December 1920. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
- ^ a b c Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC on This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905411-50-4.
References
[edit]- Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X.
- A mention and a picture of Fairhurst on Darwen F.C.'s official site
- Famous Boltonians Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- 1893 births
- 1921 deaths
- Footballers from Bolton
- English men's footballers
- Darwen F.C. (1870) players
- Blackpool F.C. players
- Men's association football defenders
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers
- Association football players who died while playing
- Sport deaths in England
- 20th-century English sportsmen