121 Harry Wilson

Biography

Left sided forward Harry Wilson joined Hull City in September 1920 from Glenavon, an Irish club he had only served for a few weeks. He went straight into the City first team at centre forward but after a debut 3-0 win at Barnsley Wilson’s tenure at pivot coincided with a winless run of nine games for manager David Menzies’ side that yielded only four goals – one of which was Harry’s first goal for the club in an October 1920 1-1 draw at Rotherham County. In early December Wilson was moved to the left wing and that sparked an upturn in form over the festive period, leading to Harry scoring in consecutive games on New Year’s Day at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a week later against Bath City in the FA Cup. Wilson added further FA Cup goals in the Second Round against Crystal Palace and a famous City victory over Burnley in the Third Round – a win that ended a twenty six match unbeaten run for the First Division high flyers.

In April 1921 the Tigers went to Stoke and beat the Potteries side 3-1 with Wilson playing in the outside left berth. After the game Harry and some team-mates stayed over in Stoke and became embroiled in an altercation – Wilson was surrounded by a group of violent locals and he was only able to extricate himself thanks to the intervention of his team-mate John Collier’s boot (though another team-mate, Tom Brandon, was initially identified as the assailant). Collier was charged with assault and Wilson was fined £20 for the use of bad language. This event ended Wilson’s first team playing days at Hull City and he left the following summer.

Henry “Harry” Wilson was born in Belfast and was a noted footballer in his youth, winning schoolboy international honours and signing for prominent Irish League side Belfast Celtic. In September 1914 he joined the War effort and signed up for the Army, though he did spend his home leave playing occasional wartime games for Belfast United. Wilson served the Army for three years until he was imprisoned in Germany in 1917. Freed at the end of the war, Wilson returned to join Belfast United in December 1918 after a short spell at Dunmurry, then joined Lurgan-based Irish League side Glenavon in August 1920. Within a month Harry was on the move again, heading to England and signing for Hull City.

Wilson joined Division Three South side Charlton Athletic in August 1921 and ended his first and only season at The Valley with one goal (in October 1921 against Brighton & Hove Albion) in 24 appearances. In June 1922 he joined Southern League side Aberaman Athletic but in the 1923 close season he returned to Ireland, signing for Belfast-based side Linfield. After two seasons with The Blues he headed up the Antrim Coast and spent two seasons with Larne, then he spent the 1927/28 season with Newry Town before his career drew to a close.

Wilson’s successful spell for Linfield led to his call-up for Irish international honours in September 1924, when he won his first cap in a friendly against South Africa. He won the second and last of his two Ireland caps in April 1925 against Wales.

We have no further knowledge of Harry Wilson’s biographical details, including information about his later life and date of death – so if he is a relative and you have some of these details, please let us know in the comments box below.

Details

Nationality: Ireland
Date/Place of Birth: 10 August 1891, Belfast
Hull City First Game: 25 September 1920, Barnsley H (Division Two), 29 years, 46 days old
Hull City Final Game: 11 April 1921, Stoke A (Division Two), 29 years, 244 days old

Clubs

Belfast Celtic (1912-1914), Dunmurry (1918), Belfast United (1918-1920), Glenavon (1920), Hull City (1920-1921), Charlton Athletic (1921-1922), Aberaman Athletic (1922-1923), Linfield (1923-1925), Larne (1925-1927), Newry Town (1927-1928)

Hull City Record

Career: 35 apps, 5 goals

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