Biography
Striker Harry Lewis was one of several players bought to Hull City by new manager Bill McCracken for the 1923/24 season, the Irishman having taken the helm at City in February 1923 and avoided relegation. Lewis was put straight into the first team in October 1923 and the Wirral man scored his first Tigers goal a month later in a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday. Lewis missed only one further match for the rest of the season, deployed mostly at inside left and scoring four more goals – on Christmas Day at Fulham, a February winner against South Shields, a consolation in a 2-1 defeat against Barnsley and finally against Bradford City in an April 2-0 victory. However McCracken’s rebuilt side had again flirted with relegation, eventually surviving by a four point gap, and more squad surgery was in order. Lewis started the first four games of 1924/25, but a lack of form saw him replaced by new signing Ron Haworth. Injuries blighted his career from that moment onwards and by January 1927 he was asking for his transfer fee to be reduced so that he could find first team football elsewhere. He eventually left in the 1927 close season.
Henry “Harry” Lewis was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral side of the River Mersey, and created a fearsome reputation as a teenager when in 1914 he scored 101 goals in a season for local junior side Birkenhead Old Boys. He joined Liverpool in 1916 and in three seasons he scored 57 goals in 101 wartime (not classfiied as full senior) starts for the Reds. When the Football League resumed in 1919/20 Lewis was thrust into First Division action and his form was initially equally impressive, scoring on his full debut and adding 8 further goals in 28 starts. However his form dropped in subsequent seasons and he contributed only 3 more goals in 42 starts over the next two seasons, although he did win a Football League champions medal in 1921/22. He was still on Liverpool’s books for 1922/23 season, when the Reds again won the First Division title, but illness and the form of rival striker Harry “Smiler” Chambers kept Lewis in the reserves for the whole season. He left Liverpool for the Tigers in October 1923 for a £800 fee.
Following his release from Hull City, Lewis played for Mold Town in 1927/28. Lewis was part of an extended family of Mersey ferry captains spanning three generations. By 1939 he was a ship’s master for Wallasey Corporation Ferries, retiring in the 1950s. He lived close to the docks area in Wallasey for the remainder of his life, dying in July 1976.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 19 December 1896, Birkenhead
Hull City First Game: 20 October 1923, Stoke H (Division Two), 26 years, 305 days old
Hull City Final Game: 25 December 1924, Clapton Orient A (Division Two), 28 years, 6 days old
Clubs
Birkenhead Old Boys (1913-1914), The Comets (1914-1916), Liverpool (1916-1923), Hull City (1923-1927), Mold Town (1927-1928)
Hull City Record
Career: 38 apps, 5 goals
Harry Lewis| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923/24 | 31 | 5 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1924/25 | 5 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1925/26 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1926/27 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |