175 Herbert Bown

Biography

In January 1925 Hull City manager Bill McCracken was in the throes of a goalkeeping crisis. Experienced Lancastrian Billy Mercer had been transferred to Huddersfield Town two months earlier and regular keeper George Maddison suffered a badly injured hand during an FA Cup tie draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. When City faced Wolves in the replay five days later, regular full-back Matt Bell had to go between the posts and while he kept a clean sheet in a fine 1-0 win over the Tigers’ Second Division rivals, the situation was not sustainable and a replacement keeper was urgently required. The answer came in the form of experienced Londoner Herbert Bown, who had retired six months earlier and opened a fish and game dealership in Leicester following a successful football career with Leicester City and Halifax Town. City paid £100 to Halifax to release Bown’s registration and he started the next five home games until Maddison’s broken hand healed and he returned to the first team in mid-February. Maddison remained fit for the rest of the season and Bown’s short stay at Hull City was ended in the 1925 close season.

Herbert Arthur Bown was born in Limehouse in London’s East End docklands. His father was a docks foreman by 1901 and the Bown family had moved to a well appointed terraced house in Forest Hill, South East London. By 1911 the teenage Bown was working as a clerk in Romford for Roneo, a firm that manufactured duplicating machines, and in the 1909/10 season he played in goal for the Roneo works team in the Romford District League. He joined Romford United in 1910, a club that changed name to Romford Town in 1911, and Bown was soon Romford’s first choice goalkeeper as they lifted the 1911 Essex Senior Cup. Herbert had a trial for West Ham United in 1912 but was not signed and he remained with Romford Town until 1913, by which time he was the club captain and nominated penalty taker.

Bown signed for Division Two side Leicester Fosse in the 1913 close season and by January 1914 he had established himself in the Fossils’ first team ahead of Ronald Brebner, an England amateur international who had won a gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics alongside ex-Tiger wideman Gordon Wright. Bown remained Leicester’s first choice goalkeeper duing the first half of the 1914/15 season but as Christmas approached he conceded 16 goals in three league games, poor form that saw Fossils’ manager Louis Ford stand aside to be replaced by local man Harry Linney, who dropped Bown in favour of Derby-born keeper Charles Barnett. Bown started just three more League games that season before the Football League came to halt due to World War One. Bown worked in a Leicester munitions factory during the war and played wartime leagues for Leicester Fosse, even scoring a penalty in a fixture against Hull City.

He returned to the first team of newly renamed Leicester City when the Football League resumed in 1919 and he remained a first team regular for three seasons, assembling a run of 98 consecutive League starts. Bown was awarded a benefit match by Leicester in 1921 and by the 1922 close season he had made 154 senior appearances for the Fossils/Foxes. In July 1922 Herbert joined Division Three North side Halifax Town, he had two seasons at The Shay making 93 appearances and scoring a goal against Stalybridge Celtic in May 1923. Bown left Halifax in the 1924 close season and opened a fish and game business in Leicester. After his brief return to football at Hull City Herbert returned to his fishmonger business and remained in Leicester for the rest of his life. He died in Leicester in February 1959.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 3 May 1893, Limehouse
Hull City First Game: 17 January 1925, Crystal Palace H (Division Two), 31 years, 259 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 February 1925, Fulham A (Division Two), 31 years, 282 days old

Clubs

Roneo Works (1909-1910), Romford Town (1910-1913), Leicester Fosse/City (1913-1922), Halifax Town (1922-1924), Hull City (1925)

Hull City Record

Career: 5 apps, 0 goals

Herbert Bown
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