Biography
Six foot one inch tall centre half Jim Melville was a giant of his time who signed for Hull City for a £750 fee during the weeks before Christmas 1933. A signing designed to replace Jack Hill, the similarly tall ex-England centre half who later became Hull City manager, Melville was introduced to the City first team in late December 1933 and made four starts in two months, scoring a consolation goal in early February in a 1-3 defeat to Bury. In late February 1934, with City manager Haydn Green on the verge of leaving the Tigers, Melville was handed the centre half shirt and he kept it for two months as Green departed, the directors stepped in for a month and Jack Hill was appointed City’s new manager. After a punishing 0-7 defeat to Oldham Athletic in the penultimate match of the season Melville was dropped and by June 1934 he was off seeking pastures new.
James “Jim” Melville was born in the Lancastrian (now Cumbrian) industrial coastal town of Barrow in Furness to a bricklayer father and studied at Barrow Grammar School. An accomplished cricketer as well as a footballer, the teenage Jim combined summers playing in the Lancashire League for Furness CC and Millom FC with winters playing football. Initially playing for local side Vickerstown Athletic, in July 1926 the 17 year old Melville signed amateur terms for his local Division Three North side Barrow. Playing as a forward in his early years, Melville scored on his senior debut in January 1927 against New Brighton and netted again a fortnight later against Crewe Alexandra. He started only six games in the 1927/28 season, taking his tally for Barrow to two goals in 22 starts, but did enough to attract the attention of Division One side Blackburn Rovers. He signed a professional contract for Rovers in July 1928 and stayed at Ewood Park for five and a half seasons, mostly as a stand-in centre half and left half. His Division One debut came in January 1930 against Grimsby Town and by the time he moved to Hull City in December 1933 his Blackburn tally had risen to 25 appearances.
In June 1934 Melville signed for Division Three South side Northampton Town and in the next two seasons he made 24 starts for the Cobblers and scored the last of his four senior career goals in October 1935 against Torquay United. Melville stopped playing football in the 1936 close season due to injury and concentrated on his cricket, performing left arm spin bowling for Courtaulds in Coventry for over twenty years – he captained the works side between 1950 and 1958 and in 1946 he played 3 first class county cricket matches for Warwickshire.
For the rest of his days Melville worked as clerk for the Courtalds chief engineer and lived in an Edwardian style end-terrace house in northern Coventry, dying in August 1961 at the age of just 52.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 15 March 1909, Barrow in Furness
Hull City First Game: 30 December 1933, Notts County A (Division Two), 24 years, 290 days old
Hull City Final Game: 28 April 1934, Oldham Athletic A (Division Two), 25 years, 44 days old
Clubs
Vickerstown Athletic (1925-1926), Barrow (1926-1928), Blackburn Rovers (1928-1933), Hull City (1933-1934), Northampton Town (1934-1936)
Hull City Record
Career: 16 apps, 1 goals
Jim Melville| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933/34 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |