Biography
Experienced and versatile forward Ken Cameron joined the Tigers in June 1935 as manager Jack Hill tried to bring consistency to a squad that had flirted with relegation from the Second Division the previous season. Cameron debuted on the first day of the season and scored in a 1-1 draw against Fulham then in September and October he scored five goals in seven games, a decent return for a player that was used in both inside forward positions and both outside forward positions by manager Hill. Despite Ken’s goals, City lost 4 of those seven fixtures and were rooted to the foot of the table for the majority of the season. Cameron continued to contribute goals, mostly from the flanks, but they could not save Jack Hill who left the club in January 1936. City’s directors chose the team for a month while they appointed a new manager and excluded Cameron from the first team. However when David Menzies returned to Hull City in late February 1936 he immediately restored Ken to the outside right position and was rewarded with a Cameron goal in a 3-3 draw against Leicester. Alas Menzies could not arrest the decline, or even mastermind a solitary win, and City finished bottom of the Division Two table in May 1936. Cameron’s 12 goals were not enough to see him retained in the 1936 close season.
Kenneth Cameron was born in Hamilton, a Lanarkshire mining town to the south of Glasgow, to a father from South Uist who worked in one of numerous local coal mines. He began his football career at local junior side Hamilton Athletic and in 1925 he joined renowned Glaswegian junior side Parkhead Juniors. His upward trajectory continued in June 1926 when he signed for English Second Division side Preston North End. He made his first team debut in December 1926 and his first goal followed in a March 1927 4-1 win against local rivals Blackpool. In his second season at Deepdale Ken made only four starts, though in the fourth of these he struck a hattrick in a May 1928 barn-burner 6-4 win over Grimsby Town. Ken had an extended run of starts in the autumn of 1928 before being replaced again and by the end of the 1928/29 season he had made only 24 starts in 3 seasons, scoring five goals.
In March 1929 Cameron joined First Division side Middlesbrough but didn’t make his debut until the following September when he scored twice against West Ham United. Playing at outside left he scored two more goals in the next three games but he had drifted out of the first team by November 1929. Over the next two seasons Cameron was a regular starter for Boro and scored regularly once chosen at inside right from November 1930 onwards. He missed only four league games in 1931/32 and scored 11 goals as Boro narrowly avoided relegation. He started 1932/33 season with five goals in five starts including braces against Manchester City and Portsmouth but as Boro struggled again at the foot of the table Ken drifted out of the first team picture. In October 1933 he dropped down a division and signed for Bolton Wanderers and quickly endeared himself to the Burnden Park fans by scoring on his Bolton debut against his former club Preston North End. He started regularly for four months as Bolton finished third in the Second Division table, however Cameron was rarely chosen in the closing months of the 1933/34 season and that continued into the 1934/35 season where he made only three starts as Bolton won promotion to the First Division. He joined Hull City in June 1935 having added 27 starts and 4 goals for Bolton to the 105 starts and 31 goals he struck for Middlesbrough.
Cameron joined Queens Park Rangers in the 1936 close season but he spent much of the season in the reserves and started only 8 senior games, scoring his last league goal – and only goal for QPR – in April 1937 against Bournemouth. Cameron signed for Rotherham United in the summer of 1937 but didn’t make any senior appearances for the Millers and soon retired from football. Ken returned to Preston where he lived for the rest of his days, working as a bus conductor. He died in the early months of 1974.
Details
Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 4 April 1906, Hamilton
Hull City First Game: 31 August 1935, Fulham H (Division Two), 29 years, 149 days old
Hull City Final Game: 2 May 1936, Manchester United H (Division Two), 30 years, 28 days old
Clubs
Hamilton Athletic (1924-1925), Parkhead Juniors (1925-1926), Preston North End (1926-1929), Middlesbrough (1929-1933), Bolton Wanderers (1933-1935), Hull City (1935-1936), Queens Park Rangers (1936-1937), Rotherham United (1937-1938)
Hull City Record
Career: 30 apps, 12 goals
Ken CameronSeason | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1935/36 | 30 | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Good to read about my grandfather. A well researched, detailed description of his career. I’m sure you know about the Pathe News film footage of the 1935 team that features my grandad.
Link here- https://www.britishpathe.com/video/famous-football-teams-in-training-no-1-hull-city/query/Hull+city+football