Biography
Right sided forward and half back John Neish joined City in August 1935, joining the growing ranks of Scotsmen at Anlaby Road in the mid-1930s. Manager Jack Hill quickly turned to Neish to start his first league game in September 1935, but this turned out to be John’s last league game too because by October 1935 he returned from whence he came, Buckie Thistle.
John Neish, often also called “Jack”, was born in Elgin and started playing for his local club Elgin City at the age of 17. A versatile forward and half back, Neish attracted the attention of several senior league clubs in the early 1930s and had trials with Dundee United in 1932 and Greenock Morton in 1933. However in August 1933 he joined local rivals Buckie Thistle and continued his goalscoring form for a season. In May 1934 he finally received a call to the senior leagues when he joined Partick Thistle. In the 1934/35 season he scored two goals in nine starts for the Jags but was released in May 1935 and had returned to Buckie Thistle for a few weeks before he moved to Hull City in August 1935.
Neish returned to Buckie in October 1935 and spent two further seasons at Victoria Park before joining Inverness Caledonian in August 1937. He spent only one season with Caley before falling off the footballing radar. By 1939 he was living in Wainfleet St Marys, a small Lincolnshire village between Skegness and Boston, having almost certainly enlisted for the Royal Air Force. He saw out his final days living in Kenilworth in Warwickshire and died in a Warwick hospice in December 1984. He was buried in Banffshire, one assumes in his birth place of Elgin.
Details
Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 14 January 1911, Elgin
Hull City First Game: 14 September 1935, Charlton Athletic H (Division Two), 24 years, 243 days old
Hull City Final Game: 14 September 1935, Charlton Athletic H (Division Two), 24 years, 243 days old
Clubs
Elgin City (1928-1933), Buckie Thistle (1933-1934), Partick Thistle (1934-1935), Buckie Thistle (1935), Hull City (1935), Buckie Thistle (1935-1937), Inverness Caledonian (1937-1938)
Hull City Record
Career: 1 apps, 0 goals
John Neish| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935/36 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Hello, I’m a researcher for “The Thistle Archive”, an unofficial Partick Thistle history website. We have written a biography of John Neish, and found your article, not to mention your site very interesting! You have John in Wainfleet St Mary’s during World War Two. You say that John almost certainly was in the RAF during the war. I know that RAF Wainfleet, RAF Holbeach and RAF Donna Nook formed The Wash ( North Side) Bombing Range. Was it the fact that John lived in this area that led you to that view, or do you have any other information on John during this period. Please note that I do not in any way dispute your view, I’m just seeking information! I will include John in our list of wartime personnel, in our article ” The Partick Thistle Returned “. Many thanks. Donnie.