Biography
Left back John “Jack” McQuillan was in his early twenties when he joined Hull City in October 1906. Born and raised in Boldon Colliery by a father who worked in a local coal mine, John came to prominence playing for his local side Jarrow Town while also working as a miner. He had a short spell at Everton between January and February 1906 and had returned to Jarrow Town ahead of joining the Tigers. McQuillan rapidly became a fixture in the City first team and was a stalwart of the pre-World War One City squad alongside Davy Gordon, John Smith, George Browell, Joe “Stanley” Smith, Arthur Temple and Gordon Wright.
Jack made his City first team debut in November 1906 and missed only five games in the next two years and 74 matches, making the left back position his own. He missed three months of football early in the 1908/09 season but when he returned he started 90 of the next 95 matches between December 1908 and March 1911 – truly remarkable consistency at a time when professional football was a brutal career.
In January 1911, his 153rd start for City, he scored his first goal for the club – the winner in an FA Cup replay against Bristol Rovers. McQuillan added two further goals in the 1912/13 season, in which he start every match across all competitions. This was a swansong, because in the 1913/14 season City manager Harry Chapman used McQuillan sparingly, preferring Scottish left back Doug Morgan.
McQuillan left the Tigers in July 1914 and signed for Leeds City, with Hull City receiving a £100 transfer fee. He made 20 appearances in his only season with Leeds before the Football League was suspended in the 1915 close season due to the advent of World War One. McQuillan remained in Hull and played wartime matches for Hull City (as well as Grimsby Town and Fulham) while working in the foundry of Rose Downs and Thompson, who made agricultural and oil mill machinery. In April 1916 tragedy struck when his grinding machine exploded and he suffered severe head injuries and a broken collarbone. He returned to fitness in January 1917 and played further wartime games for both Grimsby Town and Hull City, often on the left wing, but had stopped playing professionally by the time the Football League resumed in 1919. In August 1919 he joined newly formed Lancastrian club Fleetwood before ending his playing career in the 1920 close season.
McQuillan moved to South Wales and scouted for the Tigers in the 1920s and 1930s while working as a coal miner. He died in Cwmaman near Pontypridd in December 1962.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 1 September 1885, Boldon Colliery
Hull City First Game: 17 November 1906, Lincoln City A (Division Two), 21 years, 77 days old
Hull City Final Game: 25 April 1914, Barnsley H (Division Two), 28 years, 236 days old
Clubs
Jarrow Town (1905-1906), Everton (1906), Hull City (1906-1914), Leeds City (1914-1915), Fleetwood (1919-1920)
Hull City Record
Career: 257 apps, 3 goals
Jack McQuillan| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906/07 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1907/08 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1908/09 | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1909/10 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1910/11 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1911/12 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1912/13 | 38 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1913/14 | 16 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |