Biography
Oscar Whittick Mackrill was a local footballer who assisted Hull City in the early months of the club’s first season as a full-time outfit, playing in several friendly games and also starting the club’s first two senior games in the FA Cup against Stockton. The first tie was a 3-3 draw and Mackrill scored the opening goal, making him Hull City’s first ever scorer of a senior goal.
Mackrill was born into a well-to-do family in Cottingham headed by his father Benjamin Mackrill, a Londoner who moved to Hull in the 1870s to set up a successful yeast merchandising company. As a child he did the things that a privileged upbringing entailed – winning a commendation at the local chrysanthemum show, handing out programmes at a Lord Mayor’s charity event, attending a well-reported fancy dress ball. Oscar attended Hymers College and in 1902 he went up to Clare College at Cambridge University to study Law. He was a sporting polymath – he won a Cambridge Blue for long jump, played water polo and turned out regularly for rugby union side Hull & East Riding between 1906 and 1913, later becoming the club’s treasurer. His brothers were also footballers – one, Harold, was also a renowned tennis player.
Oscar returned to Hull from Cambridge in 1906 having played for Old Hymerians during breaks from his studies, and continued to play local league football for three years. By 1911 he was living in Cottingham and leading a legal practice on Silver Street in central Hull with his partner Mr Cooper. In February 1914 Mr B.C. Hucks, an aerobatic pilot and the first Englishman to perform a loop-the-loop, took his thrilling display show to Hedon Airfield and Oscar paid for an exciting private flight. This experience clearly had a lasting effect on him because in May 1916 he signed up for the Royal Naval Air Service, which in April 1918 became the Royal Air Force. After the Great War Oscar moved to Scarborough and continued to develop his legal career. By 1939 he was a retired solicitor and company director living in Uckfield in Sussex. He later moved to Worthing on the Sussex Coast where he died in April 1964.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 5 March 1884, Hull
Hull City First Game: 17 September 1904, Stockton A (FA Cup Preliminary Round), 20 years, 196 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 September 1904, Stockton A (FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay), 20 years, 201 days old
Clubs
Institute (1901), Old Hymerians (1902-1904), Hull City (1904), Old Hymerians (1904-1906), Goole Town (1906-1907), Beverley Town (1907-1909)
Hull City Record
Career: 2 apps, 1 goals
Oscar Mackrill| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1904/05 | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |