71 Nick Hendry

Biography

Nick Hendry was the third regular goalkeeper in Hull City’s Football League history. Following in the footsteps of Martin Spendiff (1905-1908) and Edward Roughley (1908-1912), Hendry was the City custodian for eight years, dedicating a total of eleven years to the club.

He signed for Hull City in April 1910 after showing good form in the North Eastern League with Darlington, but Roughley’s consistency between the posts meant it took two years for Nick to progress from the Reserves and make his first team debut. Hendry took over the first choice mantle in August 1912 and showed the same consistency as his two predecessors, missing only one senior game out of 124 played between the start of the 1912/13 season and the cessation of the Football League in the summer of 1915.

Hendry continued to serve the Tigers in non-senior wartime fixtures throughout the First World War, generally sharing duties with Joe Edelston, who was more well known as a wing half. After adding 115 wartime starts to his tally, Hendry resumed his first team berth when the Football League returned in the 1919/20 season and added a further 25 consecutive starts before dropping out of the first team in January 1920 to be replaced by another Hull City goalkeeping stalwart, Billy Mercer. Nick remained on Hull City’s books until the end of the 1920/21 season, serving the Tigers’ Reserves with aplomb.

Connell Nicholson “Nick” Hendry was born in a Victorian terraced house on Nunthorpe Road in central York – other than when he was lodging in Darlington and Hull with his first wife during his playing days, Hendry lived in this house for his whole life. Hendry’s father was an railway fitter from the Scottish Borders and his mother was from Newcastle Upon Tyne – the family moved from Newcastle to York, presumably at the behest of the North Eastern Railway, around 1880. By 1901 Nick had a job as an errand boy for a chinaware dealer, shortly after then he began working on the railways in York alongside his father and brothers. He played amateur football for the North Eastern Railway works team in the mid-1900s and had a spell with Division One side Middlesbrough in 1907, though he didn’t make any first team appearances.

In the summer of 1908 Hendry joined North Eastern League side Darlington, signing his first contract as a professional footballer. In two seasons at Feethams Hendry was a first team regular for the Quakers and made a strong impression on visiting scouts, leading to his move to Hull in April 1910.

Hendry left the Tigers in the 1921 close season and spent three seasons in the Midland League. He joined Doncaster Rovers in August 1921 and went straight into the first team at Bennetthorpe and Rovers finished the 1921/22 season in mid-table. In August 1922 he moved to Midland League rivals York City where he was a player-coach for two seasons before injuries ended his playing career in March 1924 after 56 first team starts for the Minstermen.

Hendry was by now living back in his family home in York with his second wife after his first marriage ended in 1924, when he stopped playing football he returned to work on the railways, training LNER’s permanent way staff for many years. He died in York in April 1949.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 7 January 1887, York
Hull City First Game: 23 March 1912, Gainsborough Trinity H (Division Two), 25 years, 76 days old
Hull City Final Game: 20 March 1920, Blackpool H (Division Two), 33 years, 73 days old

Clubs

North Eastern Railway United, Middlesbrough (1907-1908), Darlington (1908-1910), Hull City (1910-1921), Doncaster Rovers (1921-1922), York City (1922-1924)

Hull City Record

Career: 151 apps, 0 goals