James Hamilton Speirs MM (22 March 1886 – 20 August 1917) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who represented his

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on one occasion, scored the winning goal in the 1911 FA Cup Final, and received the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, he worked as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

while playing youth football for Annandale. He started his adult football career with local junior team

Maryhill Maryhill () is an area in the north-west of Glasgow in Scotland. A former independent burgh and the heart of an eponymous local authority ward, its territory is bisected by Maryhill Road, part of the A81 road which runs for a distance of ro ...

, where he played for less than a season, before he moved to Rangers in 1905. He spent three years with the club, but won only the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup, before he joined a third Glasgow side Clyde. After one season, he left Clyde and Scotland, and joined Bradford City for their second season in the First Division. His greatest success came in his second season with Bradford, when he was the club's captain and goalscorer in their FA Cup Final victory of 1911, in a team featuring eight Scottish-born players. He spent another two seasons with Bradford City, before he joined Leeds City, but after two seasons, the First World War broke out. League football continued for one more season, at the end of which Speirs returned to Glasgow. Married with two young children, Speirs would have been exempt from conscription, but he volunteered to join the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1915. He was promoted to

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

and

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

, and won the

for bravery in the field, but was killed during the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies of World War I, Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front (World Wa ...

in August 1917, at the age of 31.

Early life

Speirs was born on 22 March 1886 in the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

area of

, Scotland, the fifth of six children of James Hamilton Speirs and Janet Shields Speirs (née McLean). By 1901, the family had moved to nearby Govanhill and Jimmy worked as a

. It was in Govanhill that Speirs'

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

ability was first shown, when he played in the junior football circuit on the black ash pitches of Glasgow, for Annandale, during summer tournaments.

Football career

Scotland

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, Speirs moved to

in the Glasgow Junior League in 1905. Maryhill, whose Lochburn Park ground was five miles north of Speirs' home, were among the top sides in the

junior leagues The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

, and lifted 13 trophies in eight seasons at the turn of the 20th century. The 1904–05 team contained six junior internationals, and the side won three titles that season. Speirs' first recorded scoring appearance was on 29 April 1905, when his two goals helped Maryhill beat

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

2–0. Speirs scored again in a 3–3 draw against Ashfield in the Glasgow Junior Cup final and scored the only goal of the replay to help Maryhill win the competition. Maryhill also won the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup and the league title although it is unknown if Speirs played in the cup final or picked up a league winners medal. At the end of the season, Speirs and junior international John McFie both moved across Glasgow to First Division side Rangers, who had finished second to city rivals

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

after losing out in a title play-off. Speirs did not make his full debut until 25 September 1905, when Rangers lost 5–0 to Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox. Speirs scored his first Rangers goal two weeks later during the next league game in a 4–1 win away to

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow (, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 s ...

. In his first season, Speirs scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 7–1

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Second Division Arthurlie and won the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup, during which he scored twice in both the semi-final and final. However, Rangers could only finish fourth in the league, with Celtic retaining the title. Rangers improved to third place the following season as Speirs finished joint top scorer with 13 goals, but Celtic again were league winners. Celtic also defeated Rangers 3–0 in the Scottish Cup in front of 60,000 fans. Rangers' only trophy that season was the successful defence of the Merchants' Charity Cup, but Speirs did not play. In 1907–08, Celtic once again finished top, with Rangers in third, and knocked their rivals out of the Scottish Cup. The two teams also met in the final of the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

, with Celtic winning in the second replay. Speirs was limited to 13 games, none of which Rangers lost, and he left after playing 62 matches, from which he scored 29 goals. During his final days with Rangers, he also won his only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, in a 2–1 win over

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 7 March 1908. Speirs won a representative cap 11 days later, when he played and scored for Glasgow during an inter-city fixture with Sheffield. The game finished 2–2. In the summer of 1908, after three years with Rangers, Speirs moved to another Glasgow-based club, Clyde, which later played in the First Division. Clyde's Shawfield Park ground was three miles from Speirs' home in Govanhill, in the

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

area of the city, where Speirs' grandparents and father lived. Clyde had finished 17th in 1907–08, one point ahead of bottom side Port Glasgow. Speirs played only 14 league games for Clyde but helped them to their highest league position of third, three points behind winners Celtic. Clyde lost to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final, following a replay. It was Speirs' only season with Clyde, during which he scored a total of 10 goals from 20 appearances.

Bradford City

Speirs left his native Scotland during the summer of 1909, to head for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and sign for Bradford City, under the management of his countryman Peter O'Rourke. It would be City's second season in the First Division following their promotion in 1907–08, and O'Rourke wanted to strengthen his side after they narrowly avoided relegation in their first season in the top flight. He assembled a team which contained several Scottish players, and also brought in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international outside right Dicky Bond. Speirs made his debut on the opening day of the 1909–10 season, as City lost 1–0 to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. His first goal came three months later, in a 3–1 victory over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, during the middle of a 10-game undefeated spell. Speirs played in all 38 games during his first season, scoring six times, as City finished seventh. He also played in both the club's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

games that season, scoring in a 4–2 victory over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

in the first round. It was the following season when Speirs wrote his name in the club's record books, with his performance in the same competition. He played 25 league games, scoring seven goals, to help City to fifth place, a position which the club has not yet bettered. The club reached the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

in the same season, with Speirs playing in all but one of the games along the way, scoring in a 2–1 second round victory over

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

. Speirs, along with Frank Thompson and George Robinson, was censured by

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

following a scramble for the match ball at the end of the semi-final victory against Blackburn Rovers. Speirs was captain of the side and in the days up to the final he wrote to his opposite number, Colin Veitch. The contents of his letter are not known, but in his reply, Veitch said Speirs had "expressed in sound terms the true spirit of comradeship, and the proper sentiments one would expect to see associated with the sportsman, and the sport". Speirs led out a team which contained eight Scots for the final at the Crystal Palace on 22 April 1911 against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. The game ended in a 0–0 draw, in what was described as a "decidedly dull and uneventful game". The final replay was played four days later at

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Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, with City making one change to the team, bringing in Bob Torrance for fellow Scottish defender Willie Gildea. After 15 minutes, Speirs scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game to win the cup. Robinson shot at goal, but the wind caught the ball, which was headed on by Frank Thompson. Speirs himself headed the ball at goal, and Newcastle's

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Jimmy Lawrence was distracted by City striker Frank O'Rourke and the ball rolled into the net. Speirs lifted the newly-cast trophy, which had been made by Bradford jewellers Fattorinis, and displayed it on the club's victory parade later that evening in Bradford. The following day, Speirs was pictured on the front page of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' newspaper, holding the cup. The club's attempt to defend the victory came to an end after six consecutive clean sheets, when they were defeated 3–2 by

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

with Speirs scoring one of the goals. However, he was limited to 10 league games, not playing from September until March and finished the season with seven goals. They included his second senior hat-trick during a 5–1 victory over

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on 30 March 1912. Speirs started the following season, but after playing 13 of the first 15 games, he left. He had played 96 games in total, scoring 33 goals.

Leeds City

Speirs joined neighbours Leeds City, which played in the Second Division, for a fee of £1,200 (a then-record for both clubs), in December 1912, becoming one of Herbert Chapman's first signings. Speirs' debut came on 28 December in a 3–2 defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and although his first goal did not come until his fifth game against Bradford (Park Avenue), Speirs finished second highest scorer with 10 goals, behind Billy McLeod. Their goals helped Leeds finish in sixth position, 10 points off the promotion places. The following season, Leeds came closer to promotion, but despite Speirs, as captain, scoring 12 goals and McLeod netting 27, they came fourth, two points behind Park Avenue in the second promotion spot. Despite the outbreak of the

in June 1914, league football continued, but Leeds lost their first four games of the season and were unable to recover, finishing a lowly 15th. Speirs scored the only goal of the West Riding Cup final against Hull City on 11 November 1914 to give what was Leeds City's only ever trophy before the club was expelled from the league in 1919 and subsequently dissolved. League football was suspended at the end of the season and the last game of Speirs' career was a 2–0 defeat to

on 24 April 1915. He played 73 league games for Leeds, scoring 32 goals. In total, Speirs had played 226 league games, a further 30 Scottish and English FA Cup games, and several other appearances in other cup competitions. During his career, he scored 92 league goals, and 12 senior cup goals.

First World War

At the end of the 1914–15 season, Speirs returned to his native Glasgow and enlisted in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders on 17 May 1915.

Conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

was a year away, from which Speirs would have been exempt because he was married with two young children. Private S/18170 Speirs was posted to the regiment's headquarters in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

where he joined the 3rd Battalion, a reserve battalion, for training. He was promoted

Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

while on training and after the British troops suffered heavy casualties, Speirs was posted overseas on 29 May 1916. The following month, he was promoted to the rank of

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

. Later the same year, he sustained a wounded elbow, from either a gunshot or shrapnel injury. In April 1917, Speirs took part in the Second Battle of Arras, for which he was awarded the

for bravery in May 1917, before he was promoted to

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in June. The following month, he returned home to Scotland on leave, but he soon returned to France and was killed during the

on or about 20 August 1917, aged 31. He was shot in the thigh during an advance and crawled into a shellhole. He was attended to, but was abandoned by his regiment and was not seen alive again. He is buried at , near

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

in Belgium.

Personal life and legacy

Speirs married Elizabeth Lennox Maben on 24 October 1906 in

. On 11 December 1907, the couple's first child, James Hamilton Speirs, was born. Speirs, who had still been recorded as a clerk at the time of the wedding, was now listed as a spirit dealer's stocktaker. Their second child, Elizabeth Maben Speirs, known as Betty, was born on 6 August 1912. Speirs was also a

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. He was initiated into Lodge Saint Vincent Sandyford No 553, based in Glasgow, on 11 March 1908, just four days after he had made his only Scottish appearance. When his football career took him away from Glasgow, Speirs maintained links with the lodge. He became a Master Mason, then a life member on 12 February 1913. Following Speirs' death, Bessie remarried during the 1920s and moved to the south of England with Betty and her new husband. His son remained in Scotland but later emigrated to Canada. In 2003, his family

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

ed Speirs' 1911 FA Cup winning medal with his Military Medal and service medal. The FA Cup medal was sold for £26,210, a record for a cup medal. Bradford City fan Mark Lawn bought Speirs' FA Cup winning medal. Lawn later became chairman of the football club and allowed the medal to be shown, alongside that of Frank Thompson, in the club's museum. Speirs' medals formed part of an exhibition to celebrate Bradford City's centenary in 2003 at Bradford Industrial Museum and have also been on show at

Imperial War Museum North Imperial War Museum North (sometimes referred to as IWM North) is a museum in the Trafford, Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. One of five branches of the Imperial War Museum, it explores the impact of modern confl ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, as part of an exhibition linking sport and war.

Playing honours

Maryhill * Glasgow Junior Cup: 1904–05 Rangers * Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup: 1905–06 Bradford City *

: 1910–11 Leeds City * West Riding Cup: 1913–14

Career statistics

:''Senior competitions only.''

References

Sources

External links

BantamsPast Museum

Jimmy Speirs

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speirs, Jimmy 1886 births 1917 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders soldiers Recipients of the Military Medal British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Maryhill F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Leeds City F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Men's association football inside forwards People from Govan Scottish Junior Football Association players People from Govanhill and Crosshill Military personnel from Glasgow