Ernest James Taylor (4 July 1871 – 13 November 1944) was an English amateur

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 played for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the club's first two years in the Southern League.

Football career

Taylor was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, where he played his early club football while employed as a cashier with the American Shipping Company. While working in Liverpool, he was on the books of Everton, but failed to make any first-team appearances. In 1893, he was transferred to the shipping company's offices in

. He joined the Southampton St. Mary's club soon after his arrival in the town. On 26 April 1893, he was part of the St. Mary's team who played a friendly against

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

at the County Ground. Even with the future founder of football in Brazil, Charles Miller playing at

outside-left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, the "Saints" were "''outplayed fairly and squarely on every point''", losing 8–0. Despite the result, it was reported that the spectators "''thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition''" and looked forward to witnessing "''more matches of a similar character''" in future. Amongst Stoke's players were Charles Baker,

Willie Naughton William A. Naughton (16 July 1870 – 23 April 1906) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton. Throughou ...

Lachie Thomson William James Gay "Lachie" Thomson (9 June 1873 – 23 November 1940) was an English professional footballer who played as a defender for Stoke in the Football League before joining Southampton St Mary's for the inaugural Southern League sea ...

and Alf Littlehales, all of whom were to move to Southampton within two years. Taylor made his competitive debut in the

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 ...

First Qualifying Round on 4 November 1893, when Southampton defeated

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

3–1, with Taylor scoring the "Saints" first goal. Taylor was not available for the next round of the FA Cup, where Southampton were defeated by

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, but appeared in all the matches in the

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, except 1914 to 1919 when it was postponed due t ...

when the Saints lost 1–0 to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in the final. In

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

, Southampton St Mary's were one of the nine founder members of the Southern League, which had been created to enable clubs in southern England who were not admitted to

, to play competitive football on a regular basis. For the start of their League career, Saints signed several new players on professional contracts, including

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

, Littlehales and

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson M ...

from

and

Fred Hollands Frederick George Hollands (3 October 1870 – 1948) was an English professional footballer who played as an outside-forward for Millwall Athletic and Southampton St Mary's in the 1890s. Football career Hollands was born in Poplar and starte ...

from Millwall Athletic. Despite this influx of professional players, Taylor's skill enabled him "''to hold his own with the best of the professionals''". Taylor was described at the time as being "''a versatile player with ample resource and a great variety of methods: he plays a defensive as well as offensive game with equal success''". He featured in Southampton's inaugural Southern League match, playing at

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

in a 3–1 victory over Chatham at the

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary's ...

on 6 October 1894. He went on to play in eleven of the sixteen league matches, generally at

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

as Southampton finished third at the end of the inaugural Southern League season. In the

, Saints reached the First Round proper for the first time, where they were drawn against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, going down 4–1 to the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

side. In the 1895–96 season, Taylor's work commitments restricted him to eight league and two FA Cup appearances, usually being replaced by either Joe Dale or Joe Rogers, before losing his place to new signing William McMillan in March 1896. Taylor continued to play amateur football with Southampton's local rivals

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; an area near Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were former ...

after leaving the Saints.

Later career

Taylor was actively involved with many other sporting bodies, including playing

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

for the Deanery club and golf at the Stoneham Golf Club, where he was a committee member. He was also active with the Hampshire

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. He was later employed by

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

, where he was one of the founders of the annual football match to raise funds for the Seamen's Orphanage. At White Star Line, he was appointed Chief Cashier in 1922, a post he continued to hold until 1934 when he retired, shortly after White Star Line's merger with

Cunard The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Ernie 1871 births 1944 deaths Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Everton F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Freemantle F.C. players Southern Football League players