Frederick Dewhurst (16 December 1863 – 21 April 1895) was an English professional footballer, who played as an

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 ...

for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in the late 19th century. Dewhurst was the first North End player to play representative football for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

when he took part in the game against

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for the benefit of the Moorfield Colliery Relief Fund. He was a schoolmaster at Preston Catholic College and one of its first secretaries. As a player, he was renowned for testing his physical prowess against rival goalkeepers. Prior to the inauguration of

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 ...

, North End were anxious to prove their worth against the

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

. Preston won 3–1 at

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

and then 4–3 at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

with Dewhurst netting a hat-trick.Hayes, p. 68. Dewhurst made his international debut in the 1885–86 British Home Championship match against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and scored in a 6–1 win on 27 February 1886. He scored on 29 March 1886 in a 3–1 win against

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 ...

. He played in all three

1886–87 British Home Championship The 1886–87 British Home Championship was the fourth international football tournament between the British Home Nations. Played during the second half of the 1886–87 football season, the competition was won by Scotland for the fourth consecut ...

matches against Ireland,

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 ...

and Wales. Dewhurst scored two goals against Scotland and one against Ireland. He played in all three

1887–88 British Home Championship The 1887–88 British Home Championship was the fifth edition of the annual international football tournament played between the British Home Nations. It was the first edition of the tournament in which Scotland did not at least share in the trop ...

matches against Ireland, Scotland and Wales, scoring a total of five goals with one against Ireland, two against Scotland and two against Wales. He scored in all but one of his nine international appearances for England. Dewhurst, playing as an inside forward, made his League debut on 8 September 1888 at Deepdale when the visitors were

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. The home team won 5–2 and Dewhurst scored the first and fifth of Preston's League goals. He appeared in 16 of Preston's 22 League Championship matches and scored twelve goals. He scored twice on three occasions: two against Burnley in the opening game, two in the 5–0 win over

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

at Deepdale on 8 December 1888 and both goals in the 2–0 win against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

at Wellington Road on 9 February 1889. Dewhurst played in all five

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 ...

ties and scored the opening goal in the final at Kennington Oval on 30 March 1889 when Preston defeated

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

3–0.Metcalf, pp. 21–23. Dewhurst played only a minor role in Preston's successful defence of their League Championship title playing only six times and not scoring. He made his last first-team appearance in the 1890–91 season when he played in two matches, scoring one goal. He died in 1895 at the age of 31.

Professional baseball

Dewhurst played as an outfield with the professional

Preston North End Baseball Club Preston North End Baseball Club were a short lived English professional baseball club, who played their home games at Deepdale, competing for the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain. Preston North End Baseball Club Limited were for ...

of the

1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for t ...

, but spent most of the time in the amateur side.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewhurst, Fred 1863 births 1895 deaths Men's association football forwards England men's international footballers English men's footballers Schoolteachers from Lancashire People from Fulwood, Lancashire Preston North End F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Lancashire Corinthian F.C. players People educated at Mount St Mary's College English baseball players