Tinsley Lindley
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His Honour Tinsley Lindley,
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English
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 ...
. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for
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 ...
. He was an amateur who did not wear football boots but scored 14 goals for England in 13 internationals Lindley was appointed an OBE in January 1918 for his work during
World War I 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 ...
and in 1935 he was also awarded the
King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver Ju ...
.Notts County match programme 8 March 2014 pg. 63 On retirement from football, Lindley turned his attention to his law practice, having been called to the Bar in 1899 while still playing.


Early life

Lindley was the third son of Leonard Lindley who was a lace dresser and Mayor of Nottingham in 1882. The family lived in Clipstone Avenue, Nottingham and Lindley attended
Nottingham High School Nottingham High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private fee-charging day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, England, with an infant and junior school (ages 4–11) and senior school (ages 11–18). There were 1177 stu ...
between 1875 and 1883, where he first revealed his talent. His older brother,
Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikt:Λέων#Greek, Λ ...
, was also a talented footballer and cricketer. He later attended
The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational private school in Cambridge, England. It is a boarding and day school for about 565 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen. The head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. ...
in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, where he turned to rugby. From 1885 to 1888 he studied at
Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...
and during this time played football for
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, and also for the Corinthians and Casuals. Lindley obtained not just a degree but he also achieved a Master of Law and LL.D law doctorate.


Career


Club career

In 1888, Lindley returned to his home town to join
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 ...
. He was the youngest ever Nottingham Forest player and at age 16 he scored three goals on his debut on 17 February 1882. In one season, he scored 85 goals for Forest. During the 1889–90 season also played three matches for Nottingham rivals
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 ...
. Lindley was drafted in as cover for James Oswald in a match 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 ...
. Villa were unhappy as he was not registered, they appealed and Notts were fined £5. Lindley appealed but the fine was increased to £30 and Notts were deducted two points. In 1891 he also played for
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...
and Swifts for a short while before guest-playing 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 a 4–1 defeat at
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 ...
in 1892. His many transfers were due primarily to his professional full-time career and the fact that he always remained an amateur, although many clubs wanted to hire him as a professional. He was the epitome of the 'Corinthian gentleman amateur' of his time, being an academic as well as a sportsman. He refused to wear ordinary football boots when playing, preferring walking brogues instead, declaring that boots marred his great sprinting speed.


International career

His England call-up came on 13 March 1886 when, along with his Nottingham Forest teammate Teddy Leighton, he was one of eight new caps selected to play 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 ...
at
Ballynafeigh Park The Ulster Cricket Ground in Ballynafeigh Park was a sports venue in Ballynafeigh, Belfast. Opened in 1879, it was the home ground of both Ulster Cricket Club and Ulster F.C. During the 1880s, it also hosted several Irish Cup finals and Irelan ...
, Belfast. Lindley scored as England "totally dominated" the match with
Benjamin Spilsbury Benjamin Ward Spilsbury (1 August 1864 – 15 August 1938) was an English international footballer. Early life Spilsbury was born at Findern, Derbyshire, son of the Reverend Benjamin Ward. Spilsbury was an all-round athlete at Rossall Schoo ...
scoring four goals in a 6–1 victory. It has been claimed that he holds the record for scoring in nine consecutive
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 ...
matches between 13 March 1886 and 7 April 1888. However, there is no substance whatsoever to this claim, as this includes the match 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 ...
on 29 March 1886, in which all contemporary reports credit the goals to George Brann, Fred Dewhurst and Andrew Amos. He did, however, score in each of the next 6 consecutive games, which is still an England record (though note that
Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played a ...
scored in ten consecutive matches ''in which he played'', and
George Camsell George Henry Camsell (27 November 1902 – 7 March 1966) was an English Association football, footballer who scored a club record 325 league goals in 419 games for Middlesbrough F.C., Middlesbrough, and 18 goals in nine appearances for England ...
in nine). In total he scored 14 international goals in just 13 games. He held the overall England goalscoring record from March 1888 when he equalled
Charles Bambridge Edward Charles Bambridge (30 July 1858 – 8 November 1935) was an English association football, footballer who made eighteen appearances as a Outside left, left winger for England national football team, England between 1878-79 in English footb ...
's tally of 11 until his final tally of 14 was overhauled by
Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played a ...
in 1898.


First-class cricket

Lindley played
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
for
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
and
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. He played ten games between 1885 and 1893 taking nearly a wicket a match as a round-arm right-armed slow to medium bowler. Lindley also averaged about ten runs per innings as a right-handed batsman.


Retirement from playing

On retirement from football, Lindley turned his full attention to his law practice, having been called to the Bar in 1899 while still playing. He also lectured in law at
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
and served as a County Court Judge on the Midland Circuit. Lindley also stayed loyal to Nottingham Forest, serving on the committee for several years. Lindley was also a President and Vice-President for local Amateur side Nottinghamshire FC who were formed in 1895. During
World War I 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 ...
, Lindley served as the Chief Officer of the Nottingham Special Constabulary and as Deputy Director of the Nottinghamshire Territorial Association. He was awarded the
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
in 1918 for these services.


Personal life

In 1896, Lindley married Constance Agnes Burnand, daughter of playwright F. C. Burnand. They had a daughter. The family lived at 14 Park Terrace in Nottingham.


Death and legacy

Lindley died in Nottingham on 31 March 1940 aged 74.Tinsley Lindley
CricInfo, retrieved 22 December 2013
In October 2013 a campaign was launched to raise £6,000 to provide a headstone on Lindley's grave in the Wilford Hill Cemetery near Nottingham. For an unknown reason, Lindley had been buried in an unmarked grave. As of 11 March 2014 £5850 had been raised. The memorial was unveiled on 31 March 2014.


References


External links

*
CricInfo profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindley, Tinsley 1865 births 1940 deaths People educated at Nottingham High School People educated at The Leys School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Nottingham Officers of the Order of the British Empire English men's footballers England men's international footballers Cambridge University A.F.C. players Casuals F.C. players Corinthian F.C. players Crusaders F.C. (1859) players Swifts F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers English barristers 20th-century English judges Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Nottingham Cricketers from Nottingham County Court judges (England and Wales)