Thomas William Lowder (24 November 1924 – 15 May 1999) 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 ...

who played as an outside-forward in the 1950s, spending most of his career with

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

as well as playing in

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 ...

with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

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, ...

and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

Football career

Lowder was born in

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...

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 ...

, but started his football career in London with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, whom he joined as an amateur in September 1946. He failed to make the first team with Palace and in August 1947, he joined

where he spent two seasons in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. He made his debut for the "Millers" on 4 December 1948, when he 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 an 8–1 win at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

. During his two years at the

Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County between 1907 and 1925, and then its successor Rotherham United until 2008. The stadium ...

club, Lowder managed only eight league appearances, in which he scored two further goals as Rotherham finished both seasons as runners-up, missing out on the single promotion place. He was allowed to leave Rotherham in the 1949

close season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

when he signed up with

. He played nine games and scored five goals whilst playing on the left wing before he was transferred to

for £1500 in October. Southampton's manager,

Sid Cann Sydney Thomas Cann (30 October 1911 – 1 November 1996) was an English professional football player and manager. A full-back, he was capped twice by England at Schools level. Playing career Born in Babbacombe, Torquay, Sid Cann joined Torqua ...

, had gone to Boston to look at Bryn Elliott in a

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

match but he was so impressed with Lowder's fast wing play that he signed both players. He made his debut for the "Saints" at Chesterfield on 26 November 1949, when he took the place of Welsh international Ernie Jones for one match, but it was not until January that he had a run of matches, when Jones was out injured. Jones regained his place at the start of April and Lowder returned to the reserves. In the following season, Lowder vied for the outside-left position with Jack Edwards and John Mitchell, making only three appearances. Lowder eventually displaced Edwards in December 1951 and retained his place for the remainder of the 1951–52 season. An attack of

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

restricted his appearances the following season to just six and in May 1953 he agreed to join

in search of regular football. In his four years at The Dell, Lowder made only 39 appearances, scoring twice. Lowder spent one season with Southend, in which he made a total of 22 appearances with three goals before returning to Boston in June 1954. At Boston, he was snapped up by Ray Middleton at the start of the 1954–55

season and became a fixture in the Boston United side over the next six years, rarely missing a match. In his first season, playing mostly at

inside-left 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 ...

, Lowder scored 19 goals in 45 games as Boston finished fifth in the Midland League. He also played in all seven FA Cup matches and scored six goals. The following season, he made all his appearances at

left-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, with 40 games in the league (four goals) and all four FA Cup matches (one goal). He played in the club's FA cup run of 1955–56 which culminated with a 6–1 victory at

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 ...

, then playing in

. This was a record away win by a non-league team against League opponents in the FA Cup. this set up a

Third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

match against Spurs of 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 ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

, which was lost 4–0. Boston finished the 1955–56 season as runners-up in the Midland League. In 1956–57, Lowder played in every first team game for Boston, 46 league games with six goals, two FA Cup matches and two in the Lincolnshire Senior Cup followed by 43 league (six goals) and three FA Cup matches in the following season. In 1958–59, Boston joined the Southern League (North-Western Section) finishing in third place, with Lowder missing only one match. He left Boston to play for

Skegness Town Skegness Town Association Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Skegness, Lincolnshire. The club currently competes in the . Skegness Town play at the MKM Stadium, Skegness after moving there from Burgh Road ...

for the 1960–61 season, but briefly returned to Boston for a few games in the 1961–62 season. At Skegness, he played alongside the comedian, Charlie Williams.

Later career

Lowder settled in Boston and, after finishing his playing career, he ran an

off-licence A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

and grocery store, from which he retired in June 1990. He died in Boston in May 1999 aged 74.

References

External links

Boston United career details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowder, Thomas 1924 births 1999 deaths Footballers from Worksop Men's association football forwards Crystal Palace F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Southend United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Skegness Town A.F.C. players English men's footballers 20th-century English sportsmen