Horace Fairhurst

Horace Fairhurst (2 June 1893 – 7 January 1921) was an English professional footballer. He played as a defender.

Horace Fairhurst
Personal information
Date of birth (1893-06-02)2 June 1893
Place of birth Bolton, England
Date of death 7 January 1921(1921-01-07) (aged 27)
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1919 Darwen
1919–1921 Blackpool 47 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

After playing for Darwen for a number of years, Fairhurst joined fellow Lancashire club Blackpool in May 1919 after previously playing for them during the 1916–17 and 1917–18 World War I wartime seasons.[1]

Career

Fairhurst first played for Blackpool in the 1917–18 wartime season, on 1 September 1917 against Oldham Athletic, while he was serving at the Royal Army Medical Corps Depot in the town. He made a total of 27 appearances for the club that season. He returned to the club on 8 February 1919, in a 1–1 draw at Burnley and made a total of ten appearances for the Seasiders that season. The club then signed him in May 1919.

He made his official league debut at left-back on 8 September 1919, in a 6–0 home win over Lincoln City in the 1919–20 season. He made 27 league appearances as Blackpool finished fourth in Division Two. His nine appearances for the reserve team won him a Central League championship medal.[1]

In his twentieth league appearance of the 1920–21 season, on 27 December 1920, Fairhurst suffered a head injury during Blackpool's single-goal win over Barnsley at Oakwell.[2] At one point it looked as though he would recover, and he reported for training at the Balmoral Hotel for the FA Cup tie at Darlington on 8 January; however, he was deemed "not recovered sufficiently to run the risk of playing him".[3] He was initially named in the Blackpool team to face Notts County on New Year's Day, but he had "a touch of gastritis"[3] and did not travel. He died at home on 7 January 1921 as a result of the injury, with the club stating, "We have lost one of the best backs in England".[3] He was buried at Tonge Cemetery on 13 January. He had made just short of 50 league appearances for the Seasiders. On 4 May, Blackpool played a benefit match against Preston North End with the proceeds to go to his widow and to the children of his partner at full-back, Bert Tulloch, whose wife had died the same weekend as Fairhurst.[1]

See also

Notes
  1. Wolstenholme, Gerry (May 2008). The Khaki Years, Blackpool Football Club The World War I Seasons 1915/16 - 1918/19. Blackpool: Blackpool Programme and Memorabilia Collectors Club. pp. 13–19. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008.
  2. "English Division Two (old) Barnsley 0 Blackpool 1". Soccerbase. 27 December 1920. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  3. Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC on This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905411-50-4.

References
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