Introduction - by Craig Young - Editor (NO IDLE TALK).
I was looking through the NO IDLE
TALK site and came across this link. As Linlithgow & District
Hearts have been represented at Haymarket for many years, at this
time of year it seemed appropriate to remember this article which was
on one of the NIT pages since 2002 and attach it to the L&DHSC site.
In the following 2 articles from 2 web-sites (credits to them, not
me) everyone can understand just what it really means to be a part of
Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
A corner that will forever be Hearts
Scotland shall remember them:
players with a greater cause
By Phil Gordon
http://news.independent.co.uk/sport/football/scotland/story.jsp?story=104297
11 November 2001
There is rarely a lull in the traffic which courses through Haymarket, one of Edinburgh's busiest junctions. Today, however, everything will grind to a halt in honour of the men who swapped the roars of the crowd for the sound of gunfire. Every November, the players and officials of Hearts gather for Remembrance Sunday and let their thoughts drift back to the players who valued valour more than titles. On the 11th day of the 11th month, though, there is greater poignancy for football's most courageous XI.
The only British team to answer the call of King and Country, en masse, to fight in the First World War have been honoured this way for the last 80 years. Instead of being celebrated for their skills on the football field, it was the battlefields which became their legacy. Seven first-teamers perished in France and Belgium. Their names do not trip off the tongue like Manchester United's Munich victims, but their story is as remarkable.
Hearts were galloping towards the Scottish league championship when war broke out in 1914 and when Lord Kitchener issued his call to arms the entire team went to the Haymarket army recruitment office and signed up together. Within a fortnight, more than 400 shareholders and 1,300 fans had followed their example.
Many of those fans died alongside their heroes in the trenches, as C Company of the 16th Batallion of the Royal Scots Guards. Four players died in the Battle of the Somme alone, and it was 1958 before the club won the league again. "Every Remembrance Sunday, we go along to the club's memorial, without fail," said Douglas Dalgleish, Hearts' public relations executive. The memorial was erected from public subscription in 1922 and the solemn service has been part of the fabric of the club for eight decades, especially those who inherited the legacy of the maroon shirts.
"It is a requirement of all players that they go along," said Dalgleish, "and even the foreign players we have brought to Tynecastle in recent years have taken it on board. Two years ago, our then-goalkeeper, Gilles Rousset, who is French, laid a wreath at The Somme."
On 1 July, 1916, in that corner of France which will forever be Tynecastle, Hearts player and platoon leader, Sergeant Duncan Currie, led his men over the top. He died with team-mates Private Harry Wattie and Private Ernest Ellis and Lance Corporal James Boyd was killed two days later. The war also claimed Corporal Thomas Gracie and Private James Speedie in 1915, while Sergeant John Allan was killed at Arras in 1917. Yet when that fateful 1914-15 season began, no one could have guessed the tragedy which would befall Hearts.
"We were top of the Scottish league," explained Dalgleish, "having beaten Celtic 2-0 on the opening day to go on an eight-game winning run before enlistment." The club's official history notes that the weakened squad left behind at Tynecastle led the table for 35 out of 37 weeks before Celtic took over and "cruelly denied" Hearts the title.
Football - which never stopped in Scotland during 1914-18 - came in for fierce criticism in the House of Commons and many players were seen as hiding behind contracts to avoid enlist-ment. Duncan Currie and his team-mates gave up their £4 a week for the shilling-a-day wage in the army.
That ethos is in stark contrast to today's players. "I don't think many of our young players will know anything about the First World War," reflects Dalgleish, "but once you have stood at the memorial and think what those brave men did, it grips you."
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A brief history of the players of the Heart of Midlothian football club who enlisted in the Great War 1914-1918
http://www.geocities.com/athens/pantheon/3828/
The Great War was greeted with great enthusiasm when it began in 1914. All over Europe crowds gathered to cheer the men rushing to the front. In France and Germany, in Russia and Austria women rushed forward covering their hero's in flowers and kisses as they marched away to a war most believed would soon be over. Not only did they believe it would soon be over, each nation expected they would be victorious! Everyone believed they were in the right! The regular army, supported by the reservists gave most European nations armies of millions, all except the United Kingdom. Britains army was small in comparison to its European neighbours,even when the Territorials and reservists were added the numbers were trifling. Therefore when war broke out a call was made for 100,000 volunteers to come forward to help in the fight. Half a million came forward to answer the call! This massive turnout caused headaches for the harassed officers and NCO's of the recruiting offices as it swept up most of the young, and not so young, men of every area of British life. Men enlisted together with their pals. From factories and offices, from clubs and societies, everywhere men gathered they would be tempted to join in the rush to enlist. The 'Pals' battalions had come into being. To the spirit of comradeship created by being in a great adventure together with friends and colleagues was the desire to beat an enemy regarded as arrogant and overbearing. They had both comradeship and purpose! Scottish footballers no less than anyone else shared in the popular feeling regarding the conflict, what follows in a very brief history regarding the history of some of them.
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
By November 1914 it was becoming clear that the war would not 'be over by Christmas' as the popular belief had it. The reality of the seriousness of war had also come home to the nation, as returning wounded and the intelligent reading of what information was available opened peoples eyes to the difficulties and dangers out in the field. The footballers of Heart of Midlothian F.C. had to struggle with opposing desires. The had put themselves into a position of being in with a great chance of winning the league title, yet many were asking why play football continued when your countrymen are dying a few miles away just over the channel? A poster appeared late in the year showing a wounded soldier standing over the body of a fallen comrade, he is looking to an inset of a crowded football ground and is asking 'Will they never come?' This poster reflected a popular feeling amongst those who opposed the playing of sport during wartime. Those players who saw it could not but be affected also. Understanding these pressures and being fully aware of the danger of serious injury or even death from military service and with their eyes fully open at the end of November 1914 the entire first team squad of the Heart of Midlothian football club enlisted! Though recruitment had fallen by this time, yet another thousand men came forward to join also. Some were Hearts supporters, some players from other clubs, such as Raith Rovers and Falkirk. Most were to join the 16th Battalion of the Royal Scots. These Hearts players were giving up around £4 a week to earn the soldiers wage of one shilling and twopence a day, eight shillings and twopence a week! That's about 42pence in today's money. They joined a variety of regiments, although for most it was the 16th Royal Scots, and became known as the 'Sixteen.' Fifteen more were to enlist before wars end, most were to be wounded, seven were to be dead.
The Seven Who Died
S/116102 Pte James Hodge Speedie. Born 17 November 1893, St.. George's Edinburgh. Worked as an insurance clerk and played as an inside left for Hearts. Played in the first game of the season 1914-15, a 2-0 win over Celtic before an 18,000 crowd. Significant in that Celtic were to be unbeaten until well into the next season! Some say this was a 63 game run! Speedie early on joined the 7th battalion the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. He was early in action and took part in the first 'Big Push' at Loos on the 25th of September 1915. Though his regiment swept past Loos and reached Hill 70 he himself was killed during the battle. His body was never found. He was twenty one.
He is comemorated on the Loos Memorial,panel 119 or 124. His brother, a lieutenant, was also killed in the war.
19024 Cpl Tom Gracie. Born Glasgow 1889, a meat salesman to trade, he had played for several clubs beginning with the Juniors and progressing through Airdrie, Arthurlie, Greenock Morton before joining Everton in 1910. After two years he moved to Liverpool from where Hearts bought him in May 1914 to replace Percy Dawson who had just been sold to Blackburn Rovers for £2500. Gracie cost Heart £400 and scored a club record 28 goals in his first season. A bargain buy! His scoring skill earned him a international cap against the Irish league in 1915. He was one of The Sixteen and was called up by the16th Royal Scots in Autumn 1915. While he was stationed at Leeds he took ill and was transferred to Stobhill War Hospital, Glasgow, where he died on 23rd October 1915. He was twenty six, and had the football world at his feet. He became the only Hearts player who died during the war to have a known grave. The Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme was the greatest disaster in the history of the British army. In spite of massive preparations, including a bombardment of over one and a half million shells, when the troops 'went over the top' the enemy was waiting. The shells were inefficient at damaging the enemy wire and the Germans had constructed deep underground shelters which protected them from the worst of the shelling. When several large mines were exploded the Germans realised that the attack was under way. They emerged gratefully from their lairs and took up strong defensive positions. By the time the soldiers came out of their trenches the enemy was already lining up defensive fire. When the attackers began to make their way through their own wire German artillery opened up on them accompanied by heavy machine gun fire. Of the 57,000 casualties that day, including approximately 20,000 dead, most probably became casualties within the first ten minutes of the action.The 34th Division,of which the 16th Royal Scots were part, suffered 80% casualties. The remnants of the 16th joined with those of the 11th Suffolk's, 10th Lincoln's and 15th Royal Scots who remained, some 100 men, and managed to keep control of the 'Scots redoubt' some way into the enemy line. These for the most part were the men who had volunteered so eagerly in 1914. This massive army which took over a year to build had taken ten minutes to destroy! Amongst the dead of the 16th battalion were three Hearts men:
19112 Pte Henry Wattie who was born in Edinburgh on 2nd June 1893 was the youngest of five brothers. His brother John was to become chaplain to the fleet. Henry himself became one of 'The Sixteen.' Wattie was considered by some to be capable of replacing the great Bobby Walker, some compliment as Walker had played against England eleven times. As an inside forward Henry managed to score against all comers including a double at Ibrox in a two goals to one victory. Later against Aberdeen two players tackled him, one was taken off with a broken leg and the other did not recover until half time! At the Somme they say he was seen to fall but his body was never recovered. His loss was a great loss for all of Scottish football.
18999 Serjeant Duncan Currie. Born Kilwinning, Ayrshire 13th August 1892. Born into a football family, his father being a goalkeeper and his brother Robert playing for Hearts and Bury while another brother played for Leicester Fosse. He himself was a full back.
19009 Pte Ernest Edgar Ellis.Born at Sprowston, Norwich, on the 30th November 1885 on St. Andrews Day. his parents were Harry and Marie Ellis, 236 Sprowston Road, Norwich. By trade he was a boot operator. He had played for Norwich then Barnsley before signing in time to join Hearts on their successful summer tour of Denmark. The Royal Scots had left for France on 8thJanuary 1916 which meant that he was never to see the daughter born to him after that date. His wife Isobel lived at 25, Tarvit Street, Edinburgh. Ellis was thirty years old. The last Hearts man to die on the Somme was
18976 Lance Cpl James Boyd.He was born in the small mining village of Seafield in West Lothian. After being educated at West Calder Public School he became an underground on cost worker in the shale mines. His brother Archie had been the Hearts goalkeeper for some time and James signed for the club on 24th August 1914. Another of 'The Sixteen' and also in the 16thRoyal Scots.He was killed on a 'quiet day' on 3rd of August 1916 when he was twenty one years of age. Boyds Home town is found on an excellent site, visit it now. http://hometown.aol.com/jfann16463/index.html As their bodies were never recovered their names are engraved on theThiepval Memorial Pieror face 6D or 7D. The memorial contains the names of nearly 72,000other missing men. The Battle of Arrasin 1917 saw the death of the last Hearts player to be killed in action,
351268 Serjeant John Allan. He had been born at Greenlaw in Berwickshire on 2nd March 1887 and his family had early moved to Edinburgh. A joiner with J. Duncan & Sons of Grove Street, Edinburgh, he enlisted early in the war with the 9th Royal Scots.This was a distinctive battalion in that is was the only R.S. battalion to wear kilts. Thus he found himself as part of the 51st Highland Division,the 'Shock Troops' of the British army. During the battle of Arras casualties were very high as it was very much an infantry mans battle, with a great deal of hard fighting. Though the early stages went well, some 13,000 German prisoners being taken, it soon became one of the major struggles of the war. During the battle a patrol of the 9th Royal Scots including John Allan were sent to reconnoiter a wood. They became caught in deadly crossfire and he became another name on the the Arras memorial to the missing. He was 30 years old
Other Hearts men in the Great War Pte. Patrick James 'Paddy' Crossan. Twice wounded and gassed at least once. a Robust and popular player who returned to play for several seasons. Earned two testimonials. Later opened a pub in Rose Street Edinburgh. Died suddenly in 1933 in his fortieth year.
Pte. Willie R. Wilson.Wounded. Returned to playing though constantly troubled with a dislocating shoulder but often played on. First, but not the last Hearts player to score three goals at Ibrox v Rangers in 4-0 win.
16th Royal Scots Pte.J. Hazeldean.Severely wounded, discharged.
Lieutenant A.B. Ness.Twice wounded, promoted in the field.
Serjeant N. Moreland.Three times wounded.
Cpl Alfie. E. Briggs.Severely wounded, discharged.
Pte. J. Martin.Wounded and discharged.
Serjeant. G.P. Miller. Cpl. N. Findlay. Lance
Cpl. J. MacDonald.
Pte. E. M. M'Guire.Wounded.
Pte. Jock Wilson.Twice wounded, played again after war. .
Lieutenant Jimmy Low. Seaforth Highlanders. Twice wounded, discharged.
Pte. R. Preston. Highland Light Infantry.
Pte. Harry Graham. R.A.M.C.Dentist. Gloucester Regiment. Served in France,Egypt and Russia. Afterwards returned and played for Leicester City and Reading.
Pte. J. Whyte. Gloucester Regiment.
Sapper. C. Hallwood. Royal Engineers.
Pte. R. Malcolm. Machine Gun Corps.
Driver George L. Sinclair. Royal Field Artillery.Returned to playing and was running a pub in Abbeyhill in 1958 when hearts won the league with a record 132 league goals.
Royal Garrison Artillery: Staff Serjeant J. H. Frew. Farrier.
Bombardier J. Gilbert.
Gunner J. Mackenzie.
Gunner C. D. Blackhall.
Gunner Robert Mercer. Powerful centre half. Gassed. returned to playing, but not the player he had been. When it was discovered he had a weakened heart Hearts refused to play him. He went to Dunfermline for two more seasons. Insisted on playing in a friendly at Selkirk, where his career had begun, and collapsed and died within ten minutes of the start on April 23rd 1926. Like so many others he died of the exertions endured during the conflict. How many men died in the twenties and thirties of the effects of war will never be known.
League Positions During War Years
Played - For - Against - Points - Position
14/15 38 83 32 61 2
15/16 37 66 45 46 6
16/17 38 44 59 32 14
17/18 34 41 58 32 10
18/19 34 59 52 37 6
www.heartsfc.co.uk Heart of Midlothian Official site
this section maintained by Craig Young