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Full name:
William Harper
Born:
Scotland, 19 January 1897
Died:
Plymouth, April 1989
Position:
Goalkeeper
Height/weight:
5 ft. 11½ in./12 st. 21 lb.
Joined Arsenal:
9 November 1925 (£4,000)
Clubs:
Winchburgh Violet (Junior football)
Winchburgh Thistle (Junior football)
Edinburgh Emmett (Junior football)
Hibernian (1920–25)
Arsenal (1925–27)
Fall River Marksmen, USA (1927–29)
Boston Wonder Workers, USA (1929–30)
New Bedford Whalers, USA (1929–30)
Arsenal (1930–Dec 31)
Plymouth (1931–39)
First Arsenal appearance:
League vs Bury, 14 November 1925 (6–1)
Last Arsenal senior appearance:
League vs Blackburn Rovers, 31 August 1931 (1–1)
Last Arsenal appearance:
London Midweek League vs Thames, 16 December 1931
International matches:
11 caps for Scotland
International debut:
3 March 1923 against Northern Ireland (1–0)
| League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
| Season | App | Gls | App | Gls | App | Gls |
| 1925–26 | 19 | - | 6 | - | 25 | - |
| 1926–27 | 23 | - | 1 | - | 24 | - |
| 1930–31 | 19 | - | 3 | - | 22 | - |
| 1931–32 | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - |
| Total | 63 | - | 10 | - | 73 | - |
None
I was doing some family history research and came across this information which might be useful for your web page.
William Harper, Birth Carnwath
William Harper, born 19th January 1897 at 3.00 am at Tarbrax, district of Carnwath
Parents William Harper blacksmith (journeyman) and Christina Brown
Harper ms Nisbet married 29th April 1887 Lasswade. Informant William Harper father present
A famous footballer (soccer) - goalkeeper - many Scotland caps. Also played for Arsenal and Plymouth. The training ground at Plymouth is named Harpers Park (Harpers Field?) after him.
[Information received from Anthony McReavy at the SFA Museum Trust]
I have William Harper's birthplace variously recorded as Tarbrax, Lanarkshire & Winchburgh, West Lothian (though I am inclined to believe the latter) on the 19th January, 1897. As well as being a celebrated footballer Bill was also something of an all-rounder: heavyweight boxing champion with the 5th Brigade Scots Guards and captained the Guards rugby team to the Brigade Championship (with whom he served during WW1in France).
He began his career in Junior (non-league) football with Edinburgh Emmet and Winchburgh Violet before and after WW1 before moving to Hibernian in 1920. He played in over 100 league appearances for Hibs over 4 seasons, appearing in two Scottish Cup finals in 1923 and 1924. He was capped nine times for Scotland and twice for the Scottish League while at Hibs.
In 1925 he went to Arsenal for between £4,000-4,500 (then a record for a goalkeeper) as one of the legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman's first signings. He rapidly established himself as first choice keeper after his debut in a 6-1 victory over Bury on 14th November 1925. He was tremendously strong physically (as perhaps should be expected from an ex-blacksmith) and crowds loved his daring style and colossal clearance kicks.
While at the Gunners he made two more appearances for Scotland (v England & Nothern Ireland) before falling foul of Herbert Chapman following a 4-2 home defeat to arch rivals Tottenham in front of 50,000. He played in only three more games that season (having played in the first 20), before leaving for the USA in the summer of 1927, where he played for Falls River F.C.
Whatever had transpired between him and Herbert Chapman it was forgotten in time, as Chapman re-signed him upon his return to Britain in 1930. He once again rapidly established himself as first choice keeper, playing in 19 league games and helping Arsenal to their first ever League Championship in 1930-1.
However, he played in only the first two games of the following campaign as his predecessor Preedy re-established himself as no.1 choice in goal and Harper was transferred to Plymouth Argyle in December 1931.
Much of this information (and a little more besides) can be found in "Arsenal Who's Who" by Jeff Harris and "A Scottish Internationalist's Who's Who" by Douglas Lamming.
Ian Cook of Arsenal sent two photocopied pages:
Harper William 1925–27 and 1930–31
Goalkeeper 5ft 11.5" 12st 2lb. born Tarbrax, Lanarkshire, Scotland 19
Jan 1898. Died Apr 1989 Plymouth
Previous club; Hibernian (Sep 1921). Joined Arsenal: 9 Nov 1925 from Hibernian for £4000. Left Arsenal at end of 1926-27 season to play for Fall River FC in USA. Rejoined Arsenal: 18 Sep 1930 from America. First app: League v Bury (h) 14 Nov 1925. Final snr app: League v Blackburn Rovers (a) 31 Aug 1931. Final app: London Midweek League v Thames (h) 16 Dec 1931. Transferred to Plymouth Argyle 18 Dec 1931.
Was a blacksmith by trade before taking up football. Served with the 5th Brigade Scots Guard in France during World War One. Won club, international and Scottish League honours with Hibernian. Retired from playing in 1939 and became trainer at Plymouth Argyle. Worked in the dockyard at Rosyth during World War Two. Returned to Plymouth Argyle as trainer until 1950, became groundsman until 1964 and finally odd-job man for a number of years.
Bill Harper began his goalkeeping career in Scottish junior football with Winchburgh Thistle and Edinburgh Emett during World War I. During the war he was also a heavyweight boxing champion with the 5th Brigade Scots Guards who served in France. In September 1921 he signed for Hibernian, spending four full seasons at Easter Road, playing in over one hundred Scottish League matches, winning two Scottish Cup Finalists Medals and being capped nine times by Scotland winning two Scottish League caps. Bill became one of Herbert Chapman's first signings when joining Arsenal for £4000 in November 1925. Bill replaced both "Jock" Robson and Dan Lewis as the club's number one custodianplaying in nineteen league games of which his Arsenal debut was in a 6-1 victory at Highbury versus Bury on 14th November 1925. Harper also played in two further internationals for Scotland versus England and Northern Ireland. Harper began the 1926-27 season playing in twenty league games but caught the wrath of Herbert Chapman after a 2-4 home defeat in front of a 50,000 home crowd versus Tottenham. William only played in a further three games that season before leaving the club in the summer of 1927 when he emigrated to the USA. He stayed for three years, playing for Fall River FC. On his return to England, Herbert Chapman surprisingly re-signed him in September 1930 and in his first season back at the club he overtook Keyser and Preedy as the first choice keeper, playing in nineteen league games, helping Arsenal win their first ever League Championship in 1930-31. However he played in just the first two league games of 1931-32 (losing his place to Preedy_ and after the signing of Frank Moss in November 1931 his league career with Arsenal was over. Harper left Highbury for the second time in December 1931 when he was transferred to Plymouth Argyle. Although he played in less than one hundred league games for the Pilgrims he served them well for eight seasons before retiring in the summer of 1939 aged 41. William worked at Rosyth dockyard during the Second World War, before returning to Plymouth where he served as trainer 1945-50, groundsman 1950-64, and as club helper into his 70's. Bill was granted a testimonial by Plymouth in the early 1980's and it was fitting that Arsenal was the opposition. He will be remembered by his ex-colleagues for his cigar smoking and for the enormous length of his goal kicks. He died in April 1989 aged 91.
From: David A. Litterer author of web page about the US Pro Soccer League Division 1
He had several seasons in the American Soccer League, and here are his stats:
A former blacksmith and Scots Guards' heavyweight boxing champion, Harper was one of the leading goalkeepers of the 1920s and 1930s. A strong man whose huge clearance kicks delighted the crowds, Harper began his first-class career with Hibernian in 1920, winning the first of his eleven Scottish caps with them in 1923. In November 1925, the famous London club Arsenal paid a record fee to sign him. However, Harper played just 42 games for the Gunners before a dispute led to his signing for Fall River in 1927. Bill played two seasons in the Massachusetts city, appearing in 79 games before moving on to Boston and then New Bedford. After that, Harper went back to Arsenal where he played just 21 games before being traded to Plymouth Argyle. At Home Park he became something of a legend, both on and off the field, serving the Devon club as player, trainer, groundsman, and laundryman for over 50 years. In 1930, he toured Europe with Fall River.
Plymouth Argyle v Sheffield Wednesday, Saturday 27th January 1979.A.F.C. F.L.D. 3
Another old campaigner who has recently celebrated his 82nd birthday and
is still working at the Club is ex-Goalkeeper, ex-Trainer,
ex-Groundsman, Bill Harper. This loveable old character was Arsenal's
First Team Goalkeeper when Bob Wall, the now retired Arsenal Secretary
and a respected member of their Board, was a 15-year old office boy at
Highbury. Bill still does a lot of work behind the scenes at Home Park,
particularly on match days. Like all true Scotsmen he likes "a wee
dram" and his favourite response to anyone who says "what would you like
with your whisky?" is "another one please". He certainly looks well on
his favourite beverage and all at Home Park hope he will continue to do
so for many a long day.
Apparently it would be as well that we should make up our minds that the championship of the Atlantic Coast League has already been decided. Were Fall River to lose a game, or even two, they would still be on the crest of the wave. Their "brush" with New Bedford, Sunday, might almost be considered the deciding game of the season. Fall River did not conquer without a struggle, however, and it is pleasing to record that the spectators who were wont to barrack Willie Harper saw something of the real Harper. Without a shadow of a doubt, he is the finest goalkeeper in the Atlantic Coast League, but there is a section of the Fall River community who were seemingly of the belief that he was something of a dumbbell. Harper is one of the few goalkeepers we have, who possesses the consummate skill to make a really magnificent shot look like a very simple affair. That is the acid test of a really great goalkeeper.
An uncle of mine has just turned up some further information about Bill Harper on the web.
http://homepages.tesco.net/~poe/archive/papers99.htm (Scroll down to where it says "Building for the future" for the Bill Harper-related part – Johan)
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