Bill Harvey (footballer, born 1908)

{{Infobox football biography

|name = Bill Harvey

|image =

|image_size =

|caption =

|fullname = William Arthur Harvey

|birth_date = {{birth date|1908|5|2|df=y}}

|birth_place = Chopwell, England

|death_date = {{death year and age|1978|1908}}

|death_place = Wakefield, England

|height = {{height|ft=5|in=9+1/2}}

|position = Forward

|youthyears1 = – |youthclubs1 =

|years1 = – |clubs1 = Chopwell Institute

|years2 = – |clubs2 = Annfield Plain

|years4 = 1929–1932 |clubs4 = Barnsley |caps4 = 42 |goals4 = 12

|years5 = 193?–1935 |clubs5 = Eden Colliery Welfare

|years6 = 1935–1937 |clubs6 = Chesterfield |caps6 = 14 |goals6 = 4

|years7 = 1937–1938 |clubs7 = Boston United |caps7 = 28 |goals7 = 14

|years8 = 1938–1939 |clubs8 = Darlington |caps8 = 14 |goals8 = 7

|years9 = 1939 |clubs9 = Stockton

}}

William Arthur Harvey (2 May 1908 – 1978) was an English footballer who played as a forward. He scored 23 goals from 70 appearances in the Football League for Barnsley, Chesterfield and Darlington. He also played for a variety of non-league clubs, mainly in the north-east of England. These included Chopwell Institute, Annfield Plain, Eden Colliery Welfare, Boston United,{{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Michael |title=Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 |publisher=SoccerData |location=Nottingham |page=118 |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-899468-67-6}} and Stockton.

Personal life

Harvey was born in Chopwell, County Durham, to Michael Harvey, a coal miner, and his wife Esther. At the time of the 1911 Census, the family were living in Blackhall Mill, Chopwell, and the two-year-old Willie was the youngest of six surviving children.{{cite web |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc/1911/rg14/30528/0233&parentid=gbc/1911/rg14/30528/0233/8 |title=Image}} and {{cite web |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc/1911/rg14/30528/0233/8 |url-access=subscription |via=Findmypast |title=1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription 11 Fife Terrace Blackhall Mill Ebchester Durham, Chopwell, Durham, England |at=Willie Harvey. Age: 2. Census reference: RG14PN30528 RG78PN1750 RD557 SD4 ED21 SN118 |accessdate=11 November 2014}} In 1931, he married Sarah, sister of his Barnsley teammate John Wallbanks.{{cite web |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd/m/1931/4/az/000522/117 |url-access=subscription |via=Findmypast |title=England & Wales marriages 1837–2008 Transcription |at=William A Harvey. Marriage quarter: 4. Marriage year: 1931. Spouse's last name: Wallbanks. District: Gateshead. County: Durham. Volume: 10A. Page: 1710 |accessdate=19 August 2015}}{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19320220/253/0009 |title=Sporting news of the day reviewed |last=Argus |newspaper=Sunderland Echo |date=20 February 1932 |page=9 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}

He was one of many footballers refused unemployment benefit after football was classified as a seasonal occupation; those normally employed in seasonal work were ineligible for benefit unless they had worked during their off-season. Harvey's brothers-in-law Fred and Jimmy Wallbanks faced the same predicament.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19320521/076/0007 |title=No play or pay. Footballers refused the dole |newspaper=Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=21 May 1932 |page=7 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive |quote=At Chopwell Exchange the players whose money is stopped included Fred and Jim Wallbanks, of Scarborough and Norwich City respectively, brothers of Jack Wallbanks, the Barnsley centre forward. Billy Harvey, of Barnsley, who was brought up with the Wallbanks' family, also failed to get the benefit. Several of the players concerned have only left their clubs through the clubs' inability to pay summer wages.}}
{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19320521/009/0001 |title=Seasonal occupation. Sunderland footballers' dole claims refused |newspaper=Sunderland Echo |date=21 May 1932 |page=1 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive |quote=Unemployment benefit is now being refused to professional footballers who have not been retained by their clubs or who are not receiving summer wages. This rule is made under the Anomalies Act Regulations which came into force last October and under which benefit is not allowed to people normally employed in seasonal occupation.}}

Harvey died in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1978 at the age of 70.{{cite web |url=http://www.cfchistory.com/Stats--records/Player/1921-2017.xlsx |format=XLSX |title=Chesterfield FC: Football League players, 1921 to 2017 |website=cfchistory.com |publisher=Stuart Basson |date=6 May 2017 |accessdate=20 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906225736/http://www.cfchistory.com/Stats--records/Player/1921-2017.xlsx |archive-date=6 September 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

Football career

Harvey began his football career with hometown club Chopwell Institute. His performances earned him selection for Durham in inter-county amateur competition in 1927.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19261223/091/0005 |title=County amateurs |newspaper=Northern Daily Mail |location=West Hartlepool |date=23 December 1926 |page=5 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}
{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19270224/097/0004 |title=Durham Football Association |newspaper=Yorkshire Post |date=24 February 1927 |page=4 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} While on the books of his next club, Annfield Plain of the North-Eastern League, he was selected for the Rest of the League team for the annual match against the reigning champions. He scored 23 league goals in the 1928–29 season before, in March 1929, making his first move into the Football League with Second Division club Barnsley.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000273/19290316/134/0008 |title=Players on the move |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=16 March 1929 |page=8 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}

He scored 12 goals from 42 league appearances, the last of which came in the 1931–32 season. He played more often for Barnsley's reserve team in the Midland League, and in a match against Wombwell in March 1932, suffered a fractured skull.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19320328/116/0007 |title=Sports snaps |newspaper=Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=28 March 1932 |page=7 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} He was given a free transfer at the end of the season,{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19320512/276/0010 |title=Sporting news of the day reviewed |last=Argus |newspaper=Sunderland Echo |date=12 May 1932 |page=10 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} and returned to his home town.

Harvey dropped out of league football for some time. When he returned, signing for Chesterfield in May 1935, he was reported to have scored 40 goals since Christmas for Eden Colliery Welfare in the North-Eastern League.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000541/19350510/218/0011 |title=New players |newspaper=Derbyshire Times |date=10 May 1935 |page=11 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} He spent the season as backup to Maurice Dando, contributing 4 goals – a hat-trick in a 5–0 defeat of Wrexham and the only goal of the home fixture against Lincoln City – from 14 league matches as Chesterfield won the Third Division Northern Section title.{{cite web |url=http://www.cfchistory.com/Stats%20&%20records/line-ups/1931-1941/1935-6.xlsx |format=XLSX |title=Chesterfield FC, 1935–6 |website=cfchistory.com |publisher=Stuart Basson |accessdate=20 July 2017}} For the reserves, he scored at least 26 goals in Midland League competition. For the new season at the higher level, Chesterfield brought in Walter Ponting to play at centre-forward, and Harvey spent the whole season in the reserves, for whom he scored at least 34 goals.{{cite web |url=http://www.cfchistory.com/Stats%20%26%20records/line-ups/1931-1941/1936-7.xlsx |format=XLSX |title=Chesterfield FC, 1936–7 |website=cfchistory.com |publisher=Stuart Basson |accessdate=20 July 2017 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629225641/https://www.cfchistory.com/Stats%20%26%20records/line-ups/1931-1941/1936-7.xlsx |url-status=dead }} Although he was available for transfer, no league club were prepared to meet the fee, so he again dropped out of the Football League, joining Midland League club Boston United for 1937–38.

He had scored nine times against that club for Chesterfield's reserves in the previous two seasons, including five in a 7–1 win in March 1936. With Wilf Notley established at centre forward, Boston used Harvey either at inside forward or at outside right,{{cite web |url=http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/seas37.html |title=Boston United's Season 1937/8 |website=bufc.drfox.org.uk |publisher=Ken Fox |accessdate=20 August 2015}} from which position he reportedly missed shooting chances because of his unwillingness to cut inside;{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000400/19371106/051/0003 |title=Grantham held at home |newspaper=Grantham Journal |date=6 November 1937 |page=3 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} nevertheless, he produced 14 goals from 28 Midland League matches.{{cite web |url=http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/stats37.html |title=Season 1937/8 – Statistics |website=bufc.drfox.org.uk |publisher=Ken Fox |accessdate=20 August 2015}} He contributed the ninth goal to Boston's biggest FA Cup win, by 10 goals to nil against Bilsthorpe Colliery in the Preliminary Round.{{cite web |url=http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/C180937.html |title=Boston United 10–0 Bilsthorpe Colliery |website=bufc.drfox.org.uk |publisher=Ken Fox |accessdate=20 August 2015}} Boston re-signed him for 1938–39,{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000332/19380701/190/0006 |title=Chelsea player for Boston |newspaper=Lincolnshire Echo |date=1 July 1938 |page=6 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} but in August 1938 he returned once more to the Football League with Darlington.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19380809/254/0009 |title=Under the searchlight |last=Argus |newspaper=Sunderland Echo |date=9 August 1938 |page=9 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}

He made a goalscoring debut in the Football League Jubilee Fund match against local rivals Hartlepools United,{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19380820/164/0008 |title=Darlington lead |newspaper=Northern Daily Mail |location=West Hartlepool |date=20 August 1938 |page=8 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} but Tom Feeney was preferred when the league season started.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19380825/168/0007 |title='Pools' side to meet Carlisle |last=Sentinel |newspaper=Northern Daily Mail |location=West Hartlepool |date=25 August 1938 |page=7 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} Darlington did not select him at centre forward until mid-October, moving Feeney to right half; Harvey marked the occasion by scoring twice away to Hull City, but his club lost 3–2.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19381017/447/0016 |title=Leading clubs have bad day in the league |newspaper=Yorkshire Post |date=17 October 1938 |page=16 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} He kept his position for the 3–1 win against Lincoln City, in which he was fouled for a penalty kick converted by Mike Boyle and then scored the third goal himself.{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19381024/325/0015 |title=Everton play like champions |newspaper=Yorkshire Post |date=24 October 1938 |page=15 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} By the end of the season, Harvey had played only 14 times in the league, and scored 7 goals; in all matches, including cup competitions and the North-Eastern League team, he contributed 36 goals. He began the 1939–40 season with Stockton, newly elected to the North-Eastern League,{{cite news |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19390607/186/0007 |title=Park Drive 'derby' rivalry |last=Sentinel |newspaper=Northern Daily Mail |location=West Hartlepool |date=7 June 1939 |page=7 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}} just before league football was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.