A few months ago I
heard from Jonathan Miller from Whitley Bay in Northumberland. His
good friend Billy Fenwick, who is now in his 90s played for Blyth
Spartans for many years but told him that his father, Alfred (Alf)
Fenwick, played for Coventry City in the early 1920s.
I was able to send
Jonathan a team photo from 1920 containing Billy's father and
promised to write about Alfred & son Billy in this column. I
wrote about Alf a few years ago but more information has come to
light.
Alfred Randolph Fenwick
was born in the mining village of Medomsley, near Consett in County
Durham on 26 March 1891. He was the son of a mining engineer and grew
up close to the Hamsterley Colliery where his father worked.
It is known that he
played for local team Craghead United before joining Hull City in
1910. In 1914 just as war was about to break out he signed for West
Ham. There is no record of his war-time activities but after the war
he briefly played for West Ham again before signing for City in
December 1919. When he arrived the Bantams were six points adrift at
the foot of Division Two without a win in 18 games in their inaugural
Football League season. He made his debut in a 0-0 home draw with
Clapton Orient but five days later, on Christmas Day he helped the
team to their momentous first victory in the league. In front of
19,000 at Highfield Road, Stoke City were defeated 3-2. The Potters
got their revenge on Boxing Day, winning 6-1 in the return but the
Bantams were on the rise. Alf's steadying influence at left half,
where he was an ever present for the remainder of the season, helped
the club pull out of the relegation places, although the club needed
the help of bribes in their final game against Bury to finally slink
out of trouble.
He made 53 appearances
for City over two seasons and scored one goal. According to excellent
Blyth Spartans historical website, Alf gave up full-time professional
football on leaving City in 1921 and returned to County Durham to
work in the thriving local mines playing amateur football for
Leadgate Park in the North Eastern League. In 1922 Billy’s father
was encouraged to join Blyth Spartans and he took up at job at the
Isabella Pit near Blyth. The Fenwick family moved to Blyth after they
were given help by the club to find a new house in Tenth Avenue,
Blyth.
In 1924 he played
briefly for Ashington Town, then in Division Three North & the
following season joined Halifax Town briefly. The last record of him
playing was with Bedlington United in1926-27, coincidentally
another-ex-City man, Hugh Richmond finished his playing career with
the same club. Alf worked as an overman at the pit until he retired
and during World War II he continued at the mine, as well as being in
the Home Guard. He died in Northumberland in 1975 aged 83.
Alf recommended his
nephew Austen Campbell to Coventry in 1921 but he was released after
one game and later joined Blackburn Rovers and became an England
international.
Alf's son William
Randolph Fenwick (known as Billy) was born on 13th
August 1920 at Shotley Bridge near Consett in County Durham. He was a
plasterer by trade but inherited his father's football skills. He
played for Blyth Spartans from 1937-1955 but had a spell at Sheffield
Wednesday as a teenager (1938-39). During World War II he served in
the RAF in India for four years. In 1946 he had trials at Blackburn
Rovers and was offered a professional contract but chose to remain in
Blyth where his wife Lily was expecting their only child, Jacqueline.
He later
played for Ashington, North Shields and Cramlington Welfare
during a boom time for North Eastern Amateur football. After he hung
his boots up he returned to Blyth Spartans to become trainer in 1957
and occupied various roles at the club over the next 40 years
including a brief spell as manager. Billy was 95 this week &
until he went into a care home recently, still attended Spartans home
games.
Billy had
an elder brother, Alfred Leslie Fenwick (known as Les), who spent
time at Sheffield Wednesday before World War II & was transferred
to Reading in the summer of 1939. Les made his Reading debut the week
before war was declared and after the war was too old to play. He
also gave good service to Blyth Spartans,.
Unusually
there were at least nine other players, apart from Alf Fenwick, who
played for both Blyth Spartans and Coventry City's first team. The
full list along with the year they signed for Coventry is:
- George
Davison (1913)
- Lance Swindale (1921)
- Norman Findlay (1921)
- Arthur Ormston (1922)
- Hugh Richmond (1922)
- Andrew Yorke (1923)
- George Reay (1930)
- John Watson (1934)
- Brian Joicey (1969)
Posts
