The Thistle Archive

Charlie's English Dad (George) was a military man and our Charlie was born at the famous Woolwich Royal Arsenal, although there is a red herring in the English Census of 1881 which wrongly shows Charlie as being born in Gibraltar. Presumably the family were based there for a spell. The Scottish Census of both 1891 and 1901 correct this, as does Charlie’s Baptism Record and a copy of his will. His mother, Margaret, was Scottish, and this may partly explain the resettlement in Scotland. Charlie was described as a rubber worker in his teens and his twenties.

A right sided forward, the 28-year-old Charlie got a dream move to Rangers at the tail end of 1903, much to the regret of all at Lochburn Park, home to Maryhill Juniors. After 4 League appearances and 1 goal at Rangers, Charlie spent 2 seasons at Hamilton Accies from 1904-05 followed by two seasons at East Stirlingshire. He was never a first-team regular in his twilight years, making a single competitive appearance at Dumbarton in August 1908 and doing likewise at Thistle just over a year later, featuring in the Qualifying cup tie at Bathgate. Being in a bit of a pickle with two fixture on one day, Thistle drafted Charlie in at short notice, and it seems like he stayed around for a few months anyway. We know that he played at least once at Firhill. Although the reserves weren't running regularly as such, a number of fixtures were fulfilled, and Charlie featured in a 1-1 Glasgow Cup draw against Queen's Park, just a week before Christmas.