David Hislop
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David Hislop
David Hislop
• David Hislop, 1889 (HA)

born in Scotland

David Hislop was born on Saturday, 2nd November, 1867, in Whiteinch, Glasgow.

The forward signed for Thistle in August, 1888, having most recently been with Glasgow Royal.

Aged 20, he made his first known appearance on Saturday, 11th August, 1888, in a 4-2 friendly win at home to Kilbirnie.

That day, David became a member of our scoring debutant's club, and even added a second for good measure.

He scored the last of his 36 known goals on Saturday, 22nd April, 1893, in a 4-0 win at home to Glasgow Thistle in the Scottish Alliance League.

He played his last known game for the club on Wednesday, 17th May, 1893, in a 3-3 neutral-venue draw against Dykebar in the Greenock Charity Cup, having appeared for the Thistle on at least 79 occasions.

His club-list included Westburn, Glasgow Royal, Queen's Park Strollers, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Aston Villa and Forfar Athletic.

David died on Wednesday, 19th April, 1911, in Partick, Glasgow, aged 43.

David Hislop's Summary Totals
appearances position won drew lost goals
League 0 0 0 0 0
Competitive 16 7 3 6 3
All Games 79 42 12 25 36

Bio Extra

The son of William Hislop (iron moulder) and Marion Hislop (née Hislop).

This former Glasgow Royal player committed himself to the Thistle cause as a 20-year-old in the summer of 1888 and proved to be a great asset during his 2 full seasons with the club. He nabbed his first hat-trick in a tour match in September 1888 as Thistle trounced Ulster by 12 goals to 1. He repeated the feat in his second season, helping Thistle to a 5-2 win against Port Glasgow Athletic in October 1889. His 20 goal total that term gives him the proud accolade of finishing as our Top Scorer for the season, ahead of stiff competition from John Drummond, Willie Paul & Andrew Johnston. In all, the big man played more than 70 times in the dark blue and netted over 30 goals, as able from either wing.

His talent didn’t go un-noticed and he was soon poached away by Rangers in the summer of 1890. He subsequently played with them in their first ever Scottish Football League season, 1890-91, and was a massive hit at Old Ibrox, virtually an ever present as he contributed 10 goals to their joint title winning campaign. He was then lured down South by Aston Villa. There, he scored on his debut and immediately won a regular place in the starting line-up in the 1891–92 Football League season. Unfortunately, David took ill and did not play for them again after October. The Villa, however, very generously paid him a full season's remuneration. In the springtime of 1892 David returned to Glasgow.

Interestingly, the Scottish Referee (30/5/1892) has a list of players under the banner of “The Wanderers’ Return”. This is a list of players returning to the fold under “the amnesty” and D. Hislop Glasgow-Aston Villa is listed. It's our understanding that this amnesty was to forgive players who had played for English professional clubs, but wanted to return to amateur Scotland.

Alas, although his pathway was clear, the root cause of his troubling ailment meant that he took another year to recover. Eventually, David re-surfaced for another go at Inchview in March 1893, almost 3 years since last playing there. His comeback, at outside left, was in the Scottish Alliance on 25th March 1893, Thistle going down by 5 goals to 3 at home to the hot Cowlairs team of the day. “Davie Hislop got many chances but has not regained his form of two years ago” said the Referee.

It seems that this statement may hold up in more general terms, for David only appeared on 5 occasions during his second spell, all within a 7 week period; most likely some sort of trial period. David did get two wins on the board though, and he actually got on the scoresheet in a 4-0 Alliance win at home to Glasgow Thistle on 22nd April 1893. For 1892-93, he made the move to Forfar Athletic, perhaps with a view to getting some of that clean Angus air into his lungs. All in all, his footballing career seems to have ended prematurely, but he had a very decent time of it up until that illness kicked in. Forever, David will be one of the super seven who contributed to all three victories against Rangers in season 1888-89.

Away from the football, David married Hannah Hill and worked as a mercantile clerk. Just a few years into his forties, David passed away prematurely at his Hayburn Street home in the springtime of 1911. Jacky Smith, his old team mate from Westburn and Partick Thistle, also passed away at a similar age and, brilliantly, in April 1912, Thistle and Rangers played a benefit match for the widows of both men, raising a sum of around £100 (about £10,000 in today's money).

(WS/JK/AFK)



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