Evelyn Morrison
Evelyn Morrison
Evelyn Morrison
● Evelyn Morrison, 1932 (DC)

South Africa

Evelyn Morrison was born on Friday, 1st August, 1902, in the Colony of Natal (now known as the province of KwaZulu-Natal).

The forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Monday, 11th May, 1931, having most recently been with Sunderland.

Aged 28, he made his debut appearance on Sunday, 31st May, 1931, in a 3-2 friendly defeat away to Kjøbenhavns Boldklub.

That day, Evelyn became a member of our scoring debutant's club.

He scored the last of his 19 goals on Saturday, 5th March, 1932, in a 4-1 defeat away to Airdrieonians in the Scottish Cup.

He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 12th March, 1932, in a 2-1 win at home to Ayr United in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 20 occasions.

His club-list included Moorpark Amateurs, Stenhousemuir, Falkirk, Sunderland and Partick Thistle.

Evelyn died on Friday, 15th, November, 1968, in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, aged 66.

Bio Extra

Forward Evelyn Morrison was born in the then province of Natal, in South Africa in August 1902. Parents George and Mary moved the family back to Scotland when Evelyn was young. He came to professional football later than most, and was 25 when he made his Stenhousemuir debut. He spent time managing the family business, GEM Briquettes. He made 23 appearances for Stenhousemuir in 1927/28, then moved to Falkirk where in the 1928/29 season he scored 39 goals (or 43/47 according to some sources), a magnificent total.

This period was undoubtedly the pinnacle of his career. His success brought Evelyn to the attention of Sunderland, and he played for the club from 1929 to 1931. Evelyn only played for the Black Cats on 16 occasions, scoring 7 goals (according to the Sunderland FC site thestatcat.co.uk). Unusually he didn’t move there and travelled to Sunderland to play in matches. He didn’t train with the club, as he continued to manage the family business in Scotland.

Evelyn joined Thistle from Sunderland in May 1931. The player’s first task was to travel to Denmark for the club’s 4 friendly matches arranged there. His debut was in the opening match against Kjobenhavns Boldklub where, despite him scoring, the Jags lost 3-2. Thistle won two and lost the other two; we're still on the hunt for the line-ups/scorers to see if there was any more early action for Evelyn! In the 1931-32 season, Evelyn played in 15 SFL First Division matches and 7 Scottish Cup matches, eventually being beaten by Airdrie in the Quarter Final. Evelyn scored 15 goals in his 15 league appearances, a creditable performance.

By 1935 had started a 2 year teacher training course at Jordanhill College, and on retiring from football in 1937 he became a teacher at St Joseph Primary School in Blantyre, teaching woodworking. He married Lilly Ashenhurst later in the decade. In 1948 he was appointed assistant teacher of technical subjects at Uddingston Grammar School. Evelyn passed away in Hamilton on 15 November 1968, aged 66.

(DMAC)



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