The Thistle Archive

The son of John Gibson (tram car conductor) and Susannah Gibson (née Elliott) who were married in Greenock in June, 1902.

As with many natural-born Henry's he was known as, and signed himself as, Harry. He played in the juniors with his hometown team in Port Glasgow in his late teens/early 20s, and his form attracted attention from a few top tier clubs, but it was George Easton who won his signature in the summer of 1926. Such was the form of Sandy Hair at centre forward that Harry found it impossible to get a start at Firhill and, in October, he was allowed to move to Third Lanark for the remainder of the season to develop his craft at the top level. Harry did fairly well there, scoring 9 League goals in 28 games, switching between outside left and centre forward positions. He returned to Firhill a hungry man in the summer of 1927 - and proceeded to take the League by storm! Harry netted 3 hat-tricks that season and scored against both halves of the Old Firm as Thistle finished strongly in the Top 6 of Scottish football. When all was tallied up, Harry finished as top scorer with a massive 28 goals in all competitions.

Harry bagged another hat-trick in the opening League game of season 1928-29, in a 4-2 win at home to Raith Rovers, and hopes were high that he could be on for a repeat showing. The goals were shared more evenly this time around though, Harry's tally of 13 landing him behind John Torbet (19) and Davie Ness (18) in the competitive Top 3. Once again, Thistle finished loftily, making the Top 6. With a bad knee injury, Harry didn't feature in any of the last 5 games of the season and, somewhat abruptly, that was that. He was placed on the 'open to transfer' list for 1929-30, with a £500 price tag on his head. No first class offers were made, and it was Mansfield Town of the Midland League who benefitted, securing the services of Harry in August 1929. He was a big hit there and finished top scorer in his first season, despite missing some game time in that spring after breaking his arm, sidelined with more bad luck!

In the autumn of 1931, Harry crossed the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland, initially trying out for Bangor against Derry City on 26th September 1931. Willie Salisbury, his former Thistle teammate, was playing there and perhaps he was the connection that brought him over. Harry played only a handful of games at Bangor and scored one goal. After a short while, there was a contract dispute and the club suspended him. Harry won an appeal at the Irish Football Association and the club paid the money due to him. By early 1932, Harry had returned to Scotland and was drafted in for a month long deal at East Fife. Despite scoring on his debut in a 4-2 league defeat at home to St Johnstone on 6 February 1932, nothing more permanent came of it. He had turned up for that game with only minutes to spare, so perhaps that was deemed an issue! For 1932-33, Harry was off on his travels again, signing for Millwall on 29 September 1932. His footballing trail goes cold from there.

In his personal life, Harry married Agnes Malcolm in 1929, in Greenock.

1928 - GLASGOW DENTAL CUP