| James Niven |
 James Boggan Niven was born on Sunday, 5th June, 1892, in Stevenston, North Ayrshire. The forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Tuesday, 20th January, 1920, having most recently been with Kilwinning Rangers. Aged 27, he made his debut appearance on Tuesday, 13th April, 1920, in a 3-2 win at home to Newcastle United in a Benefit match. That day, James became a member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 6 goals on Saturday, 27th November, 1920, in a 5-0 win at home to Queen's Park in the Scottish Football League. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 4th December, 1920, in a 1-0 win away to Dumbarton in the Scottish Football League, having appeared as a Jag on 9 occasions. His club-list included Kilwinning Rangers and Partick Thistle. James died in the last quarter of 1974 in Congleton, Cheshire, aged 82. *
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 The son of William Niven (a coal-miner) and Annie Niven (née Boggan) who were married in 1880 in Glasgow. James had many brothers and sisters, one of whom, Alex (b. 1900) played as a footballer with Queen's Park. James played for Kilwinning Rangers pre-war, but he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (A&SH) in 1914, either prior to or just after the start of the hostilities. As conscription came years later, James was a volunteer. He was 27 years-old when he signed up for the Jags, so it’s likely the war robbed him (like many others) of a significant number of prime years playing time during the period of his service in the conflict. At the commencement of the war the A&SH had 2 regular and 7 territorial battalions, adding a further 7 service battalions before the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The regiment saw action on the Western Front, Salonika and Gallipoli. When James joined Thistle post-war, he got his 1st team start in the Willie Hamilton benefit match against Newcastle United on Tuesday 13 April 1920 at Firhill. Neil Harris scored 2 goals, only for Newcastle to pull 2 back. James scored the winner towards the end of the match. He got his next start the following evening, when the Jags hosted Hibernian in a league encounter. Thistle won 1-0 with Neil Harris scoring. Both matches attracted crowds of around 7,000. Thistle’s next match was against Dundee at Dens Park on 17 April 1920, with the Jags losing 2-1 in the SFL match. James scored the Thistle goal. Thistle had played 3 matches in 5 days! No respite, Aberdeen at Pittodrie followed 2 days later, a 0-0 draw. James played 1 further match in the 1919-20 season, and 4 in the whole of the following season. His younger brother, Alex, played for Queen’s Park. The English census of 1921 tells us that James was married and working as a coal miner Stoke on Trent. The 1939 register shows James working as a fitter’s labourer in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, by then with a 12 year old son, John. On account of his service during WWI, James is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned →. |
| (DMAC/JK/WS) |
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