| John Lawrie |
 John Baird Lawrie was born on Wednesday, 5th March, 1884, in Whiteinch, Glasgow. The 5' 6 (10st 0lbs) forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Tuesday, 14th February, 1905, having most recently been with Clydebank Juniors. Aged 20, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 18th February, 1905, in a 6-1 defeat away to Third Lanark in the SFL First Division. John scored his first goal for Thistle on Monday, 15th May, 1905, in a 5-0 win at home to Rangers in the Glasgow Charity Cup. He scored his second and final goal for the club on Monday, 1st January, 1906, in a 3-2 win away to Motherwell in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for Thistle on Saturday, 21st April, 1906, in a 2-0 defeat away to Queen's Park in the Glasgow League, having appeared as a Jag on 28 occasions. His club-list included Clydebank Juniors, Partick Thistle, Vale of Leven, Workington, Blackburn Rovers and Bristol Rovers. We don't know where or when John died. *
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 The son of James Laurie (contractors carter) and Jessie Laurie (née Baird) who were married in Partick in 1882. In February 1905, good form with Clydebank brought this right winger out of the juniors to Partick Thistle, fast becoming one of the top sides in the country. In what was a remarkable 6 week period, John played in the Thistle side which won 4 games against the Old Firm. Firstly there was a Glasgow League double against Celtic (2-1, 1 April) and Rangers (4-3, 22 April). These were followed by two all-time record wins against both, a 3-0 win over Celtic (8 May) in Andrew Wilson's benefit being followed by a 5-0 win over Rangers (15 May) to open Thistle's Glasgow Charity Cup campaign. John got his first goal for the Jags in that thrashing of Rangers. Third Lanark were eliminated in the semi final. 12,000 were at Ibrox for the grand final on 27 May but, alas, Celtic took gold with their 2-0 win, after a tough battle. Thistle finished 5th in both of John's seasons and scoring away to Motherwell for a 3-2 win on New Years Day 1906 was a great personal highlight. After one and a half seasons at Firhill, John moved to Vale of Leven in 1906 and the following year joined Lancashire Combination outfit Blackburn Rovers in August 1908, making his Football League debut at Aston Villa that October. He made one further appearance in a home defeat against Nottingham Forest a week later before losing his place, and he stayed a further season at Ewood Park in the reserves before returning to Workington in 1910, his last known club. Some sources have John as being born in Knightswood, most likely on account of his home address at 99 Knightswood, Anniesland. He was living there with an Alex Nisbet in 1923, just before setting sail for South Africa. In the passenger list he was described as a fitter. |
| (WS/JK) |
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