| John Stevenson |
 John Stevenson was born on Friday, 2nd August, 1889, in Broxburn, West Lothian. The 5' 10½ (11st 6lbs) midfielder signed for George Easton's Thistle on Saturday, 6th July, 1912, having recently been with Broxburn. Aged 23, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 17th August, 1912, in a 2-1 defeat away to Kilmarnock in the SFL First Division. John scored his only goal for Thistle on Monday, 30th September, 1912, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Celtic in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for the club on Monday, 24th April, 1916, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Clyde in the Scottish Football League, having appeared as a Jag on 61 occasions. His club-list included Broxburn Thistle, Broxburn, Partick Thistle, Reading, Bathgate and Broxburn United. John died in the 3rd quarter of 1969 in Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, aged 79 or 80. |
 The son of William Stevenson (oil work labourer) and Elizabeth 'Bessie' Stevenson (née Todd). John came from a very large family and two of his older brothers - James & Frank - emigrated to Johannesburg to work in the mines. In fact, it's entirely down to Frank's heroics in a mining disaster being reported in the papers that we were able to establish the life details of John who was quoted in one particular article (see 'Scrapbook' tab to read all about it). Predominantly a pivot, John arrived from Broxburn in the summer of 1912. Thistle had just experienced a couple of golden seasons in Scotland's Top 4, but dropped like a stone in John's debut campaign of 1912-13, finishing 17th. He was a regular that season, making 32 competitive appearances, a figure which dropped to 21 appearances in 1913-14, as Thistle improved only slightly, up to 15th, only a late spurt preventing a bottom place finish. John ventured south the following season, landing at Southern League Reading, who would finish 2nd that term. Thistle continued to hold his registration papers, and he returned to Firhill a year later. John made only 7 appearances in his second spell as a Jag, but would have surely been pleased with the club's 5th place finish in the 1915-16 league. The officials at Bathgate were very enterprising in the close season of 1916, bringing a great many senior pros to their club, including two former Jags in the shape of John Stevenson and James McCaig who had played together at Thistle in 1913-14. John finished up in the Central League with Broxburn United in 1920-21. By the time of the 1939 census, he was described as a processor in the oil refinery business and lived with his wife, Rebecca, and family in Neath, South Wales. |
| (WS/JK) |
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