3 — 10 Years BT (Before Thistle)

David Paul (a joiner to trade) and his wife Margaret hailed from the Lesmahagow area, and were married in Lanark in 1863. By the mid-1860s, presumably on the account of work, they had set up home in the rapidly expanding des-res that was Partick at that time. Janet was their first-born in 1865 – she’d be the first of TEN young Paul’s, a figure which wasn’t quite as ridiculous then as it seems now.

In that era, home births were the norm rather than the exception, and the next arrival at the family home would prove to be a significant one in the famous story of the Partick Thistle Football Club.

On the 7th February 1866 at 2 Merkland Street, Janet became a big sister when William Paul entered the world. Little could David and Margaret have known what a huge impact that young boy would have…

It was during his school years when he developed a strong passion for the fitba’ and “he spent the spring-time of his youth in hunting the leather”. His appetite for the beautiful game would stay with him throughout his entire life.

As William reached 15, the Paul family were living at 17, Cross Street, Govan, and had fairly blossomed; by now, the gangly teenager with the big feet was competing for sleeping space with 4 sisters and 2 brothers – Janet (16), Margaret (11), Elizabeth (9), David (6), Isabella (3) and James (1). Attentive Thistle history boffins will note there were two future Jags in that one household!

By this time, faither of the house, David, was running his own small building and repairs company, and it was only natural that young Willie came on-board from an early age; by 15 he was serving his apprenticeship as a house-joiner.

For recreation, the young man, together some of his old school pals, decided to form their own team. As the Scottish Referee would later report: “In the revelry of their young imagination they styled this embryo Queen’s Park The Elm.” By co-incidence, Willie's first men's team was Partick Elm, a fairly useful lot in the junior game who fared well in local competitions.

By that time in 1883, Willie’s family were living at 5, Beaconsfield Street, Partick. There was to be a blow for the Paul household in September of that year when Isabella contracted Scarlet Fever and lost her young life, aged just 5. Wee lamb. x

Life wasn’t easy in the 1880s – folks had to work harder to survive, and life itself was much more of a fragile proposition, especially within the working class.

Willie certainly seems to have been a grafter – he worked all of his days and, unlike his father, never knew the simple joys of retirement. Clearly as handy with his hands as he was with his head and feet, Willie's skillset developed and he became a shipwright to trade.

For some 20 years, Willie’s life was a juggling act, his time split between plying his trade in the dockyards, performing as a high-profile footballer of international renown, and his private life as a family man. He and his wife Jeanie raised three of their own; Jessie, Margaret and William.

I wonder if it ever crossed his mind during his busy life how his achievements might stack up more than 100 years down the line?