John Dewhurst
5'9" 12st.2lb.
b. Padiham 15 December 1876
Debut 14 October 1899 (22y 303d) Final Game 22 April 1905 (28y 128d)
First Goal 9 December 1899 Final Goal 1 April 1905
CAREER: Club Street School (Giles St);Trinity;Blue Ribbon;Padiham;Nelson:Padiham;Darwen Jun'98[8-3];Padiham;Blackburn Rovers Apr'99;Brentford May'05;Bury Oct'05-Oct'12[197-6];Accrington Stanley Sum'12.
FL 169 apps 43 gls
FAC 13 apps 4 gls
Total 182 apps 47 gls et 30m
Strike rate 349m
LC 17 apps 6 gls et 35m
A centre forward who was tough, brave and honest he reaped the reward for his bravery as he got on the end of crosses from Whittaker and Blackburn. It required a great deal of courage to play the position at the time but Dewhurst was never short of this commodity. When he moved to Bury, his bi-annual battle against the Rovers' hard man, Sam McClure, became the stuff of legend. He was unfortunate to miss out on personal honours losing on the casting vote for a place in the England side against Scotland in 1902 and being reserve for the Football League in 1906. He moved to the Southern League because the Rovers would only pay him his benefit for five years service if he accepted a wage cut. However he failed to settle in the south and returned to Bury, resuming his old job as a cotton mill overlooker in Padiham. A cousin of Bill Bradshaw, the pair played together at Padiham and Blackburn. In 1910 he took over the Royal Oak Hotel from his cousin Jack Bradshaw but after the war became a farmer at Head Farm,Ashley Lane,Longridge. By the start of the war he was living there but the farm was run by his two youngest children, Monica and Joseph Edward. Seldom has a player been as unfortunate with international selection. Whilst he was at the Rovers he lost out on a casting vote and at Bury he was twice name as twelfth man. The date if his death is not known but he pre-deceased his wife Bridget, who died on 11 November 1971.
Edited by Kamy100
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