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YOUR CONTRIBUTION
ERNEST
BLENKINSOP OF BRIERLEY COLLIERY & ENGLAND
By Bob Blenkinsop
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Ernest
Blenkinsop was born in Cudworth in April 1902, and went on to become one
of the most successful footballers of the inter-war period. He won a
wide range of domestic and international honours during his long career
with Sheffield Wednesday and England, but his first experience of work
was gained in the six years he worked at Brierley Colliery from 1915 to
1921.
The
Blenkinsop family had been in Cudworth since the early 1800's. Thomas
Blenkinsop, an Officer of the Excise from Barnsley, married Sarah Addey
in Cudworth in 1804, and it is highly likely that any Blenkinsops in the
Barnsley area are descended from them and their four sons. During the
1800's most of the Blenkinsop family worked in farming and then coal
mining, but it also included the licensee of the Star Inn, Cudworth
during the 1880's and a Butcher who had a shop in Shambles Street,
Barnsley for many years from the late 1800's. Ernest was the second son
of James and Annie (nee Green) Blenkinsop. Ernest attended school in St
John's Road, Cudworth but at the age of 13 followed his father and elder
brother into the mines, working at Brierley Colliery
|
Ernest Blenkinsop during his football days at
Cudworth before going on to play for England |
Cudworth
Village F.C.1921/22. Ernest can be seen back row 5th
from the left.
Ernest seen here wearing one of his England caps
|
In
the early 1900's football was increasingly becoming the popular sport of
the working classes in the industrial North. Following the introduction
of half-day working on Saturday during the late 1800's, the workingman
had his first real opportunity for recreation and many turned their
attention to playing or watching football. There was a rapid emergence
of professional teams and local amateur leagues, particularly in the
Mining areas of the North and Scotland, and the textile towns of
Lancashire. Barnsley was no exception. Barnsley FC were formed as Barnsley St Peter in 1887 and
enjoyed some significant success prior to the First World War, including
victory in the 1912 FA Cup Final. The period following the War saw a
further expansion in the number of local leagues and teams in the
Barnsley area.
Cudworth St Johns, Cudworth
UMC, and Cudworth Industrial all played in the Barnsley Association
League, but Cudworth Village was the only Cudworth team to play in the
Senior Division of the league. Other prominent teams in the Senior
Division included Grimethorpe, Houghton Main Colliery, Darton United,
and Monckton Athletic. One correspondent in the Barnsley Independent
offered the opinion that "with teams at Cudworth like the Village
and the UMC there is no necessity for Cudworthians to go meandering to
Monckton to see good football." Ernest first joined his elder
brother Herbert Harry (known as Tarry) in the Cudworth Village team at
the age of fifteen. By the 1920-21 season eighteen-year-old Ernest was
the star of the team that finished fifth in the league and enjoyed a
successful run in the Barnsley and District Challenge Cup.
This
level of football was well supported by paying customers. Local Cup
competitions represented a source of significant revenue for the
committees that managed local teams, and the committees would often
resort to illegitimate tactics to enable progress in these competitions.
The semi-final of the 1920-21 Barnsley Cup between Cudworth and Wombwell
was one such instance. Following a Cudworth victory, Wombwell complained
that Ernest had played in the Cudworth team while serving a suspension.
The league ordered a replay and fined Cudworth 10 shillings and
sixpence. Ultimately, this proved to be a very satisfactory outcome for
Cudworth as they won the replayed game 2-1 (without the suspended
Ernest) and the gate receipts from the crowd of over 2,000 would
certainly have more than compensated for the fine incurred for the
earlier breach of rules. Cudworth
met Monckton in the final at Oakwell on Easter Tuesday in front of a
crowd of 5,800 (paying gate receipts of £227).
According to the Barnsley Independent Monckton were worthy 2-0
winners of a "rough game" in which Ernest "shone in the
middle line" for Cudworth. The Cudworth team that day was:
Colbourne,
Iveson, H. Blenkinsop, Hunt, Armstrong, E. Blenkinsop, Brown, Driver,
Reynolds, Hitchen, and Barber.
At
the clubs AGM in May 1921 it was reported that the season had been
considered a success, despite the fact that the club had incurred a loss
of £8. This was attributed to the fact that a backlog of home games
towards the end of the season had unfortunately coincided with a coal
strike that had impacted attendances and gate receipts. By the start of
the following season the young Cudworth team were starting to attract
the attention of a number of professional clubs and in October 1921
Ernest signed for Hull City, who paid Cudworth the unusual transfer fee
of £100 and 80 pints of ale! Ernest picked up a signing on fee of £10
and his wages jumped from 30 shillings at Brierley to £5 a week. One
account of the transfer describes how Ernest insisted on working out his
notice at Brierley, only to be dispatched immediately by the Colliery
manager who advised him that "Owt might 'appen down t'pit in a
week". The Barnsley Independent reported the transfer under the
headline of "Cudworth Player for Hull" and went on to report
that "the player is well spoken of, has been sought by several
clubs, and his admirers will hope that he develops".
Although
Ernest only made 11 first team appearances for Hull, it was a move that
would change his life. He subsequently signed for Sheffield Wednesday in
January 1923, and in his 11 years with Wednesday he made over 420
appearances, won two First Division championships, and collected 26 full
England caps. He set a record for consecutive international appearances,
playing in every England game from 1928 to November 1933, and he
captained the national team on 4 occasions. In March 1934 Ernest
transferred to Liverpool for £6000, and he moved on to Cardiff City in
1937, where he ended his league career just prior to the war.
A
professional footballer during the inter-war period would have enjoyed a
reasonable standard of living but it was a far cry from the luxurious
life-styles of their modern day counterparts. For the first time
football had started to generate significant income, but the players
only received a small share of this. Ernest's wages were capped at the
maximum wage payable to footballers (£8 per week during the season) and
he received £6 for each England appearance. For a Wembley international
in the early 1930's the Football Association actually paid the Band that
provided the pre-match entertainment more than they paid the England
team!
Ernest
married Winnie Stewart of Sheffield in 1926 and they had two children,
Beryl and Barry. At the outbreak of war in 1939 he returned to Sheffield
and worked in the steel industry, and made guest appearances in wartime
football for Buxton, Halifax, Bradford City and Bradford Park Avenue.
After the war he became a licensee, running the Sportsman's Inn in
Crosspool, Sheffield until his death in 1969.
Most of the Blenkinsop family had
migrated from Cudworth by the mid-1900's. The strikes and the economic
depression of the 1920's caused many, including Ernest's brother Tarry,
to seek jobs away from mining and from Barnsley. There was, however,
still a family connection with the next generation of Cudworth
footballers. Allan Green who played in the successful Darfield Road
Juniors team of the mid-1950's and went on to play for Barnsley and York
City was the grandnephew of Annie Blenkinsop, Ernest's mother
Bob
Blenkinsop
July 2002
Footnote:
Ernest
Blenkinsop was my grandfather, and I would be very interested in hearing
from anybody who has any information about the Blenkinsops of Barnsley
or Cudworth. Please don't hesitate to contact me at: bblenkin@bblenkinsop.wanadoo.co.uk
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