Billy Crinson

William James Crinson (26 July 1883 – 31 January 1951) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for The Wednesday.[4] He also played non-League football for clubs including Seaham Albion, Southwick, Huddersfield Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and Sunderland Rovers.

Billy Crinson
Personal information
Full name William James Crinson[1]
Date of birth (1883-07-26)26 July 1883[2]
Place of birth Sunderland,[1] England
Date of death 31 January 1951(1951-01-31) (aged 67)[3]
Place of death Sunderland, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1904 Seaham Albion
1904–1906 Southwick
1906–1908 The Wednesday 4 (0)
1908–1909 Huddersfield Town
1909–1913 Brighton & Hove Albion 5 (0)
1913–1915 Sunderland Rovers
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Crinson was born in 1883 in Sunderland, which was then in County Durham,[1] to Robert Crinson, an iron ship plater, and his wife Ophelia. As of the 1901 Census, the family were living in the Monkwearmouth area and the 17-year-old Crinson was an apprentice in the shipyards.[5] Crinson married Mary Angus in 1902. The 1911 Census shows him as a professional footballer living in Steyning, Sussex, and the father of five children.[6][7]

He played Wearside League football for Seaham Albion and Southwick before signing for The Wednesday in 1906 as backup for Jack Lyall.[8][9] Crinson made his Football League debut on 5 January 1907, standing in for Lyall who had been kicked on the arm in the previous match.[10] He kept a clean sheet as Wednesday won 1–0 away at Manchester City and, according to the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star, "but for a first-class display in goal by young Crinson Wednesday would scarcely have come back home with both points."[11] Lyall returned for the next match, and Crinson made three more appearances in the First Division in the following season,[12] at the end of which he was allowed to leave.[13]

He spent a season in the North-Eastern League with the newly formed Huddersfield Town club before joining Brighton & Hove Albion of the Southern League. As at Wednesday, Albion used him mainly as backup, in this case to Bob Whiting[1] – Crinson signed for Albion in 1909 but did not make his first Southern League appearance for another three years.[14] He made 13 appearances for the first team in all before returning to the north east of England,[1] where he signed for North-Eastern League club Sunderland Rovers in September 1913.[15]

After the First World War, Crinson acted as secretary of Wearside League club Sunderland Comrades, and scouted on behalf of Brighton & Hove Albion.[1] The 1939 Register records him living with his wife and three children in Givens Street, Sunderland, and working as a plater in a shipyard.[16] He was still resident at that address when he died in hospital in 1951 at the age of 67.[2][3]

References
  1. Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
  2. "Player search: Crinson, WJ (Billy)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  3. "Deaths". Sunderland Echo. 1 February 1951. p. 6.
  4. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  5. "Robert Crinson, Sunderland, Durham, England". England and Wales Census, 1901. Retrieved 17 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.
  6. "William James Crinson and Mary Angus, 19 May 1902". England Marriages, 1538–1973. Retrieved 17 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.
  7. "William James Crinson, Hove, Hove, Sussex, England". England and Wales Census, 1911. GBC/1911/RG14/05197/0233/1. Retrieved 17 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.
  8. "Athletic Notes". Sunderland Daily Echo. 10 May 1904. p. 5. Crinson, of Seaham Albion, a splendid goalkeeper, has signed for Southwick.
  9. "Sheffield Wednesday". Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. 16 August 1906. p. 3. The position of goalkeeper has occasioned most anxiety, and two understudies to Lyall have been secured in the persons of W. J. Crinson, of Southwick, and G. Morris from Chapeltown. the latter being a purely local production.
  10. "Football. Change in United team. City entertain the Wednesday". Manchester Courier. 5 January 1907. p. 9.
  11. "Cup-tie anticipations". Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. 7 January 1907. p. 3.
  12. Jackson, Stuart. "W Crinson". The Sheffield Wednesday Archive. Adrian Bullock. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  13. "Sheffield football. Local arrangements". Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. 2 May 1908. p. 5.
  14. "Brighton & Hove Albion v. Southampton". West Sussex County Times. 26 October 1912. p. 6.
  15. "Sport items". Daily Citizen. Manchester. 26 September 1913. p. 6.
  16. "Mary Crinson". 1939 Register. RG101/2720I FDKY – via Ancestry Library Edition.
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