A look at the tragic story of a player who was Liverpool’s first England international and went on to captain Thames Ironworks.
Thomas Henry Bradshaw was born in Liverpool exactly 147 years ago, on 24th August 1873, and started his footballing career with Liverpool Nomads in 1889 before featuring in Everton’s reserves in the Lancashire Combination for one season. He spent one year at Northwich Victoria where he played 22 games and scored eight goals in the Second Division before signing for Liverpool in October 1893 at the age of 20.
‘Harry’, as he was often known, was Liverpool’s centre-forward and the biggest star that the club had boasted up to that point. He made his debut against Woolwich Arsenal in a Second Division game, scoring the last goal in a 5-0 victory. He scored seven goals in 14 appearances to help Liverpool to the Second Division Championship in their debut season in the Football League in 1893/94. The club were relegated the following campaign but Bradshaw was the club’s only ever-present in the league and found the net 17 times. Although he would immediately pick up another Second Division winners’ medal in 1895/96, Bradshaw notched 11 goals having been switched to the wing and also played for the Football League on two occasions. He became the first Liverpool player to achieve international honours when he played outside-left as England beat Ireland 6-0 on 20th February 1897. Bradshaw was an active member of the Association Footballers’ Union which caused problems with his employers and eventually resulted in him leaving the club. Bradshaw returned briefly to Northwich Victoria before joining Tottenham before the 1898/99 season having scored 51 goals in 138 appearances for Liverpool.
Bradshaw made a goalscoring debut for Tottenham against Thames Ironworks in a Thames and Medway League match and was virtually an ever-present in his only season with Spurs, the club’s final season at Northumberland Park before their move to White Hart Lane. His goal against Sunderland in 1899 helped Tottenham become the first lower division club ever to come from behind to beat top flight opposition in an FA Cup tie. Bradshaw was also selected to represent the United League against the Thames and Medway League that season; he also played for the South against the North in the annual international trial match and was part of an England XI which played a Scotland XI in a benefit match for the players’ union.
Bradshaw, by now a fast, direct left winger, moved to Thames Ironworks (soon to become West Ham United) in the summer of 1899 and was made club captain. George Neil, who had just taken over from Francis Payne as the Irons’ club secretary, had been given the task of finding good players to help the club prepare for their first season in the top division of the Southern League and spent £1,000 on Tottenham trio Bradshaw, Bill Joyce and Ken McKay. According to one report, Arnold Hills (the club’s founder) initially refused to sanction the transfers because of the costs to the club. Bradshaw made his debut for the Irons on 16th September 1899 in a 1-0 defeat at Reading.
Bradshaw’s wife, Elizabeth, stated that during a football match four years previously he was kicked on the head. During a Southern League match on 7th October 1899, Bradshaw sustained another injury from a kick to the head in the Irons’ 1-0 win over Bedminster which would begin a series of events that would see the condition of his health deteriorate. From that time forward he suffered from pains in the head and discharge from the ears; Bradshaw had to put his hands to his ears to ease the suffering from heading the ball. He still managed to make a strong contribution, scoring a goal in the Irons’ biggest win of the season, 7-0 at Dartford. Bradshaw played his last Southern League game in a goalless home draw against New Brompton on 11th November 1899. Only a week later, the Irons had to play New Brompton again, this time in the FA Cup, and a 0-0 draw was followed by a 2-0 replay win, setting up a fifth qualifying round tie against Thames Ironworks’ arch-rivals Millwall. The clearly-ailing Bradshaw was rested for the next two league games in preparation for the tie against Millwall which was to follow 16 days later. Bradshaw made his comeback in the game on 9th December, scoring the Irons’ goal in a 2-1 defeat. He got kicked in the leg and was ordered to rest for three weeks. It was his last goal and appearance for the club, having scored two goals in 12 matches.
On Christmas morning 1899, Bradshaw watched Tottenham play Portsmouth. At 2.15pm he went home to his residence at 5 Shelbourne Road, Tottenham, where a short while later he vomited excessively and complained of violent pains in the head and chest. Before a doctor could attend to him, Bradshaw had a fit and died.
Officially the 26-year-old Bradshaw died of tuberculosis, although the post-mortem showed he had also suffered a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. Future Hammers’ manager Syd King, a team-mate of Bradshaw’s, later wrote:
“How well I remember that match with Queens Park Rangers during the Christmas holidays, when [Bill] Joyce brought over the sad message to the Memorial Grounds that our comrade had passed away. Poor Tom was one of the cleverest wing-forwards I have ever known and he was immensely popular with everybody.”
Bradshaw’s death increased hostility towards Tottenham, with Irons fans convinced that Spurs would have known he was suffering from tuberculosis when they sold him. On 2nd April 1900 Tottenham and Thames Ironworks came together to play a charity match to raise money for Bradshaw’s family – he was survived by his widow and two young children. Bradshaw’s close friends Joyce and McKay, who had moved to east London from Tottenham with him, departed for Portsmouth and Fulham respectively, four months after the death of their team-mate.