Arthur Shallcross (1868 - 1955)

Born 1868 in Leek, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Died 1955 at about age 87 in Leek, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Arthur Shallcross is Notable.

Arthur Shallcross was born in Staffordshire, England.

Arthur Shallcross was born in the United Kingdom.

Arthur was a football referee and Stoke Football Club manager

Arthur J Shallcross was born in 1868 in Leek. He was probably the son of John Shallcross and Ellen (Deakin) Shallcross^[1]. Arthur J Shallcross was a renowned Stoke F C football manager from 1919 to 1923. He had previously been a referee.

Some highlights of his Stoke managerial career were -

1921 Staffordshire Senior Cup final win (2-0 v Walsall)

League division runners up (behind Nottingham Forest 1921-22 season)

(please see research notes for more details)

He was perhaps quite fortunate to inherit a good squad that had been League champions twice during the war years 1915 and 1918 and also finished second in 1919 and third in 1917. They had also won the League Cup final in 1918. However, some players are reported to have been killed or injured in WWI action (more research needed).

Family Life

Note - the birth date is about seven years different from the wikipedia article, but it is the only local contemporary record found yet. The author has found that in general wikipedia articles of this type can be slightly inaccurate in this regard, particularly the encyclopedia source cited. Other sources support the earlier birth date of 1868 ^[2].

Arthur aged 2 was recorded with family in the 1871 Leek census -

John Shallcross Father 26 Solicitors Clerk b. Leek

Ellen Shallcross Mother 23 b.Ashenhurst^[3].

Arthur's father John aged 36 (Solicitors managing Clerk) was recorded with family in the 1881 Leek census -

Thomas Shallcross Son M 8 Leek, Staffordshire, England

Mary Ellen Shallcross Daughter F 6 Leek, Staffordshire, England

Ellen Shallcross Wife F 33 Ashinhurst, Staffordshire, England

Gertrude Shallcross Daughter F 3 Leek, Staffordshire, England

John Deakin Shallcross Son M 2 Leek, Staffordshire, England

Arthur Shallcross Son M 12 Leek, Staffordshire, England scholar^[4].

Arthur married Sarah Ellen (Nellie) Bishop in 1889 in Leek ^[5].

Arthur aged 32 (joiner and cabinet maker) was recorded with family in the 1901 Leek census -

Nellie Shallcross Wife 32 b.Leekbrook

Harold Shallcross Son 10 b.Leek

Percy Shallcross Son 7 b.Leek^[6].

Arthur saw service in WWI in 1919 with the Army Pay Corps ^[7].

The family were recorded in the 1921 Stoke upon Trent census -

Arthur Shallcross 1868 Leek, Staffordshire, England

Nellie Shallcross 1869 Leekbrook, Staffordshire, England^[8].

This location is consistent with Arthur being the Stoke FC manager from 1919-1923.

Arthur passed away in 1955 in Leek ^[9] (again there is about a 5 year discrepancy with the wikipedia article).

Research Notes

Please see the UK association football managers site ^[10] for details of his predecessors and successors.

There are some minor discrepancies in Arthur's birth and death dates from different sources, but other sources seem to support the narrative, unless more information emerges to contradict it.

Football was in a bit of a mess after WWI. The League's were restructured again following financial impropriety by several clubs. For example, Liverpool FC 1915, Manchester City FC 1905 and Manchester Utd FC 1915 had recently been found guilty of bribery or match fixing offences, with no obvious punishment. Except that is The London 'Football' Authorities expected them to play fixtures against lower league London teams Chelsea F C and 'Woolwich' Arsenal F C in a 'special' league

This was an eccentric manouvre by the The London 'Football' Authorities that allowed their teams to assume the fixtures of Barnsley FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers. There were understandable accusations of foul play and very plausible allegations of bribery in order to achieve further financial gain. However, The London 'Football' Authorities have not yet found themselves guilty of any impropriety.

Note this did not directly affect Stoke FC. Stoke finished in a creditable second place in the Football league in 1921-22, behind Nottingham Forest FC.

The final 1921-22 table below shows the top five teams -

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Au5DaP7et6PWcmbr62hnSQ&scan=1 (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
2. ↑ "England, Staffordshire, Church Records, 1538-1944," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL3L-ND17 : 8 July 2020), Arthur Shallcross, 19 Sep 1868; citing Baptism, Leek, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom, Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service, Stafford; FHL microfilm 100,956,676. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5R5-F22 : 27 June 2022), Arthur Shallcross in entry for John Shallcross, 1871. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1881", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27V-XMTP : Wed Mar 06 00:15:38 UTC 2024), Entry for John Shallcross and Ellen Shallcross, 1881. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
5. ↑ "England, Staffordshire, Church Records, 1538-1944", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLQD-P8RK : Sat Mar 09 17:37:13 UTC 2024), Entry for Sarah Ellen Bishop and Thomas Bishop, 1889. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
6. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1901," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XS7X-1KV : 21 May 2019), Arthur Shallcross, Leek, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Leek subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
7. ↑ "United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBL-FV64 : Sat Mar 09 06:33:30 UTC 2024), Entry for Arthur Shallcross, 1919. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
8. ↑ https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/results?lastname=shallcross&yearofbirth=1868&yearofbirth_offset=1&datasetname=1921%20census%20of%20england%20%26%20wales&keywordsplace=stoke-on-trent%2c%20staffordshire%2c%20england&keywordsplace_proximity=5&registrationdistrict=stoke%20upon%20trent&sid=999 (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
9. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVCD-NQC6 : 4 September 2014), Arthur Shallcross, 1955; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Leek, Staffordshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. (accessed 6 Apr 2024)
10. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:United_Kingdom_association_football_managers (accessed 29 Apr 2024)