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| Frank Branscombe |
 Francis Archer Branscombe was born on Monday, 6th May, 1889, in Dennistoun, Glasgow. The 5' 8 (11st 7lbs) forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Saturday, 16th January, 1909, having most recently been with Clydebank Juniors. Aged 19, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 23rd January, 1909, in a 0-0 draw away to West Calder Swifts in the Scottish Cup. Frank scored his first goal for Thistle on Saturday, 20th March, 1909, in a 3-1 defeat at home to Port Glasgow Athletic in the SFL First Division. He scored the last of his 61 goals on Saturday, 5th May, 1917, in a 3-1 win (aet) at home to Third Lanark in the Glasgow Charity Cup. That turned out to be his last game for the club, having clocked up an impressive 228 appearances as a Jag. His club-list included Clydebank Juniors, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Vale of Leven and Dunkeld & Birnam. Frank died on Tuesday, 14th April, 1942, in Maryhill, Glasgow, aged 52. |
 The majority of his career was spent at Partick Thistle where he played from 1909 to 1917, making 226 appearances and scoring 60 goals in all games; he appeared in the finals of the Glasgow Cup in 1914 and the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup in 1916, but finished on the losing side in both. Branscombe was involved in a fatal accident during a match on Christmas Day 1909 when he slipped on an icy surface in a challenge for the ball with James Main of Hibernian, accidentally striking the Scotland defender in the stomach with his boot with some force. Main died from his injuries 4 days later. The incident affected the form of 20-year-old Branscombe for some time. He had loan spells with Vale of Leven and Rangers during World War I – in the period of around six weeks he spent at Ibrox, he managed to score in five different Scottish Football League fixtures out of the seven he played in. In 1917 he left Scotland to work in the wartime munitions industry in Woolwich. He later played for amateur side Dunkeld and Birnham, facing Partick Thistle in the 1923–24 Scottish Cup; the Jags won the tie 11–0. He had a trial for the Scottish League XI in 1910 and played in the Glasgow FA's annual challenge match against Sheffield in 1914. |
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