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| Jack Beattie |
 William John Beattie was born on Saturday, 27th August, 1859, in Partick, Glasgow. The midfielder probably joined Thistle in 1876 or 1877. Aged 17, he made his first known appearance on Monday, 14th May, 1877, in a 5-0 friendly win away to Smithfield. That day, Jack became a (theoretical) member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 10 known goals on Saturday, 13th September, 1884, in a 3-2 defeat away to 3rd L.R.V. in the Scottish Cup. He played his last known game for the club on Saturday, 29th November, 1884, in a 2-0 neutral-venue friendly win against Pilgrims, having appeared for the Thistle on at least 69 occasions. His club-list included Partick Thistle, Burnley, Elswick Rangers, Newcastle West End, Gateshead Association and Burnley Union Star. Jack died on Saturday, 25th March, 1933, in Burnley, Lancashire, aged 73. |
 With his appearance and goal in a 5-0 win away to Smithfield on 14th May 1877, this player made history! Alongside two others - Hugh McColl and John Young - he jointly became the first to be quoted as a Partick Thistle player, not to mention being the joint-first to be quoted as a goalscorer (no sequence was clarified). At the end of 1875 when Thistle were (most likely) formed, Jack was 16, the perfect age to be one of the likely lads who banded together for the unwittingly historic deed. It's a great pity that reporting was so loose in those days, as the full justice is rarely served to the players of that era. With almost 70 appearances going well into the mid 1880s, we can safely say that Jack was a stalwart; in reality he's likely to have played in twice as many. 400 or so were at First Hampden Park on Saturday, 5th April, 1879, 3.30pm, and they were about to witness Jack and the club make history as the first-ever trophy was won, the holders being defeated by a single goal, as reported in the North British Daily Mail:
Jack was one of Thistle's most highly regarded players in the early days, captaining the team and being selected to represent the Glasgow FA. The SFA annual of 1884-85 remarked that “he has been a splendid half-back for years; excellent tackler, and very judicious in placing the ball to his forwards.” At the tail end of 1884, he was one of several Scots who joined the rebellious Burnley FC, a club who were quite openly paying some of their players, against the wishes of the FA. As Wikipedia tells, it was at this time that Burnley led a group of 35 clubs in the formation of the breakaway British Football Association to challenge the supremacy of the FA. The threat of secession led to the FA changing its rule in July 1885, allowing professionalism, and the BFA subsequently ceased to exist. Jack made a good impression in Lancashire and was a fans favourite, scoring a fair number of goals for a defensive player. He played regularly there into 1886-87 although, strangely, he appeared on their 'open to transfer' list from June 1886, as reported in the Burnley Express. Newcastle outfit Elswick Rangers took him on a couple of months later. Appearing for Northumberland and the Newcastle & District XI when on Tyneside, he guested for West End during November of that season against Sunderland. For that game the Sunderland Echo reported that West End’s special guest “is considered equal to an international player”, while Jack’s wages were also reported, a salary “of £2 10 shilling per week”. In what a very busy season in his footballing career he also guested for Gateshead Association. Jack was made captain at Elswick and, brilliantly, he lined up against Partick Thistle on 10th September 1887, albeit it was the Thistle second eleven who travelled down to fulfill the fixture. Jack scored one (a first half equalizer) and set up another, but it wasn't enough to prevent his old club being victorious by 4 goals to 2. Incidentally, the Athletic News of the time described Jack as the Elswick captain “who used to be well known in connection with the Burton Club”. We've been unable to confirm that contention and, besides, there were two main Burton clubs - Burton Swifts & Burton Wanderers - and we wouldn't be able to pin him down even if we were inclined to do so. By the following month (October 1887) newspaper reports tell us that Jack moved back over to Burnley, where he would play for Union Star, and this he did for a few seasons, press reports of his name running dry by the end of the decade. As it turned out, in 1891 the Union Star club disbanded, abandoning their Rakehead ground, which was complete with its own grandstand. Burnley bought the stand and moved it to Turf Moor. It became known as the "Star" stand and was erected on the site of the current James Hargreaves Stand, on the north side of the ground! In the summer of 1891, Jack married a local girl, Martha, in Burnley, and later worked as a “beamer” at Grey’s Mill. Jack did live back in Scotland for a spell in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he mainly lived his life in Burnley and it was there he died, his funeral taking place on the 29th March 1933. He lies buried at Wheatley Lane Inghamite Church, in Pendle, Lancs. |
| (WS/AFK/PJO) |
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