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| Maurice Parry |
 Maurice Pryce Parry was born on Wednesday, 7th November, 1877, in Trefonen, Oswestry. The 5' 11½ (12st 12lbs) midfielder signed for George Easton's Thistle on Monday, 17th May, 1909, having most recently been with Liverpool. Aged 31, he made his debut appearance on Monday, 16th August, 1909, in a 2-1 defeat away to Morton in the SFL First Division. Maurice scored his only goal for Thistle on Wednesday, 5th January, 1910, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Hamilton Academical in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 16th April, 1910, in a 2-0 defeat at home to Queen's Park in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 28 occasions. His club-list included Newtown, Long Eaton Rangers, Nottingham Forest, Oswestry United, Leicester Fosse, Loughborough Town, Brighton United, Liverpool, Partick Thistle and Wrexham. Maurice died on Sunday, 24th March, 1935, in Bootle, Merseyside, aged 57. |
 Maurice, a right half specialist, joined Thistle at the end of a long football career in May 1909. He is mainly known for his 9 year spell with Liverpool from 1900 to 1909, and also goes down as the first Welshmen to play for Partick Thistle. Prior to joining Liverpool he had a long list of clubs starting with Newtown in 1894, and including Nottingham Forest, Oswestry United (close to his birthplace) and Leicester Fosse. He was capped by Wales on 16 occasions. He played as a right half with Liverpool, playing a role in 2 First Division Championships – although he only got a medal for 1 of these, not having played frequently enough for the 2nd. He played for Thistle in the 1909-10 season along with Alex Raisbeck, who made a similar journey from Liverpool. The 1908-09 season had been a harrowing one for Thistle, but during the first season at Firhill the Jags eventually moved on positively from that, thanks in no small part to the on and off field influence of these two. After leaving Thistle, Maurice went to South Africa to try his hand at coaching, but soon moved back to the UK to rejoin Oswestry United. War intervened, and Maurice suffered gas poisoning injuries. At the outbreak of World War 1 Maurice joined the 7th (Merioneth and Montgomery) Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and in June 1915 Sergeant Parry was commissioned, becoming a Second Lieutenant. In October 1915 the Battalion were sent to Lemnos, before going to the Dardanelles. Maurice suffered gas inhalation injuries on 2 occasions, and this badly affected him at the time. He spent 12 weeks in hospital in Luxor before rejoining his regiment. In 1921 he took 5 years off his age to join ADRIC (The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary), for police duties in Ireland, but in March 1921 he resigned from this force, with less than 3 months in post. Policing Ireland clearly wasn’t for him. He returned to football later in 1921 as a manager with Rotherham County, who merged with Rotherham Town to become Rotherham United. He left the club in 1923, when they became mired in financial difficulties. He also coached with Barcelona, Koln, Eintracht Frankfurt and in the Channel Islands. He is said to have been a coach at Liverpool. His brother Thomas was a Welsh international, and his son Frank played professional football. An accomplished musician on the piano and organ, Maurice died in Bootle in March 1935, aged 57. On account of his service during WWI, Maurice is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned →. |
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