| Patrick McWilliams |
 Patrick McWilliams was born on Saturday, 29th March, 1879, in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. The midfielder first appeared for Thistle in September, 1899, as a trialist. Aged 20, he made his first known appearance on Saturday, 16th September, 1899, in a 5-1 defeat away to Celtic in the Glasgow Cup. There were no known goals for Patrick during his guest spells with Thistle. He played his last known game for the club on Saturday, 21st April, 1900, in a 3-0 win at home to Clyde in the Western League, having appeared for the Thistle on at least 5 occasions. His club-list included Airdrie St Margaret's, Mossend Celtic, Vale of Clyde, Third Lanark, Everton, Partick Thistle, Falkirk, Clyde, Albion Rovers, Hamilton Academical, Bolton Wanderers and Broxburn Athletic (old). Patrick died on Sunday, 3rd September, 1916, in Somme, France, aged 37. |
 Patrick was born in March 1879 to Felix McWilliams and Susan McWilliams (née Hogan) in Coatbridge. Brian Nugent, an Albion Rovers historian, wrote a programme article on Patrick as part of a series on the 8 Rovers players who died while on service in World War One. See the 'Scrapbook' tab above for the full programme article and a couple of press snippets. Airdrie St Margaret's was Patrick's base team for a number of seasons, from where he was renowned as a bit of a wanderer who would often guest or try out under psuedonyms for a number of junior and senior clubs throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s. For an example of this, we need look no further than a 3 week window between April and May 1900 when Patrick turned for Thistle against Clyde in a Western League game on 21st April before switching over to pull on a Clyde jersey on for their Western League game against Port Glasgow Athletic on 7th May! Patrick was never "signed" as a Jag, rather we think he made a handful of appearances informally in 1899-00, at half-back and at left back. He was no stranger to wandering back and forth between clubs; having guested for Falkirk against East Stirlingshire on 30th December 1899, he was back as a Bairn in August 1900. Without getting diary testimonies from the man himself, no-one will ever be able to perfectly unravel Patrick's movements and modus operandi, but it's likely to have involved a bit of pocket money along the way, and is unlikely to have been 100% in line with the registration rules of the various governing bodies. On at least one occasion he was up before the Junior Association Vigilance Committee to answer charges… and him a "Saint" too! Patrick was described as “a capital back, and an expert at taking penalty kicks” and once played in goals for Albion Rovers when the regular keeper was in bed ill. Patrick signed for Rovers in November 1900 and, by his standards, settled for a considerable time, playing until the end of season 1901-02. Rovers won the Lanarkshire league and the Scottish Combination league in Patrick's final season, which undoubtedly cemented his great fondness for the club. He switched to Hamilton Accies for the start of the 1902-03 campaign, but was off to First Division Bolton Wanderers by that November on the recommendation of Jocky Wright, a well-known conduit between Lanarkshire and Lancashire. At that time he was described as being “a well built young fellow about 23 years of age and standing 5' 9, speedy and a good kick.” Patrick made his Football League debut for Wanderers on 3rd January 1903 at Hillsborough, but it was a losing start, The Wednesday comfortable winners by three to nil. It's sure to have been a memorable occasion for Patrick all the same, for the Sheffield boys were at the top of their game and would be back-to-back English champions in 1903 and 1904. At Bolton, Patrick was largely confined to reserves action in the Lancashire Combination. Press reports in February 1904 suggest that Patrick's transfer away from Bolton was awaiting ratification, but to whom and with what end result is unclear. The following year, he re-surfaced with the new Broxburn Athletic club, where he played for two seasons from 1905-06 onwards. Patrick married Marion Traynor, and was step-father to her 3 children. They lived at 2 Douglas Street, Coatbridge, and he worked at Barnes & Bell scrap merchants and as a miner at Rosehall Colliery. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Patrick volunteered in Greenock, joining the 7th (Service) Battalion Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). He wrote to the Coatbridge Express on 5 July, 1916, talking about football and his interest in the doings of his old team, Albion Rovers. In a bit of black humour from the trenches, he suggested a team of Harry Sandbag; John Bomb, Peter Grenade; James Barbwire, Joe Starlight & Bob Bayonet; Mick Rifle, Dennis Whizzbang, Hector Sniper, Lewis Gun & William Trench Mortar, and that they were in the final of the European Cup ‘against the Huns’! Patrick's regiment saw action at the Battle of the Somme and, as part of that offensive, took part in the assault on Guillemont on 3rd September 1916. Patrick was killed outright by shellfire, and a letter from Chaplain Father Smith to Patrick’s widow explained that he had been killed outright and suffered no pain. The village was taken despite heavy casualties. Lieutenant John Holland, of Patrick’s Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in clearing trenches and leading his troops towards their objective during this action. Patrick is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, and on the Coatbridge War Memorial. We commemorate his life in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Fallen →. |
| (DMAC/WS/BRN) |
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Historian's note: We suspect that the player listed in the press as "Williams" (usually in inverted commas) for 4 games in season 1899-00 (16 Sep; 25 Nov; 23 Dec; 3 Mar) may have been the guy finally revealed as McWilliam (GH) in the April game against Clyde in the Western League. From there, we know that his identity was Patrick McWilliams, as he was reported as joining Clyde two weeks after playing for us against them. The educated guesswork for the first four appearances is in fitting with Patrick's reputation as a bit of a footballing wanderer at this time.