| Quintin McFarlane |
 Quintin Anderson McFarlane was born on Tuesday, 9th July 1867, in Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire. The defender signed for Thistle on Thursday, 11th October, 1894, having most recently been with Campsie. Aged 27, he made his first known appearance on Saturday, 13th October, 1894, in a 3-2 friendly win at home to Ayr. There were no known goals for Quintin during his spell with Thistle. He played his second (and last known) game for the club on Saturday, 20th October, 1894, in a 4-1 friendly win at home to Renton. His club-list included Campsie, Falkirk, Vale of Endrick and Partick Thistle. Quintin died on Sunday, 16th May, 1920, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, aged 52. |
 The son of Robert McFarlane (a tailor) and Jean McFarlane (née Morrison). He married Joan Barr Gilmore, and they had several sons and daughters together, one of whom, co-incidentally, married Hugh McKenna who played first class football for Rangers, St Mirren and Third Lanark amongst others. According to his granddaughter, Cynthia, Quintin's offspring were also very sporty. Co-incidentally, Cynthia shares the same 9th July birthdate as her Grandad! Quintin was known as a full back who spent the majority of his playing days at Campsie, interspersed with occasional spells elsewhere. He was clearly a decent young talent, as he was chosen to represent Stirlingshire in their inter-county challenge match versus Fifeshire which took place at Lady Mill Park, Dunfermline, on 10th April 1886. The match had been postponed from a few weeks earlier due to snow (!) but the weather had turned fine by mid-April. Around 550 were in attendance, so it would have been quite an occasion for the 19-year-old Campsie defender. The Fifeshire players were dressed in yellow and dark maroon quartered jerseys, whilst Quintin and his Stirlinghsire team-mates were in their black and white stripes. The rather unsuitable train timetables dictated that the kick-off was 4.45pm! Stirlingshire had decidedly the best of the game and won by two goals to one. It was actually Quintin's Campsie team-mate (A. Stewart) who gave them their 1-0 half-time lead. Of our man, the Falkirk Herald had this to say: "McFarlane kicked and tackled well; indeed, the greatest praise that can be bestowed upon him is that he was the best back on the field. Especially in the second half was his kicking powerful." Whilst still a Campsie player, Quintin had a try out for Falkirk on 14th September 1889, appearing at right back in a 2-1 win over Camelon and then at right half in 1-0 defeat at home to St Bernard's the following week. After his premature death in 1920, the entire family emigrated to Canada where life & work prospects were considered greater than our depressed post-war country. However, some branches of the family returned to the UK decades later, and it's from England that Cynthia's daughter, Sue Cant, in June 2022, got in touch to tell us a little bit more about her great grandfather:
Sue inherited a beautiful brass poker made by Quintin himself and she sent us a photograph of this, together with the only known photograph to include him, so don't miss these in our 'Gallery' tab above. |
| (WS/AFK/DMAC) |
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