| Robert Gillespie |
 Robert Gillespie was born on Monday, 3rd December, 1900, in Strathbungo, Glasgow. The 5' 11 (12st 0lbs) defender appeared as a guest for George Easton's Thistle in April, 1926, having most recently been with Queen's Park. Aged 25, he made his only appearance on Tuesday, 27th April, 1926, in a 5-2 defeat at home to Glasgow Select in a Benefit match. That day, Robert became a member of our scoring debutant's club. His club-list included Battlefield Juniors, Queen's Park and Partick Thistle. Robert died on Thursday, 11th August, 1960, in Cathcart, Glasgow, aged 59. |
 At Hampden Park, tragedy struck in Thistle's league game against Queen's Park in October, 1925, when right back Tom Crichton collided with Barr, the Queen's centre, sustaining a career-ending compound fracture of his left leg. Subsequently, Tom received a (second) testimonial game on Tuesday 27 April 1926 at Firhill. The noble Queen's Parkers sent five men to assist Thistle in facing a Glasgow Select which included Andy Cunningham of Rangers from the 1921 Scottish cup final. As well as the goalie, John Harkness, the QP contingent was Willie Wiseman (no.3), Robert Gillespie (no.5), James Crawford (no.7) and James McAlpine (no.10). The 4 outfield Queen's Park players who played in this benefit had all played in the game that ended Tom's career. The Thistle fans turned out in force, around 10,000 of them providing a tangible benefit of some £500 for the player. Brought up in the south side of Glasgow, Robert started out with Battlefield Juniors, where he was selected for the Scottish Junior League. In the close season of 1919, the teenager stepped up to the seniors, joining Queen's Park, where he'd remain for the rest of his life as player, secretary and president. He was in the QP side which won the Second Division championship in 1922/23. A natural leader, Robert liked to venture forward from his default position at centre half, and was also a potent forward at times. He won 11 amateur caps for Scotland and a further 4 caps as a full internationalist, twice contributing to British championship wins. Robert's first full cap in October 1926 was as a late replacement for the injured Willie Summers, and he so impressed that he was appointed captain in his other 3 internationals, culminating in a memorable 2-1 win over England on 1 April 1933. With that, he achieved the remarkable feat of captaining Scotland against England on two successive Saturdays, with the amateurs one week and then the full national team the next. He had actually retired as a footballer the previous summer but was persuaded to return in November and he ended the season with a long run in the Queen's Park team. He was a partner in a Glasgow chartered accountancy firm, and a Justice of the Peace. Robert is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists → |
| (WS/AM) |
4 caps, 0 goals
d. Glasgow, 1960 (59)