| Tommy Barber |
 Thomas Barber was born on Monday, 20th February, 1888, in Derby. The forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Monday, 23rd December, 1918, having most recently been with Aston Villa. Aged 30, he made his only appearance on Saturday, 28th December, 1918, in a 5-1 win at home to St Mirren in the Scottish Football League. That day, Tommy became a member of our scoring debutant's club. His club-list included Shankhouse, West Stanley, Hamsterley, Bolton Wanderers, Aston Villa, Belfast Celtic, Celtic, Partick Thistle, Linfield, Distillery, Brentford, Stalybridge Celtic, Crystal Palace, Merthyr Town, Ton Pentre, Pontypridd, Walsall, Darlaston, Hinckley United (old) and Barwell United. Tommy died on Friday, 18th September, 1925, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, aged 37. |
 Aston Villa forward Tommy played as a guest player for the Jags just the once. He scored on that outing, a 5-1 League victory against St Mirren at Firhill on 28 December 1918. Saints went one-up, but Tommy scored goal number 5 in front of an 8,500 crowd. He played for Bolton Wanderers from 1908 to 1912, making around 102 appearances for the Trotters before his transfer to Aston Villa. Between 1912 to 1919 he played for the Villa on 57 occasions, and was a member of their 1912-13 FA Cup winning team, scoring the winning goal in the final, a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. During, and just after, World War 1 he played for Thistle, Celtic and Crystal Palace. He also managed guest appearances for Linfield, Belfast Celtic and Distillery – an eclectic collection of Irish clubs! He went on to play in Wales for Merthyr Town, Ton Petrie and Pontypridd, He played for some minor English clubs before ending his career through illness in 1925. Tommy joined the 17th (Service) Battalion Middlesex Regiment (Footballers’ battalion) in February 1915. In November 1915 the Battalion went to France, and started trench life near Loos. During the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, Tommy was wounded in the legs at Gulliemont, and evacuated to Britain. He spent some time in hospital in Aberdeen. Tommy contracted pleurisy, and spent time in hospital. He did work for a period in a Glasgow munitions factory, but in 1925 caught tuberculosis, and passed away later that year aged 37. On account of his service during WWI, Tommy is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Returned →. |
| (DMAC) |
