Kenneth Parkinson (21 September 1911 – 1987) was an English footballer who made 87 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Darlington in the 1930s. He was on the books of Sheffield Wednesday, without playing for the club's first team, and also played non-league football for Esh Winning and Shrewsbury Town.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kenneth Parkinson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 21 September 1911[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Neville's Cross, England | ||
| Date of death | 1987 (aged 75) | ||
| Place of death | Darlington, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10+1⁄2 in (1.79 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 19??–1933 | Esh Winning | ||
| 1933–1935 | Sheffield Wednesday | 0 | (0) |
| 1935–1936 | Shrewsbury Town | ||
| 1936–1939 | Darlington | 87 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Life and career
editParkinson was born in 1911 in Neville's Cross, County Durham,[4][5] the son of Walter Parkinson, a cokeman, and his wife, Eliza.[6] He played football for Esh Winning of the Northern League, and was a member of the Durham Amateur XI that faced a North-Eastern League selection in April 1933 as part of the Durham FA's jubilee celebrations.[7]
After trials with their reserve team towards the end of the 1932–33 season, Parkinson signed professional forms with Football League First Division club Sheffield Wednesday.[8] He played regularly in the reserves, and was retained for the 1934–35 season,[9] but got no closer to the first team, and was listed for transfer at a fee of £100.[10][4] Described as "a goalkeeper of whom much is expected", Parkinson joined Shrewsbury Town for the 1935–36 season,[11] during which he made 40 appearances and helped them finish third in the Birmingham League.[4]
He then signed for Football League Third Division North club Darlington, whose regular goalkeeper, Harry Walker, was recovering from a knee cartilage operation.[4] He began the season in the first team, and kept his place even after Walker returned to fitness, but a bout of influenza at the turn of the year gave Walker his opening.[12] After a run of five defeats that left Darlington bottom of the table, Parkinson returned,[13] but there was little improvement, and they shared the role until the end of the season.[14] The club's application for re-election was successful, and both goalkeepers were among just six players retained.[15]
Parkinson began the 1937–38 season in possession, but a broken bone in his wrist let Walker back in,[16] and his performances earned him a £1000 transfer to First Division Portsmouth.[17] Parkinson kept goal for the last couple of months of Darlington's season,[18] and for most of the next. He was left out in December to give Frank Gower his Football League debut,[19] but after a 4–0 loss to Southport, Parkinson returned to the team at the end of January and remained in it.[20][21] Along with most of Darlington's contracted players, he was given a free transfer at the end of the season.[22]
The 1939 Register finds Parkinson working as an annealing furnaceman in a steel foundry and living in Darlington with his wife, Maria Annie née Vest, whom he married in 1936,[23] and their baby son, Walter.[24] He died in Darlington in 1987 at the age of 75.[2][25]
References
editGeneral
- Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
Specific
- ^ a b Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 203. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
- ^ a b "Player search: Parkinson, K (Ken)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ "Remedy was drastic. Clearance sale at Feethams". Sunday Sun Football Supplement. Newcastle upon Tyne. 22 August 1937. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "New goalkeepers". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 14 August 1936. p. 7.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ "Walter Parkinson". 1911 England Census. RG14/29977 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
- ^ "'Argus' reviews the sports news. Durham Amateurs selected". Sunderland Echo. 7 April 1933. p. 13.
- ^ "Untitled". Ripley and Heanor News. 12 May 1933. p. 8.
- ^ "Sporting notes. Retained players". Yorkshire Evening Post. 21 April 1934. p. 6.
- ^ "For transfer". Daily Independent. Sheffield. 1 May 1935. p. 8.
- ^ "Shrewsbury Town". Birmingham Gazette. 23 August 1935. p. 11.
- ^ "Albion may recall Wood". Daily Herald. London. 27 January 1937. p. 14.
- ^ "Darlington decline". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 11 March 1937. p. 9.
- ^ Tweddle (2000), p. 38.
- ^ "Darlington retain six players". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 5 May 1937. p. 7.
- ^ "Unlucky Darlington 'keeper". Leeds Mercury. 26 October 1937. p. 9.
- ^ "Pompey's new 'keeper". Daily Mirror. London. 3 March 1938. p. 30.
- ^ Tweddle (2000), p. 39.
- ^ "Goalkeeper's debut". Leeds Mercury. 22 December 1938. p. 9.
- ^ Sentinel (26 January 1939). "Rotherham will be unchanged". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. p. 7.
- ^ Tweddle (2000), p. 40.
- ^ "Darlington's retained. Five to stay at Feethams". North Eastern Gazette. Middlesbrough. 24 April 1939. p. 9.
- ^ "Goalkeeper weds". Sunderland Echo. 26 October 1936. p. 7.
- ^ "Kenneth Parkinson". 1939 Register. RG101/2668J FABE – via Ancestry Library Edition.
- ^ "Kenneth Parkinson". England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007. Retrieved 23 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.org.