Sometimes the arcs of queries to the blog are very wide, and take us to unexpected places with a surprising web of connections – several years ago, the wonderful Paul Ford of Walsall Local History Centre posted an image of Brownhills Albion Football Team that he was keen to know more about.
That generated lots of discussion, and was believed to have featured some notable dignitaries from Brownhills of the late Victorian period – and thanks to the generosity of Margaret Thompson, we can now light the whole thing up.
Margaret has very kindly shared a wealth of material related to Edgar Pritchard, which we’re still working through. The Poacher’s Aprrentice film in particular has been a spectacular hit.
The young David Evans met with Magaret and supplied the following article and pictures – my thanks to David for a wonderful conclusion and to Margeret for her continued and thoughtful generosity.
As far as I know, that’s the only extant image of Dr. John Maddever, one of the historical figures of Brownhills I have huge respect for – read this report to find out why.
David wrote:
A great photo very generously donated by Margaret Thompson of a very old Brownhills football team; the photo is believed to have come from the Hussey Arms at some point.
This amazing sepia photograph measures 23.5 cms x 19.5 cms and is mounted on card which has the name ‘A Broiler, Walsall’ printed in the card, just discernible below the photograph.
I believe this is the original photograph of Brownhills Albion Football Club which once adorned the wall of the first Hussey Public House in Brownhills, and was featured here previously in this post inspired by Paul Ford, upon which there was much speculation.
Lets look more closely, with a good scan:
This… this is remarkable. The somewhat rotund chap on top of the carriage in black, centre of the group is none other than Dr. John Maddaver, so prominent in Brownhills civic and social history. image kindly supplied by Margaret Thompson.
And the legend says:
The inscription on the photo – good solid information. Click for a larger version.
Who are the people in this photograph? Well, there’s also a card with the following diagram:
I’d love to know who created this – it’s been thoroughly researched and thought about. Image kindly donated by Margaret Thompson. Click for a larger version.
The card gives a list of names, and states the following:
Photo taken on ‘Hussey Arms’ filed, (now site of the council houses) 1895 [that’s the Hussey Estate – Bob].
Brownhills Albion FC formed in the 1880s, played here until 1914.
Sir T. Courtney Warner was Liberal MP for Lichfield.
John Croft was the Chairman of Brownhills Urban District Council.
Dr. J. Maddever (then Brownhills only doctor) lived at Coombe House.
C Emery was the licensee of the Hussey Arms.
This remarkable document is hand-written on a sheet of photographic print card. It measures exactly 8 inches by 10 inches, and, like the original football photograph featured above, comes from the Edgar Pritchard materials, courtesy of Mrs Margaret Thompson.
I would like to offer my immense thanks and gratitude to Margaret who has so readily made this precious historic material available to readers and students to appreciate.
David Evans
January 2016