Abraham Hartley (8 February 1872 – 9 October 1909) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Hartley played for Everton as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for five years in the 1890s. He also played for

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

rivals

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and for his local club,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. His career also included stints at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Woolwich Arsenal and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

at the end of his career. He appeared on the losing side in the

1897 FA Cup Final Events January–March * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puniti ...

while at Everton.

Football career

Early days

Hartley was born in

, Scotland and was the son of a tailor. After youth football with Artizan Thistle, he joined

, where two of his brothers also played, in 1890. During his time with Dumbarton, he converted from a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

to a forward. While on the books of Dumbarton, the team won the first two

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

titles in 1891 and

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

together with the 1891 Scottish Cup. However Hartley was not a regular with the club at this stage.

Everton

He moved south of the border to join Everton in December 1892, making his debut on 18 March when, playing at inside right, he scored in a 4–2 victory at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. That was his only appearance in the 1892–93 season in which Everton finished third in the table. The following season, he made six league appearances, scoring twice, following this up with five goals from 11 appearances in the 1894–95 season when Everton finished as runners-up behind

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. During this season he remained third–choice striker behind

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

internationals,

Fred Geary Fred Geary (23 January 1868 – 8 January 1955) was an English professional footballer who played at centre forward for Everton in the 1890s, and made two appearances for England, scoring a hat-trick on his debut. At Everton, he was a prolif ...

and

Jack Southworth John Southworth (11 December 1866 – 16 October 1956), also known as Jack and Skimmy Southworth, was an English footballer who played in the early days of professional football for Blackburn Rovers and Everton as well as being capped three ti ...

. Following Southworth's retirement through injury and Geary's move to

, Hartley played more regularly although the arrival of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international John Cameron prevented Hartley from claiming the centre-forward's berth as his own. In the 1895–96 season he made 15 appearances, scoring seven goals as Everton finished in third place followed by 14 appearances with six goals in the following season. In 1897 Everton reached the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

with victories en route over Burton Wanderers (5–2),

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

(3–0),

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

(2–0) and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

(3–2). Hartley played in all five matches in the cup run, scoring against Blackburn (twice) and Derby. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Everton came up against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

who were dominating the Football League season. Although Everton took the lead after 28 minutes with goals from Jack Bell and

Dickie Boyle Richard Boyle (born 24 September 1869) was a Scottish professional footballer. Career Boyle played club football in Scotland and England for Dumbarton, Everton, New Brighton Tower and Dundee. Honours ;Dumbarton * Scottish League: Champions ...

, they were unable to prevent Villa claiming the Double with a 3–2 victory. In the following season, he only made three appearances (scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

on 18 September 1897) before moving across

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and Coal ...

to join

in December. In his five years at Everton, Hartley made 61 appearances, scoring 28 goals; his appearances were restricted due to the quality of forwards on Everton's books such as Geary, Southworth and Cameron as well as other internationals

Alf Milward Alfred Milward (12 September 1870 – 1 June 1941) was a professional footballer who played in the 1893 and 1897 FA Cup Finals for Everton and in the 1900 FA Cup Final for Southampton. Early career Born in Great Marlow, Milward was one of the ...

Edgar Chadwick Edgar Wallace Chadwick (14 June 1869 – 14 February 1942) was a left-sided footballer who had a long and distinguished career with Everton during the 1890s. He was also the national coach for the Netherlands from 1908 to 1913. His cousin, ...

(both England) and Jack Bell (Scotland).

Liverpool

Hartley stayed at Liverpool for the remainder of the 1897–98 season. During his time with the club he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away win at Sheffield United on 29 December 1897. Altogether Hartley was capped a sum of 12 times for Liverpool, scoring once. By now, Hartley was a member of the

Association Footballers' Union The Association Footballers' Union (the AFU), formed in England in 1898, was the first attempt by football players in the United Kingdom to organize themselves into a union. The AFU was formed in response to the introduction by the Football L ...

which was trying to improve player's wages and contract terms. To improve his wages, Hartley decided to join

Southampton

Being members of the Southern League, Southampton were not bound by the restrictions imposed on

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

clubs and were quite willing to pay higher salaries for talented players. Southampton had just moved into their new stadium at The Dell and had signed

internationals

Arthur Chadwick Arthur Chadwick (July 1875 – 21 March 1936) was a professional footballer whose playing career as a centre-half included spells at Portsmouth and Southampton, before going on to be manager at Exeter City, Reading and Southampton. He also mad ...

Jack Robinson Jack Robinson may refer to: Sportspeople *Jack Robinson (catcher) (1880–1921), American baseball player *Jack Robinson (footballer, born 1870) (1870–1931), England, Derby County and Southampton football goalkeeper * Jack Robinson (footballer, ...

and Harry Wood as well as

's Jacky Robertson. Hartley was ever-present until injury forced him to sit out the last three matches of the 1898–99 season as Southampton claimed the Southern League title for the third consecutive year. Hartley's 14 league and two FA Cup goals made him joint top scorer for the season (with Harry Wood). Hartley would place a hand-rolled cigarette behind his ear prior to kick-off and then smoke it in the changing room at half-time before re-taking the field.

Arsenal and Burnley

Hartley moved to Woolwich Arsenal in July 1899 where he scored once in five appearances. He made his debut away to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on 23 September 1899 and scored his only goal in a 2–1 win over

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

on 14 October. However that same month Arsenal signed

Ralph Gaudie Ralph Gaudie (1876 – 1951) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. His playing career with Aston Villa has in some sources been wrongly attributed to a brother, Richard Gaudie, who has subsequently been shown not to have ex ...

from

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, who forced Hartley out of the side. Hartley was sold in December, moving back to Lancashire to join

where he brought an end to his playing days. His five goals from thirteen appearances were unable to prevent Burnley being relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

at the end of that season.

Later career

After retiring from football in 1900, Hartley returned to live in

. He took up employment with the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

but collapsed and died outside the pay office in

Southampton Docks The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. The port has been owned and op ...

on 9 October 1909, aged only 37. A doctor at the inquest attributed his death to " syncope, arising from

double pneumonia Pneumonia can be classified in several ways, most commonly by where it was acquired (hospital versus community), but may also by the area of lung affected or by the causative organism. There is also a combined clinical classification, which combi ...

Honours

Dumbarton * 1 representative cap for Dumbartonshire in 1892. Everton *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runners-up: 1897 *

runners-up: 1894–95 Southampton * Southern League champions: 1898–99

References

External links

Everton profileLFC History.net Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Abe 1872 births 1909 deaths Footballers from Dumbarton Scottish men's footballers Southern Football League players Dumbarton F.C. players Everton F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Men's association football forwards