David Hyman Morris (25 November 1897 – 1 December 1985), known as Harry Morris or Abe Morris, was an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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and

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, best remembered for his seven-year spell in the Football League with Swindon Town. Morris was voted Swindon Town's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters in 2013 and holds the club records for goals scored in a league match, season and career. He also played league football for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Millwall, Swansea Town and Clapton Orient and later managed IFK Göteborg.

Playing career

Fulham

After being spotted by

Phil Kelso Phil Wade Kelso (26 May 1871 – 13 February 1935), born in Largs on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, was a Scotland, Scottish football manager. Career Kelso was manager of Hibernian F.C., Hibernian for one season,Hackney Marshes Hackney Marshes is an area of open space in London's Lower Lea Valley, lying on the western bank of the River Lea. It takes its name from its position on the eastern boundary of Hackney, the principal part of the London Borough of Hackney, and ...

side Vicar of Wakefield, Morris joined Second Division club

in May 1919. He spent most of his time with the club in the reserve team and scored heavily. Morris managed seven first team appearances, scoring twice. He departed Craven Cottage in 1921.

Brentford

Morris joined Third Division South club

in 1921. With the Bees having finished second-from-bottom in their first season in the league, he helped inspire the side to a 9th-place finish in the 1921–22 season, top-scoring with 17 goals in 39 appearances. He top-scored again in the 1922–23 season (with 13 goals from 24 appearances), but departed

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

in February 1923. Morris made 63 appearances and scored 30 goals during his 18 months with the Bees.

Millwall

Morris signed for Third Division South club Millwall in February 1923 for a £750 fee. Over the course of his time with the club, he scored 30 goals in 76 appearances for the Lions as the club consistently challenged for promotion to the Second Division. He departed The Den in May 1925.

Swansea Town

Morris moved back up to the Second Division to sign for Swansea Town in May 1925. He remained with the club for one season, making just 9 appearances.

Swindon Town

Morris dropped back down to the Third Division South to sign for Swindon Town in June 1926 for a £110 fee. He had a brilliant start to his career at the County Ground, netting hat-tricks in each of his first two matches. He scored in the following two matches to set a club record of scoring in each of his first four games, which stood until it was matched in September 2014 by Jonathan Obika. Flourishing under Sam Allen's management, Morris finished the 1926–27 season with 48 goals from 43 league games (a club record which still stands as of 2018), but problems with the defence meant the Robins could only manage a fifth-place finish. He also became the first Swindon player to score five goals in a single game, which came in a win over Queens Park Rangers. He repeated the feat in a 5–1 demolition of Norwich City in April 1930. He also went on a run of scoring in 11 consecutive games during the season, scoring 19 goals. Despite failing to win any

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, Morris was top scorer in each of his seven seasons with Swindon and scored 18 hat-tricks. In addition, he was top scorer in the Third Division South in the 1926–27 and 1927–28 seasons and his record for the 1926–27 season stands at the eighth-highest single-season goal tally in

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 ...

history. Deemed too old by incoming manager

Ted Vizard Edward Vizard (7 June 1889 – 25 December 1973) was a Welsh international footballer who became a manager. He spent almost all his playing career at Bolton Wanderers. Playing career Born in Cogan, Wales Vizard joined Bolton Wanderers in Septem ...

, Morris was released prior to the start of the 1933–34 season. During his seven years with Swindon, Morris scored 229 goals in 279 games and as of 2018 is still the club's leading goalscorer. His overall league goalscoring record is the 17th-highest in English football history. In 1955, 22 years after leaving the County Ground, Morris applied for a coaching role with the club, but was rejected. In a poll to celebrate the Football League's 125th anniversary, Morris was voted Swindon's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters.

Clapton Orient

Morris signed for Third Division South club Clapton Orient in July 1933 and scored eight goals in 13 appearances during the 1933–34 season.

Cheltenham Town

Morris wound down his career in

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with Southern League club Cheltenham Town.

International career

Morris was called up by England for a trial match, but injury prevented him from taking part.

Managerial career

Morris managed IFK Göteborg between 1938 and 1941. He won promotion from Division 2 via the play-offs in his first season and achieved

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

and 6th-place finishes in the following two

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

seasons respectively. He also won the 1939–40 Distriktsmästerskapet. Morris ended his spell with a winning percentage of 67%.

Personal life

Morris was Jewish. Though he was observant of the faith, he played on Saturdays during his football career and only refused to play on

high holidays The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

. He was educated at the Jews' Free School in London and was a member of the Brady Street Boys' Club. He served in the Middlesex Regiment during the First World War. Morris was married to Edith and had a son, Jack and a daughter, Estelle, who died from polio in 1937 at the age of eight. Morris, Edith and Jack emigrated shortly afterwards to

Gothenburg, Sweden Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...

, where Morris worked at the

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. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the invasion of Norway by the Germans the following year saw Morris and his family remain in neutral Sweden until the end of the war. Through his job at the consulate, Morris helped escaped POWs return to the UK. The family emigrated to the United States after the war, with Harry and Edith working for the British Information Services in New York City. They retired to

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

, where Edith died in 1984, followed a year later by Harry.

Honours

IFK Göteborg * Division 2 play-offs: 1939 *Distriktsmästerskapet: 1939–40 Individual * Football League Third Division South Golden Boot (2): 1926–27, 1927–28

Career statistics

References

External links

Harry Morris
at ifkdb.se {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Harry 1897 births 1985 deaths Cheltenham Town F.C. players English footballers Swindon Town F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players English Football League players Jewish men's footballers Southern Football League players Leyton Orient F.C. players People from Spitalfields Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets English emigrants to Sweden English emigrants to the United States Men's association football forwards British Jews Middlesex Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I IFK Göteborg managers Allsvenskan managers Expatriate football managers in Sweden English football managers