Francis Barrett (2 August 1872 – 22 March 1907) 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 ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Barrett played for Dundee Harp before joining Dundee Football Club upon its foundation in 1893. While with the Dark Blues, he would make 49 total appearances for the club in their first three seasons, and would win two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

in 1894 and 1895. In September 1896, he signed with

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

(now Manchester United). He made 132 appearances for the club, scoring no goals. In May 1900, he left for

New Brighton Tower New Brighton Tower was a steel lattice observation tower at New Brighton in the town of Wallasey, Cheshire (now in the Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside), England. It stood high, and was the tallest building in Great Britain when it opened s ...

. In 1901, he briefly returned to Manchester, making eight appearances for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. In 1903, he became one of the founding players of

Aberdeen Football Club Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...

. He died in 1907, aged 35. After Barrett's death, Manchester United gifted £35 to his widow.

References

1872 births 1907 deaths Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Dundee Harp F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players New Brighton Tower F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Place of death missing {{Scotland-footy-goalkeeper-stub