Harold Crossthwaite (9 September 1890 – November 1939) was an English

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 in

the 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 ...

for Stockport County and

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

. His nephew

Bert Bert or BERT may refer to: Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert *Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname *Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album Here Comes a Son ...

was also a footballer.

Career

Crossthwaite was born in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

and played amateur football with Heywood United before he joined local League side Stockport County in 1912. County struggled in 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 ...

up until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out. Crossthwaite continued to play for the club during the war and back in 1919 once League football and been resumed. There was no change in the "Hatters" fortunes on the pitch and with the side languishing in the lower reaches of the table he signed for divisional rivals

in March 1920. He made his debut for Stoke in the first league Potteries derby match against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and assisted goalscorer

Arthur Watkin Arthur Watkin (30 July 1895 – 27 August 1972) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke. His brother Frank Watkin was also a footballer who played for Stoke. Career Watkin was born in Burslem and joined Stoke in ...

as Stoke won 3–0 at Vale's

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

. However Stoke had a disappointing end to the 1919–20 season and finished in mid-table. Crossthwaite started the 1920–21 as first choice right winger playing in 19 matches but after a poor performance against

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

he was dropped and at the end of the season he was sold back to Stockport County. In his first season back at Edgeley Park he helped Stockport to win the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

title. He spent one more season at Stockport before ending his career with

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

Personal life

Crossthwaite resided in Heaton Norris,

. In November 1939, he was struck by a lorry and killed as he crossed the street in Stockport.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Stockport County *

champions: 1921–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crossthwaite, Harry 1890 births 1939 deaths Footballers from Stockport Men's association football outside forwards English men's footballers Heywood United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players English Football League players Road incident deaths in England Pedestrian road incident deaths