Henry Charles Curtis (22 January 1890 – 30 January 1966) 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 ...

, referee and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, best-remembered for his 23 years as manager of Brentford. He is Brentford's longest-serving and most successful manager to date. In a 2013 Football League 125th anniversary poll, Curtis was voted Brentford's greatest-ever manager. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.

Playing and refereeing career

Curtis' first involvement in football was as secretary of Shernall United and he later had brief spells as a player for

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

and Walthamstow Grange. After his retirement from playing, Curtis became a referee and was quickly added to the Southern League list of referees. He was subsequently promoted onto the

London Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

list. In 1918, he was promoted to the Football League list and retired from refereeing in 1923.

Managerial career

Gnome Athletic

Curtis began his managerial career as secretary-manager of amateur club Gnome Athletic.

Gillingham

Curtis entered league management when he became secretary-manager of

Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

club Gillingham in May 1923. He had travelled to Priestfield to watch a match after missing his train to Swansea, where he was to have refereed a match at the

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 ...

that day. He enquired about the then-vacant manager's position and was offered the role. After leading Gillingham to three mid-table finishes, Curtis departed the club on 30 March 1926.

Brentford

Early years and rise to the First Division (1926–1935)

After a chance meeting with Brentford director and former referee Frank Barton, Curtis was appointed manager of the Third Division South club in April 1926 and signed a 12-month contract. He brought Gillingham trainer Bob Kane with him to Griffin Park. Curtis officially took up the role in May 1926 and his debut season saw a run to the fifth round of the

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 ...

, which yielded enough money to build a grandstand on the Braemar Road side of Griffin Park. In the 1929–30 season, Curtis' Bees team won all 21 home league games, an outright English league record. Curtis also named the same team for 21 consecutive games between November 1929 and March 1930. The most successful era in the club's history began in 1932–33 season, largely in part due to the signings of Jack Holliday, Ernest Muttitt, Billy Scott and Bert Watson from First Division club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Brentford won the 1932–33 Third Division South title, which was the first silverware of Curtis' managerial career. Curtis' Brentford finished fourth in the club's first season 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 ...

, before winning a second promotion in three seasons with the 1934–35 Second Division title, which secured top-flight football for the first time in the club's history. The club won a second piece of silverware during the 1934–35 season – the

London Challenge Cup The London Challenge Cup was a football tournament formerly organised by the London FA. It was first contested in 1908, and other than during the World Wars, was contested every season until 1974, when the tournament was disbanded. After a 16- ...

First Division heyday and decline (1935–1949)

Curtis and recently appointed assistant manager

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo ...

guided Brentford to fifth and two successive sixth-place finishes in the club's first three seasons in the First Division. Crowds at Griffin Park averaged 25,000 and in the 1937–38 season and Brentford led the First Division table for three months and reached the sixth round of the FA Cup for the first time. Brentford's sustained period of success was consolidated by Curtis' man-management abilities and his astuteness in the transfer market, bringing in Scottish internationals Dave McCulloch, Bobby Reid and

Duncan McKenzie Duncan McKenzie (born 10 June 1950) is an English former footballer who played as a striker in the Football League for Nottingham Forest, Mansfield Town, Leeds United, Everton, Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers in the 1970s, in Belgium for And ...

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

internationals

Idris Hopkins Idris Morgan Hopkins (11 October 1910 – 9 October 1994) was a Welsh footballer famed for his talented right foot. He played for many clubs throughout his career, but most famously Brentford where he captained them in the English First Divisi ...

and Les Boulter, with Billy Scott and

Les Smith Keith Leslie Smith is a former British keyboardist, once in the bands Anathema (1996, 2001–2011) and Cradle of Filth (1998–2000). Biography He was born in 1967 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. Smith undertook session work on keyboar ...

going on to represent

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 ...

. The outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and the suspension of professional football in 1939 brought Brentford's golden era to a halt, but Curtis still won further silverware during the war, winning the 1941–42 London War Cup, which is the club's only

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

success to date. Football League competition resumed in 1946 and with an ageing squad, Curtis' Brentford were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1946–47 season. Curtis eventually stood down from the manager's role in February 1949. For his long service, Curtis was rewarded with a testimonial in May 1949, played between Brentford and a team of former players. To date, Curtis is Brentford's longest-serving and most successful manager and a lounge at Griffin Park has been named in his honour. The boardroom at the club's upcoming Brentford Community Stadium will also be named for him. In 2013, Curtis was voted Brentford's greatest-ever manager in a Football League 125th anniversary poll and he was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.

Tonbridge

Curtis finished his management career with a spell at Southern League club

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...

, whom he joined in 1950.

Personal life

Curtis was born in

Holloway, London Holloway is an inner-city district of the London Borough of Islington, north of Charing Cross, which follows the line of the Holloway Road ( A1). At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head commercial area which sits between the more residentia ...

and moved to Walthamstow with his mother after his parents separated. He attended Maynard Road School in Walthamstow. In 1911, he was working as an engineer's clerk and after marrying in 1915, he had two sons. After retiring from football management, Curtis moved to

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

and worked as a personnel manager for a company in the town. He later worked as a journalist.

Career statistics

Honours

Brentford *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 1934–35 *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

: 1932–33 *

: 1934–35 * London War Cup: 1941–42 Individual * Brentford Hall of Fame * Football League Long Service Medal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Harry Brentford F.C. managers English football referees English football managers Gillingham F.C. managers Footballers from Holloway, London Romford F.C. players English Football League managers Tonbridge Angels F.C. managers Southern Football League players English Football League referees 1890 births 1966 deaths Association footballers not categorized by position Southern Football League managers English footballers