Harold Augustus Davies MM (29 January 1904 – 23 April 1975) 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 lea ...

who played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, Port Vale and most notably, Stoke City. A creative inside-forward, he played 513 games in the league and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, scoring 122 goals. His father, also called Harry, was also a professional footballer. He spent seven seasons with Stoke from 1922 to 1929, helping the club to the Third Division North title in 1926–27. He then spent two seasons with

, and featured in the 1930 FA Cup final defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He made a return to Stoke in February 1932 and spent another six seasons at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

, helping the club to the Second Division title in 1932–33. Having scored 101 goals in 411 matches for the "Potters" in his two spells, he was traded to Port Vale in February 1938. He retired in April 1939 and later fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Playing career

Davies was born in Gainsborough and attended Queen Elizabeth's High School. His

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

was a professional footballer who played for Doncaster Rovers, Gainsborough Trinity, Hull City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The family moved to

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

after Harry Senior retired, and Harry Junior followed his father into playing football. He was spotted by Stoke City playing for Bamfords Athletic in the

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Staffordshire borough of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. The town is from Burton upon Trent via the A50 and the A38, from Stafford via the A51 ...

amateur league. He was quickly thrust into first-team action with Stoke struggling to stay afloat in the First Division. He scored in his second appearance against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

to earn Stoke their first win of the 1922–23 season, but it failed to avert the slide and ended with Stoke being

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

after finishing four points from safety. He became a key player in the 1923–24 season in a side which challenged for a return to the top flight, finishing as second-highest scorer to Jimmy Broad. A poor run form towards the end of the season saw Stoke miss out

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

and instead to finish a disappointing sixth place. Although a first-choice player in 1924–25, Davies was hampered by injuries, and an unsettled and inexperienced Stoke side only avoided relegation by a single point. Stoke failed to learn in 1925–26 and were relegated to the Third Division North. Stoke bounced back quickly in 1926–27 and won the divisional title relatively easily, with Davies scoring a career-best of 17 goals. He played regularly in the side for the next two seasons before he joined

in 1929. He played for the "Professionals" in the 1929 FA Charity Shield. The "Terriers" were looking to recapture their form under

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English Association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manage ...

, which saw them dominate English football in the early 1920s and saw Davies as a replacement for England international Clem Stephenson who had become manager. In his first season with Town, Davies top scored with 10 goals and played in the 1930 FA Cup final as Huddersfield lost 2–0 to

. Following that set-back he fell out of favour at

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a association football, football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 in English football, 1994–95 season. It was the home ...

and Stoke manager

Tom Mather Thomas Mather (1888–1957), was an English football manager who managed in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Stoke City and Southend United. Career Mather was assistant secretary of both Manche ...

wasted no time in bringing him back to the

in February 1932. Davies' return was met with approval by the club's supporters and was key in helping Stoke to win Second Division title in 1932–33. He linked up well with

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

and when Bob McGrory stepped into managing the reserves, Davies was handed the captaincy. Back in the First Division, Davies was a key member of an exciting Stoke attack, and he became only the second player to pass 100 goals after Charlie Wilson. With Davies' career coming to an end, he joined local rivals Port Vale – along with a small fee, for Tommy Ward in February 1938. He played 15 Third Division North games at the end of the 1937–38 season, claiming two goals. He scored twice in 29 league games in the 1938–39 campaign, as the "Valiants" switch into the Third Division South meant that he had scored a goal in all four divisions of the

. Davies retired in April 1939.

Style of play

After football

Davies retired from playing just before

and he earned a

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

while serving with the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

. After the war he became owner of the Priory hotel in Abbey Hulton and then the Plume of Feathers in Barlaston. He also became a very good

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player and competed in regional tournaments.

Media career

Davies was one of the first players to write a newspaper column. He was paid sixpence a word, which at 200 words a column gave him a total of £5 a week, equalling his footballing wage.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Stoke City *

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 from a higher division allocated t ...

: 1926–27 *

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 tier ...

: 1932–33 Huddersfield Town *

runner-up:

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Harry 1904 births 1975 deaths People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Footballers from Lincolnshire English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Stoke City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Royal Army Service Corps soldiers British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Medal 20th-century English sportsmen