Henry Prince Devey (September - December 1864 – 1940) was an

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for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. (registration & fee required)

Family

He was one of five brothers who all played professional football,

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, Harry and Bob Devey for

. Another brother, Abel, was a cricketer with

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

Playing career

Harry Devey was a key member of the Aston Villa squad in the Football League inaugural season of 1888–1889. Devey played in the 1st ever Villa League match on 8 September 1888 at Dudley Road, Wolverhampton then home of Wolverhampton Wanderers. The match ended 1-1. Devey was described as a keen, hard-tackler who had the ability, then rare for a defender at bringing the ball forward. He only missed one game in 1888-1889 and was part of the excellent Aston Villa defence (as Centre-Half) that only conceded 43 goals in 1888-1889 the 3rd lowest in the League in 1888–1889. As a centre-half he played in a defence that achieved one League clean-sheet and kept the opposition to one-League-goal-in-a-match on no less than on eight occasions. Aston Villa finished runners-up.

Professional Baseball

In 1890 Devey played professional baseball for Aston Villa in the National League of Baseball of Great Britain.

References

1860 births 1924 deaths English footballers Aston Villa F.C. players English Football League players Association football defenders FA Cup Final players English baseball players {{England-footy-defender-1860s-stub