James Bigden (1880 – after 1910) was an English

association 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 ...

who played as a wing half. Bigden featured with clubs Thames Ironworks, Gravesend United, West Ham United,

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 ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

and Southend United.

Playing career

Born in

Poplar, London Poplar is a district in East London, England, the administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End of London, East End. It is identi ...

, Bigden began his footballing career aged 13 with Old St Lukes where he remained until the beginning of the 1899–1900 season when he joined local team, Thames Ironworks. Described as a hard working half-back he played 11 times in the Southern League and twice in 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 ...

for the Ironworks. The following season Thames Ironworks folded to later become West Ham United. Bigden joined Gravesend United where he played 26 games scoring a single goal. West Ham re-signed him for the 1901–02 season making his debut on 7 September 1901 in a 2–0 away defeat of Bristol Rovers. He played for West Ham for the next three seasons amassing 91 league games, scoring three times. He also played five FA Cup games for them. In 1904 he joined Woolwich Arsenal, this time playing in the First Division of 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 ...

. He was a regular in the Arsenal side and helped them reach 7th in the First Division in season 1906–07. Four seasons with Arsenal saw him play 87 games in all including 75 league games scoring a single goal. On 27 June 1908 he moved north and signed for

where he made only three appearances before moving south to Southend United. Now playing back in the Southern League, Bigden made only four appearances for Southend before his footballing career ended.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigden, James 1880 births Year of death missing Footballers from Poplar, London English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Thames Ironworks F.C. players Gravesend United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Bury F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players