James Henderson (1867 – ''?'') was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er. Henderson was born in Thornhill,

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, and first played for the 5th Kirkcudbright Rifle Volunteers and then Rangers; he was a squad player in Rangers 1890–91

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

-title winning season. In 1892 he moved south to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, signing for Woolwich Arsenal. An

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, he was a consistent goalscorer in Arsenal's last season before they joined the

English 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 Engl ...

; having been boycotted by other sides for their turn to professionalism, these mainly consisted of friendlies and

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 ...

matches. Henderson was a regular in Arsenal's inaugural 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 ...

, and scored 18 goals in 27 first-class games, finishing as Arsenal's top goalscorer; they finished 9th that season. However, the following season his goalscoring touch deserted him and he was released by the club in the summer of 1895, having played 47 League & Cup matches and scoring 30 goals in total. He played another 49 first-team matches and scored 30 goals in them. He returned to his native Scotland. His fate after that is unknown.

References

* 1867 births People from Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Rangers F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Footballers from Dumfries and Galloway Year of death missing {{Scotland-footy-forward-1860s-stub