John Walker (24 August 1873 – 17 February 1937) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

footballer who played for Armadale, Heart of Midlothian,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

in the 1890s and 1900s. He won national titles in Scotland and England, and represented both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Playing career

Club

Born in

Shotts Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

, Walker played for local team Armadale before being recruited by leading club Hearts, making his league debut for the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

club on 18 February 1893. He played four full seasons with Hearts, winning two League Championships and one

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

by manager Tom Watson along with teammate

Tommy Robertson Thomas Robertson (17 October 1876 – 13 August 1941) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside left. He was part of the Heart of Midlothian team that won the Scottish league title in 1897. He also played for Liverpool between 1898 a ...

for £350 on 30 March 1898. He made his ''Reds'' debut in a

Football League Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

fixture on 11 April 1898. Walker only missed two games during his first full season, scoring 12 goals in 38 games, a decent return for 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 regular member of the

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

club's first league championship win in 1901, and scored the winning goal against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

on the final day of the season to secure the title. Walker played another 18 times for Liverpool in 1901–02 before returning to Scotland to join

, who had just won a fourth successive domestic title but were also facing financial troubles due to the reconstruction work required on their stadium after the recent

1902 Ibrox disaster The 1902 Ibrox disaster was the collapse of a stand at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Govan (now part of Glasgow), Scotland. The incident led to the deaths of 25 supporters and injuries to 500 more during an international association footb ...

. He scored at a rate of nearly a goal every two league games over his three seasons with the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

club, and appeared in two further Scottish Cup finals. In 1905 he moved on to play for

, however he was there for only a short time before suffering a serious knee injury which ended his playing career.

International

Walker played five times for

. He made his debut in an 1895 British Home Championship match against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, scoring two goals in the 3–1 victory at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. He also represented the

five times, while he was with Hearts and Rangers.

Later life and death

In 1910, Walker moved to Canada to become an engineer with Manitoba Telephones. He eventually enlisted for service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(although was initially rejected due to his injured leg), joining the

Canadian Military Engineers The Canadian Military Engineers (CME; french: links=no, Génie militaire canadien) is the military engineering personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces. The members of the branch that wear army uniform comprise the Corps of Royal Canadian Engi ...

in 1916 and spending most of the conflict attached to the Canadian Signal Corps. After the war he returned to his telecoms job in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He died in 1937 from an accident while cutting wood.

Honours

Heart of Midlothian *

Scottish Football 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 south ...

: 1894–95, 1896–97 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1895–96 Liverpool *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

: 1900–01 Rangers *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

**Runners-up:

1903–04 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

References

External links

Profile at LFCHistory.net
at ''London Hearts'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, John 1873 births 1937 deaths Military personnel from Lanarkshire Royal Canadian Engineers soldiers Royal Canadian Corps of Signals soldiers Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Scottish footballers Sportspeople from Shotts People from Armadale, West Lothian Footballers from West Lothian Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Armadale F.C. players Association football inside forwards Scottish emigrants to Canada Canadian military personnel of World War I Accidental deaths in Manitoba Footballers from North Lanarkshire