Lucien Emile Boullemier (1877 – 9 January 1949) 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 le ...

and ceramic designer. A

right-half A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, he played competitively for

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

, Philadelphia Hibernian (United States), Northampton Town, and Northern Nomads. He was the younger brother of Leon Boullemier, also an accomplished sportsman.

Career

The son of the French-born ceramic artist Antonin Boullemier, who had moved to Stoke in 1872 to work as a decorator at Minton's factory, Lucien Boullemier worked as a ceramic artist and painter. He played for Stoke Alliance, Chesterton White Star and Stone Town before joining

in August 1896. He played in seven First Division matches for the "Potters" during the 1896–97 season. He then signed for

in the summer of 1897. He played all 45 games of the 1898–99 season, and helped the Vale to a ninth-place finish 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 to win the Staffordshire Senior Cup. He played 41 games in the 1899–1900 campaign, and scored his first league goal in a 1–0 win over Luton Town at the Athletic Ground. He also scored goals in home wins over

Burton Swifts Burton Swifts Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, England. Established in 1871, the club joined the Football League in 1892, remaining members until merging with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United in 1901. Hist ...

and

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

. He played 32 matches in the 1900–01 season, scoring goals in home wins over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. He made 41 appearances in the 1901–02 campaign, playing every one of the club's 34 league games. He claimed the only goal against Leicester Fosse at Filbert Street. Also, he scored past

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in an

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 ...

qualifier. After eight games in the

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 ...

season, he announced his retirement from football to concentrate on his artwork. He emigrated to the United States, where he played for Philadelphia Hibernian, and worked for the Lenox China factory in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. His art career seemingly not taking off in the way he had envisaged, he returned to England in 1905 and joined Northampton Town; in November he made an unsuccessful comeback at Port Vale, where he played just one league game. He retired for good after playing for Northern Nomads and North Staffs Nomads.

Ceramic design

On his return to England, Boullemier worked at Mintons factory and then at the Soho Pottery in

Cobridge Cobridge is an area of Stoke-on-Trent, in the City of Stoke-on-Trent district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Cobridge was marked on the 1775 Yates map as 'Cow Bridge' and was recorded in Ward records (1843) as Cobridge Gate. Cobrid ...

before being recruited by C.T. Maling of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

to take charge of their decorating department. Until 1926, he had been painting quite high-class porcelain, and he introduced a range of more glamorous designs into the mass-market Maling range, using gold printing techniques and lustred surfaces. In 1933, he was joined at the company by his son, Lucien George. Three years later, he left to work for the New Hall Pottery Company in

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 ...

, where he produced a range called "Boumier Ware", each piece of which carried his facsimile signature.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Burslem Port Vale * Staffordshire Senior Cup: 1898

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boullemier, Lucien 1877 births 1949 deaths English people of French descent Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English ceramicists 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Stoke City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Philadelphia Hibernian players Northampton Town F.C. players Northern Nomads F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists