David Hyman Morris (25 November 1897 – 1 December 1985), known as Harry Morris or Abe Morris, was an English professional

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 lea ...

, best remembered for his seven-year spell as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. Morris was voted Swindon Town's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters in 2013 and holds the club records for goals scored in a league match, season and career. He also played League football for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, Swansea Town and

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. He later managed Swedish club

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

Playing career

Fulham

After being spotted by

Phil Kelso Phil Wade Kelso (26 May 1871 – 13 February 1935), born in Largs on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, was a Scottish football manager. Career Kelso was manager of Hibernian for one season,

scoring prolifically for local

Hackney Marshes Hackney Marshes is an area of open space in London's Lower Lea Valley, lying on the western bank of the River Lea. It takes its name from its position on the eastern boundary of Hackney, the principal part of the London Borough of Hackney, an ...

side Vicar of Wakefield, Morris joined

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 ...

club

in May 1919. He spent most of his time with the club in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

and scored heavily. Morris managed seven first team appearances, scoring twice. He departed

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

in June 1921.

Brentford

Morris transferred to

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

club

in June 1921. With the Bees having finished second-from-bottom in their first season in the league, he helped inspire the side to a 9th-place finish in the 1921–22 season, top-scoring with 17 goals in 39 appearances. He top-scored again during the 1922–23 season (with 13 goals from 24 appearances), before departing

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

in February 1923. Morris made 63 appearances and scored 30 goals during his 18 months with the Bees.

Millwall

In February 2023, Morris moved to Third Division South club

for a £750 fee. Over the course of his time with the club, he scored 30 goals in 76 appearances for the Lions as the club consistently challenged for promotion to the Second Division. He departed

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

in May 1925.

Swansea Town

Morris moved back up to the Second Division to sign for Swansea Town in May 1925. He remained with the club for one season and made just 9 appearances.

Swindon Town

Morris dropped back down to the Third Division South to transfer to

in June 1926 for a £110 fee. He had a brilliant start to his career at the County Ground, netting

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in each of his first two matches. He scored in the following two matches to set a club record of scoring in each of his first four games, which stood until it was matched in September 2014 by

Jonathan Obika Jonathan Chiedozie Obika (born 12 September 1990) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker and is currently first team coach for Scottish Premiership club Motherwell. Club career Tottenham Obika is a product of the ...

. Flourishing under Sam Allen's management, Morris finished the 1926–27 season with 48 goals from 43 league games (a club record which still stands as of ), but problems with the defence meant the Robins could only manage a fifth-place finish. He also became the first Swindon player to score five goals in a single game, which came in a win over

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

. He repeated the feat in a 5–1 demolition of

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in April 1930. He also went on a run of scoring in 11 consecutive games during the season, scoring 19 goals. Despite failing to win any silverware, Morris was top scorer in each of his seven seasons with Swindon and scored 18 hat-tricks. In addition, he was top scorer in the Third Division South in the 1926–27 and 1927–28 seasons and his record for the 1926–27 season stands at the eighth-highest single-season goal tally in

history. Deemed too old by incoming manager

Ted Vizard Edward Vizard (7 June 1889 – 25 December 1973) was a Welsh international Association football, footballer who became a manager. He spent almost all his playing career at Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers. Playing career Born in Cogan, V ...

, Morris was released prior to the start of the 1933–34 season. During his seven years with Swindon, Morris scored 229 goals in 279 games and as of is still the club's leading goalscorer. His overall league goalscoring record is the joint 16th-highest in English football history as of . In 1955, 22 years after leaving the County Ground, Morris applied for a

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

role with the club, but was rejected. In a poll to celebrate the Football League's 125th anniversary, Morris was voted Swindon's greatest-ever player by the club's supporters.

Clapton Orient

Morris transferred to Third Division South club

in July 1933 and scored eight goals in 13 appearances during the 1933–34 season.

Cheltenham Town

Morris wound down his career in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with Southern League club

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

International career

Morris was called up by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for a trial match, but injury prevented him from taking part.

Managerial career

Morris managed

between 1938 and 1941. He won promotion from Division 2 via the play-offs in his first season and achieved

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

and 6th-place finishes in the following two

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

seasons respectively. He also won the 1939–40 Distriktsmästerskapet. Morris ended his spell with a winning percentage of 67%.

Personal life

Morris was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Though he was observant of the faith, he played on Saturdays during his football career and only refused to play on

high holidays In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

. He was educated at the

Jews' Free School JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School and later Jewish Free School) is a Jewish mixed comprehensive school in Kenton, North London, England, and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist Char ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and was a member of the Brady Street Boys' Club. He served in the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Morris was married to Edith and had a son, Jack and a daughter, Estelle, who died from polio in 1937 at the age of eight. Morris, Edith and Jack emigrated shortly afterwards to

Gothenburg, Sweden Gothenburg ( ; ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gubernatorial seat of Västra Götaland County, ...

, where Morris worked at the

British Consulate This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Co ...

. The outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939 and the

invasion of Norway Invasion of Norway may refer to: *1033 invasion by Tryggvi the Pretender *1567 Swedish invasion during the Northern Seven Years' War *1658 Swedish invasion during the Second Northern War *1716 Swedish invasion during the Great Northern War *1808 S ...

by the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

the following year saw Morris and his family remain in

neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

Sweden until the end of the war. Through his job at the consulate, Morris helped escaped

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

return to the UK. The family emigrated to the United States after the war, with Harry and Edith working for the

British Information Services British Information Services (BIS) was an overt propaganda organization that was part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the government of the United Kingdom. BIS was initially formed in 1941 as an organization to promote British interest ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They retired to

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, where Edith died in 1984, followed a year later by Harry.

Career statistics

Honours

IFK Göteborg * Division 2 play-offs: 1939 *Distriktsmästerskapet: 1939–40 Individual *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

Golden Boot: 1926–27, 1927–28

References

External links

Harry Morris
at ifkdb.se {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Harry 1897 births 1985 deaths Cheltenham Town F.C. players English men's footballers Swindon Town F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players English Football League players Jewish footballers Southern Football League players Leyton Orient F.C. players People from Spitalfields Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets English emigrants to Sweden English emigrants to the United States Men's association football forwards Jewish English sportspeople Middlesex Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I IFK Göteborg managers Allsvenskan managers Expatriate football managers in Sweden English football managers 20th-century English sportsmen