Harry Parkes (4 January 1920 – 4 March 2009) was an English footballer of the 1940s and 1950s. Parkes was a one club man having only played for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He is widely regarded as one of Aston Villa's most popular players of all time.

Early life

Parkes was born in

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Warwickshire, it is located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutt ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

on 4 January 1920.

Football career

Parkes played in several positions including centre-forward, right-half, and winger, but he played his best football at full-back. He joined

in April 1939 as an amateur from

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

club Boldmere St. Michaels. He turned professional in August 1939. He appeared for the club 345 times scoring 4 goals; plus another 144 wartime games. He missed only 12 League games in seven seasons from 1947 to 1954. He also sat on Aston Villa's board of directors in the 1970s. He was in line for an

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 ...

call-up in 1946, but an injury meant he could not play, and he never got another chance to play for his country. His only honour with Villa was winning the League War Cup in 1944.

Post-football career

He retired from playing football in 1955 to concentrate on his sports shop in

Corporation Street, Birmingham Corporation Street is a main shopping street in Birmingham city centre, England. Though it has a distinct southern terminus – the junction of New Street, Birmingham, New Street and Stephenson Place, adjacent to the entrance of Birmingham ...

. At one time it supplied all the boots to the Villa team. The shop closed when Parkes retired in the mid-1990s. Harry died surrounded by his family members at his home in Solihull on 4 March 2009. Parkes was survived by his wife Marjorie and daughter Valerie and son Derek

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkes, Harry 1920 births 2009 deaths English men's footballers Boldmere St. Michaels F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Men's association football defenders English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen