Sir James Kirkpatrick, 8th Baronet (22 March 1841 – 10 November 1899) was the 8th Kirkpatrick Baronet of Closeburn,

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

. In his youth he was a keen sportsman, and helped organise the Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team in the representative matches between March 1870 and February 1872. He also played in

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

for the Wanderers when they won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

1878 Events January * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: ...

Family and professional career

Kirkpatrick was born in Canada, the second son of Sir Charles Sharpe Kirkpatrick, 6th Baronet and Helen Stuart Kirk. His father died in 1867 at which time his brother, Thomas, succeeded to the title; Thomas died childless in 1880 and the title passed to James. He was educated privately before joining the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

as a clerk where he progressed to become Private Secretary to

Lord George Hamilton Lord George Francis Hamilton (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for India. Background ...

, the

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

. He married Mary Steward of

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

, Surrey on 24 April 1872 and they had six children: * Josephine Mary Kirkpatrick (1873–1948) * Charles Sharpe Kirkpatrick (1874–1937) who succeeded his father as the 9th Baronet. * Harry Fearnley Kirkpatrick (1876–1918), Lt. Colonel in The East Kent Regiment (3rd Foot), who was killed in 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 ...

. * Margaret Hope Kirkpatrick (1878–1945) * Yvone Kirkpatrick (1879–1924), worked for the political service in Nigeria. * Athole Kirkpatrick (1885–1917), 2nd Lieutenant in The East Kent Regiment (3rd Foot), who was also killed in the First World War. Kirkpatrick died at the family home in

Forest Hill, Kent Forest Hill is a district of the London Borough of Lewisham in south east London, England, on the South Circular Road, which is home to the Horniman Museum. History Like much of Greater London, Forest Hill was only sparsely populated unt ...

on 10 November 1899, aged 58.

Football career

Kirkpatrick was a member of the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

Football Club and also of the Wanderers. His first Wanderers appearance came on 2 February 1867 in a 1–0 defeat by C.C.C. on

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

; the team sheet for that match also includes a "C. Kirkpatrick", possibly his younger brother Charles. He became a frequent member of the Wanderers XI, making a total of 58 appearances over the next 11 years, generally as

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

although he played occasionally as an outfield player, even scoring two goals, against Forest Club in 1870 and

Gitanos The Romani in Spain, generally known by the Endonym and exonym, endonym ''Calé'', or the Endonym and exonym, exonym (), belong to the Romani people#Romani subgroups, Iberian Romani subgroup known as Calé, with smaller populations in Portugal ...

in 1876. In the ''

Football Annual __NOTOC__ The ''Football Annual'' was a reference work published annually from 1868 to 1908. It reported on the various codes of football played in England, and also provided some coverage of the other home nations, supplemented on occasion by re ...

'' for 1875, he was described as "a goalkeeper hois always excellent, and Surrey owes much to him in that position" while the 1879 edition said that he was "a very useful goalkeeper; fields well, and does not lose his head". Other editions described him as "a useful player all round, a good back and excellent goalkeeper". By 1874, he was chiefly known as a goalkeeper, whose "flying days

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

numbered in the past". In 1870, he helped Arthur Kinnaird to organise the Scottish team to play against England in the first of the series of international football matches. The Scotsmen were all based in London and the Home Counties. The advertisement placed in the ''Sportsman'' newspaper stated:

A match between the leading representatives of the Scotch and English sections will be played at The Oval on Saturday 19 February, under the auspices of the Football Association. Players duly qualified and desirous of assisting either party must communicate with Mr AF Kinnaird of 2 Pall Mall East, SW or Mr J Kirkpatrick, Admiralty, Somerset House, WC on behalf of the Scotch, or with Mr Charles W Alcock, Boy Court, Ludgate Hill, EC or Mr RG Graham, 7 Finch Lane, EC on the part of the English.

For the inaugural international match, Kirkpatrick was Scotland's goalkeeper and captain. The Scots opened the scoring with a quarter of an hour to play after England's goalkeeper was moved upfield thus allowing Robert Crawford to score with a shot from distance. England fought back to score through Alfred Baker to salvage a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn most commonly refer to: * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Draw (tie), in a competition, where competitors achieve equal outcomes * Draw ...

a minute from the end of the game. Kirkpatrick retained his place for the next three international matches, being captain again in the second. Although he had first played for the Wanderers in 1867, he was rarely available for their

ties. He was, however, an "umpire" for the first FA Cup Final in 1872. In 1877–78, he played in every round helping Wanderers to reach the final where they met a team from the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. The final was played at the

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

on 23 March 1878, the day after Kirkpatrick's 37th birthday. In the match, Kirkpatrick suffered a broken arm after fifteen minutes during a tussle on the goal-line; despite his injury, he managed to keep the ball out of the goal, and went on to play the remainder of the match despite his injury. Wanderers won the match 3–1 in their last appearance in the Final, thus claiming the trophy for the fifth time in seven years. The 1878 FA Cup Final was Kirkpatrick's final appearance for the Wanderers. He also represented Surrey and served on

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

committee from 1869 to 1872.

Cricket career

Kirkpatrick also played cricket for the Civil Service, Lansdown and Chiswick & Turnham Green clubs between 1863 and 1879 and played for the Gentlemen of the South in a first-class match against the Gentlemen of the North in July 1867 taking three wickets as his side claimed an eight wicket victory.

References

External links

Wanderers Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkpatrick, James 1841 births 1899 deaths Nobility from Dumfries and Galloway Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's representative footballers (1870–1872) Wanderers F.C. players Scottish cricketers British civil servants Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia Gentlemen of the South cricketers Men's association football goalkeepers