| Match Pictures | Matches: 1898 – 1899 | 1898-99 League |
Trivia
Celtic won this game but more notable history made in this game due to the presence of John Walker.- This match is a notable landmark in Celtic history, as one of the players on the field was John Walker of Hearts: the first non-white player to have played in a Celtic First Team game (either for or against Celtic, and in this match it was against).
- John Walker was born in Leith, and was of West Indian descent, see also: link. John Walker was the first black footballer to play in both the Scottish League and the Football League, and also the first to command a transfer fee.
- Note: Billy Clarke of Third Lanark/Bernburb/East Stirlingshire etc may have pipped John Walker for this historical mark, but not confirmed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Clarke_(footballer,_born_1878). No record yet found of him having played v Celtic in a first team match.
- This was his last Scottish league match in Scotland.
- John Walker sadly died prematurely only two years later aged just 22:
- The death is announced of John Walker, the well-known coloured football player residing in Leith. He was better known as “Darkey” Walker, and is believed to have been the only professional football player of colour in Scotland. Walker, on joining Leith Athletic three years ago, gave promise of developing into a class player, his tricky play and dashing runs establishing him a warm favourite. The Heart of Midlothian entered into negotiations for his transfer, which was effected for the sum of £50. After playing for the Hearts for a season, the Tynecastle club gave Walker his papers, and at the beginning of last season he joined Lincoln City. He did not remain long with the English club, and returned home six months ago in ill-health. Consumption was the cause of death.
The Dundee Courier, (07.08.1900)
- The death is announced of John Walker, the well-known coloured football player residing in Leith. He was better known as “Darkey” Walker, and is believed to have been the only professional football player of colour in Scotland. Walker, on joining Leith Athletic three years ago, gave promise of developing into a class player, his tricky play and dashing runs establishing him a warm favourite. The Heart of Midlothian entered into negotiations for his transfer, which was effected for the sum of £50. After playing for the Hearts for a season, the Tynecastle club gave Walker his papers, and at the beginning of last season he joined Lincoln City. He did not remain long with the English club, and returned home six months ago in ill-health. Consumption was the cause of death.
- There appears to have been two John Walkers around this time who played for Hearts and this player should not be confused with the other who was a long-term Hearts player and went on to play for Morton & Rangers, but had left in Summer 1898.
- The first non-white player to play for the Celtic first team in a competitive match was still a long time coming, Giles Heron in the 1950s.
- To be confirmed: It is quite possible that this appearance by John Walker was the last in the top tier league of a black player in Scotland until Celtic’s Giles Heron in the 1950s! Willie Clarke of Third Lanark in the 19th century we believe played on loan in the second tier, but never in the top tier.
Review
“A hard and at times unnecessarily rough game at times” – Glasgow Herald
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Above is wages book
Above is the minute from Hearts meeting from Monday 12 December 1898 where the team was selected, proves that John Walker played v Celtic.
Note: below article wrongly claimed John Walker didn’t play v Celtic, but Hearts site (London Hearts) says he did. https://londonhearts.com/scores/newplayers/h00392.html , there were two John Walkers but the other had left in the summer to Liverpool.
Research proves below article has an error as confirmed by @hearts_heritage and Glasgow Herald match report that John Walker did play against Celtic in this match. Thx to @hearts_heritage for the help.
The other John Walker…
https://gottfriedfuchs.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-other-john-walker.html
The death is announced of John Walker, the well-known coloured football player residing in Leith. He was better known as “Darkey” Walker, and is believed to have been the only professional football player of colour in Scotland. Walker, on joining Leith Athletic three years ago, gave promise of developing into a class player, his tricky play and dashing runs establishing him a warm favourite. The Heart of Midlothian entered into negotiations for his transfer, which was effected for the sum of £50. After playing for the Hearts for a season, the Tynecastle club gave Walker his papers, and at the beginning of last season he joined Lincoln City. He did not remain long with the English club, and returned home six months ago in ill-health. Consumption was the cause of death.
The Dundee Courier, (07.08.1900)
John Walker was the first black professional footballer in Scotland, and the first black professional to play in both the Scottish League and the Football League. His appearance in first class football was brief. He was an outside left noted for his pace and ball skill.
In 1898 he joined Leith Athletic from Leith Primrose.
Later that year he joined Heart of Midlothian.
Here is John Walker’s record for Hearts. 3 league matches, no goals:
29.10.98 Hibernian (a) w 1-5
05.11.98 StBernard’s(h) w 3-1
12.11.98 Third Lanark(h)w 2-1
There is some speculation over whether Lincoln thought they had signed the Scottish international John Walker, a Hearts team mate, rather than John ‘Darkey’ Walker.
Walker’s career with Lincoln was unspectacular. 6 Division 2 matches. No goals:
02.09.99 Middlesbrough (h) w 3-0
09.09.99 Chesterfield (a) d 2-2
07.10.99 Newton Heath (a) l 1-0
14.10.99 The Wednesday (h) l 1-2
04.11.99 New Brighton Tower(h) d 0-0
11.11.99 Grimsby Town (a) l 5-2
On leaving Lincoln Walker, who was having problems with his health, returned to Leith. Walker was 22 when he died, either of tuberculosis or pneumonia, in August 1900.
Looking for evidence about Walker, particularly his origins, I found that other on-linehistorians had not been able to establish many facts. There was speculation over his birthplace. Leith was a port, and ports were more likely to have black inhabitants in Victorian Britain than other areas. One lead I did find online was that John’s parents’ names were John andSarah.
According to the 1891 census (accessed via ancestry.com) there were a John and Sarah Walker living at8, Cable Wynd, Leith. They had 2 sons, theelderbeing John (b 1877).
John Walker senior’s place of birth is given as ‘Naturalvjed, Spain‘ (I took this to represent ‘naturalized’).
Moving back in time to the 1881 census,John Walker senior is identified as aDock Labourer and his place of birth as India, West (!)- surely the WestIndies.
It doesn’t require a great leap of the imagination to come up with Port of Spain. This is pure speculation on my part. One thing that these census records do tell us , however, is that John Walker junior was born in Leith.
Colouring Over The White Line
Phil Vasili
Mainstream Publishing
Following article in the link rightly claims he did play for Celtic, and his last league game for Hearts was v Celtic:
https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/sports-history-news-and-blog/john-walker-a-black-professional-in-the-scottish-and-english-leagues
“His last Scottish League match was at Celtic Park on 17 December, and after the turn of the year he was in and out of the Hearts team for the East of Scotland League campaign, playing five games and scoring once. As a bonus he won an East of Scotland Shield medal when Hearts beat Hibs 1-0 in March. His last appearance for Hearts was a friendly at Wishaw Thistle in May.”
Source: https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/sports-history-news-and-blog/john-walker-a-black-professional-in-the-scottish-and-english-leagues
John Walker was the first black footballer to play in both the Scottish League and the Football League, and also the first to command a transfer fee.
Sadly an early death meant his career in football was brief, but he shone as a talented outside left, noted for his pace and ball control. Primarily, however, he stood out because of his colour.
Born in Leith to a black father and white mother, Walker played professionally at the end of the Victorian era for Leith Athletic, Hearts and Lincoln City.
His football career started at Leith Primrose, who won the Leith and District Junior League in 1897/98. Then in the spring of 1898, at the age of 21, he signed as a professional for Leith Athletic, a mid-table side in the Second Division.
The Scottish Referee commented: ‘Walker is a coloured player from Leith Primrose of no little repute. He is the first ‘darkie’ to become a Scottish League player, and his appearance is certain to cause no little interest. Several stories reached me some time ago about Walker’s excellence, and I shall indeed be surprised if Mr Grant’s latest selection does not turn out another capture for Leith.’
That was a reference to Alec Grant, the Leith Athletic secretary, who was renowned for his astute talent-spotting.
Walker made his Leith Athletic debut in a local derby against Hibernian on 12 March 1898, in the East of Scotland League, and marked the occasion with a first half goal in a 3-3 draw. Two weeks later he made his Scottish League bow at home to Linthouse, and in April he played in two more league matches, scoring against both Airdrieonians and Port Glasgow Athletic. He also played in five more East of Scotland games and scored in a Rosebery Cup tie against Hearts.
He started the 1898/99 season with a bang as Leith won their first four Division 2 matches, with Walker scoring in three of them. There was speculation that Hearts were interested in signing him and in October, shortly after he played his last game for Leith at Motherwell, he put pen to paper for the Tynecastle side. Hearts paid his old club £50, which was a sizeable sum for a young player and the Edinburgh Evening News derided it as ‘absurdly large’ but it did mean he was the first black player ever to command a transfer fee.
He went straight into the Hearts team and on 29 October, in an echo of his Leith Athletic debut, made a scoring debut at Easter Road in a 5-1 win over local rivals Hibs. He retained his place and the following week made his home debut against St Bernard’s, when the Scottish Referee said ‘he was badly abused’ but this appeared to relate to rough treatment on-field rather than racism from the terraces.
He featured in every Hearts match for the next two months, taking his total to seven Scottish League games (it would have been eight but a game against Partick Thistle was abandoned due to fog) without scoring any more goals. As his early good form drifted the Evening News continued to be unimpressed, complaining: ‘he wriggles where he should glide’ and ‘Walker has yet to show that his transfer was worth 50s, let alone £50’.
His last Scottish League match was at Celtic Park on 17 December, and after the turn of the year he was in and out of the Hearts team for the East of Scotland League campaign, playing five games and scoring once. As a bonus he won an East of Scotland Shield medal when Hearts beat Hibs 1-0 in March. His last appearance for Hearts was a friendly at Wishaw Thistle in May.
That summer, Walker was allowed to leave and Lincoln City paid £25 for his signature, apparently beating off competition from Reading. The Athletic News clearly confused him with his better-known Hearts colleague Bobby Walker, stating ‘he took part in the Scottish trial matches last year and is unquestionably a very fine player’, a report which was ridiculed by the Evening News, who commented: ‘There was something in the Walker transfer from Leith to Tynecastle some people could never quite understand.’ One wonders if Lincoln City were equally mistaken, but for the player it was certainly an attractive move as he doubled his wages to £3 a week.
He made his first team debut in Lincoln’s opening match of the Second Division campaign, a 3-0 win over Middlesbrough on 2 September, and played again the following week against Chesterfield before being dropped to the reserves. After a couple more outings in the first team in October it became apparent that all was not well and in the middle of the month he was suspended by the club for his ‘disobedience to rules’. He was reinstated after a week but played just two more league matches, taking his total to six first team appearances without scoring a single goal.
John Walker, a black professional in the Scottish and English Leagues
1/10/2020
John Walker was the first black footballer to play in both the Scottish League and the Football League, and also the first to command a transfer fee.
Sadly an early death meant his career in football was brief, but he shone as a talented outside left, noted for his pace and ball control. Primarily, however, he stood out because of his colour.
His football career started at Leith Primrose, who won the Leith and District Junior League in 1897/98. Then in the spring of 1898, at the age of 21, he signed as a professional for Leith Athletic, a mid-table side in the Second Division.
That was a reference to Alec Grant, the Leith Athletic secretary, who was renowned for his astute talent-spotting.
Walker made his Leith Athletic debut in a local derby against Hibernian on 12 March 1898, in the East of Scotland League, and marked the occasion with a first half goal in a 3-3 draw. Two weeks later he made his Scottish League bow at home to Linthouse, and in April he played in two more league matches, scoring against both Airdrieonians and Port Glasgow Athletic. He also played in five more East of Scotland games and scored in a Rosebery Cup tie against Hearts.
He started the 1898/99 season with a bang as Leith won their first four Division 2 matches, with Walker scoring in three of them. There was speculation that Hearts were interested in signing him and in October, shortly after he played his last game for Leith at Motherwell, he put pen to paper for the Tynecastle side. Hearts paid his old club £50, which was a sizeable sum for a young player and the Edinburgh Evening News derided it as ‘absurdly large’ but it did mean he was the first black player ever to command a transfer fee.
He featured in every Hearts match for the next two months, taking his total to seven Scottish League games (it would have been eight but a game against Partick Thistle was abandoned due to fog) without scoring any more goals. As his early good form drifted the Evening News continued to be unimpressed, complaining: ‘he wriggles where he should glide’ and ‘Walker has yet to show that his transfer was worth 50s, let alone £50’.
That summer, Walker was allowed to leave and Lincoln City paid £25 for his signature, apparently beating off competition from Reading. The Athletic News clearly confused him with his better-known Hearts colleague Bobby Walker, stating ‘he took part in the Scottish trial matches last year and is unquestionably a very fine player’, a report which was ridiculed by the Evening News, who commented: ‘There was something in the Walker transfer from Leith to Tynecastle some people could never quite understand.’ One wonders if Lincoln City were equally mistaken, but for the player it was certainly an attractive move as he doubled his wages to £3 a week.
He made his first team debut in Lincoln’s opening match of the Second Division campaign, a 3-0 win over Middlesbrough on 2 September, and played again the following week against Chesterfield before being dropped to the reserves. After a couple more outings in the first team in October it became apparent that all was not well and in the middle of the month he was suspended by the club for his ‘disobedience to rules’. He was reinstated after a week but played just two more league matches, taking his total to six first team appearances without scoring a single goal.
This appears to have been the final straw for the directors and in mid-January Walker was one of six players released by the club. He returned home to Leith, but never had the chance to resume his football career as he was already ill and his health continued to deteriorate. On the first day of August he died of consumption (tuberculosis) aged just 24.
Although tributes in the press said ‘his tricky play and dashing runs established him a warm favourite’, Walker might have been forgotten entirely were it not for his skin colour.
His father, also John, had come to Scotland from abroad but his origins are unclear as his birthplace is given in the 1881 census as West India and in 1891 as Spain. This indicates he may have been born in a Spanish colony in the Caribbean such as Cuba, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, but that is just speculation. When he came to Leith, probably early in the 1870s, he met Glasgow-born Sarah Owens and they married at Leith Catholic Chapel in 1874. Both were illiterate and signed the register with a mark, with John giving his surname as Walking (which might be a phonetic spelling of a Spanish name such as Joaquin).
When their son was born two years later in June 1876 he was registered as John Walkin and it was only in the 1881 census that the surname became Walker, which is how it remained.
The boy certainly had a hard upbringing, surrounded by poverty and disease in the Leith slums. To make matters worse his father, who worked as a dock labourer, was convicted in 1884 of assaulting his wife in their home at Coalhill. However the family appears to have remained together although further research is needed as the parents, and John’s younger brother James, do not appear in the 1901 census.
It would be nice to think that Walker’s example as a black Scots footballer was followed by others, but it would be no less than 64 years after his death before another one played in the Scottish League.
However, he did have a black Scottish contemporary although they never met on the football field. Willie Clarke, of Guyanan and Scottish heritage, signed professional forms at Third Lanark in 1897 and subsequently played at Arthurlie and East Stirlingshire, but never made an appearance in the Scottish League before a successful career in England. I’ll be writing about Willie Clarke next week.
John Walker
Born 20 June 1876 as John Walkin at 20 Smeaton’s Close, Leith.
Died 1 August 1900 at 5 Queen Street, Leith, aged 24.
Leith Athletic, March to October 1898 – 9 matches, 5 goals (Division 2).
Heart of Midlothian, October 1898 to June 1899 – 7 matches, 1 goal (Division 1); East of Scotland Shield winner.
Lincoln City, June 1899 to January 1900 – 6 matches, no goals (Division 2).