Howell Harry Image 2 Mansfield Town 1923

Description

Hockley, Birmingham born centre or inside forward Harry Howell had a considerably lesser football career as against his stellar career as a cricketer, but nonetheless he was clearly a very decent footballer. Having began his career with Burslem Swifts he joined Second Division Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 1913, making his Football League debut at Blackpool on New Year’s Day 1914. He scored twice in FA Cup ties for Wolves and made 18 appearances in the second half of the season, before scoring his first League goals the following season, his maiden League goal coming in a 5-1 defeat at Arsenal in January 1915, as Wolves finished the season in fourth place.

During the First World War he played for Wolverhampton Wanderers in wartime league football as well as guesting for both Stoke and Port Vale. At Stoke he played in the 1916-17 and 1917-18 seasons, where he made 57 appearances, scoring a prolific 42 goals. He scored a hat-trick past Manchester City in a 5-0 win at the Victoria Ground on 9th April 1917, and again hit a hat-trick in a 9-0 home win over Burnley on 16th March 1918. Despite only being a guest, he was Port Vale’s top scorer during the 1918-19 season with 9 goals in 11 appearances.

He returned to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 1919 and scored twice in a further 11 appearances in the first post war season before signing for Southampton in the summer of 1920 after 8 goals in 41 appearances for Wolves, however he spent a season in the reserves at The Dell without appearing for their first team. He joined non league Northfleet in 1921 but returned to Football League action in October 1922 when he joined Third Division (North) club Accrington Stanley, where he made 3 appearances in late October and early November before joining Midland League Mansfield Town later the same month. At Mansfield he scored 12 goals in 18 appearances before the end of the 1922-23 season, winning the Notts Senior Cup in 1923 before retiring from football to focus on his cricket.

As a fast bowler for Warwickshire and England he excelled at cricket. He first played County cricket in 1913, but came into his own after the War. He took 161 wickets at an average of less than 18 in 1920, and 152 at less than 20 in 1923. He took all 10 wickets for 51 against Yorkshire at Edgbaston in 1923. He twice took 9 wickets in an innings, taking 9-35 against Somerset at Taunton in 1924 and 9-24 against Hampshire at Edgbaston in 1925. He also famously helped rout Hampshire for 15 in 53 balls at Edgbaston in 1924, Howell taking 6-7 in less than 5 overs and Calthorpe 4-4! Another outstanding performance was taking 12 wickets, 6 in each innings, for a mere 53 runs for The Players against The Gentlemen at Lords in 1920.

He twice toured Australia with the England party and played in 5 Test matches for England between 1920 and 1924, with his first match at the MCG during England’s 1920-21 Ashes series with Australia in fairness without great success, taking 7 wickets at nearly 80 a piece with a best Test performance of 4-115. His last England Test appearance was against South Africa at The Oval in August 1924. His Warwickshire career lasted until 1928. He also played League cricket for Accrington.