William Varley | |||||||
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OVERALL STATISTICS | |||||||
| BIRTH | AGE | SIGNED ON | FROM | ||||
| DEBUT | LAST MATCH | LEFT | |||||
| CAREER | APPEARANCES (SUBS) | ||||||
| TRIES | GOALS | DGOALS | PTS | ||||
Biography of William Varley |
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 HERITAGE NO : William Varley LOCAL BANKER Born on the 30th of November, 1854 and was the youngest of three brothers to play for the Saints. His father James was an iron founder employed 45 men and 25 boys. It is true to say that father James had built a very successful business in St. Helens and regularly dallied in the upper echelons of the business and social circles in the town. His mother, Annie, is from the Isle of Man. The 1861 census recorded the large family living in Eccleston Road, St. Helens. Indeed, William had nine siblings included brothers Richard and Harry who both were to play for St. Helens alongside William. The Varleys really set an impressive precedent here, later to be followed by the Creeveys, Warings and Cunninghams amongst others. William, alongside Harry and Richard, played in the very first match for the newly-formed St. Helens RFC, a twenty-a-side game against Liverpool Rifle Brigade, on 24th of January 1874 at Boundary Road, St. Helens. He played in the forwards that day. St. Helens didn’t trouble the scorers on that great day; the opposition that day made five touchdowns, but didn’t convert any so the result was ‘a draw in their favour’! William initially lived with his father, James and mother Ellen in Eccleston at The Croft, Water Mill Road, St. Helens. Subsequent Census returns recorded William as a banker’s clerk. William developed his own career path and by 1901, at the age of 46, he was a bank manager. He married Ellen Belsher in Eccleston in 1881. The couple moved to live at Clifton Terrace, St. Helens in between Taylor Park and Prescot Road. The salubrious, lesser polluted area which housed quite a number of early well-to-do Saints. William and Ellen had four children Mabel, Leonard, Elsie and Harold. Harold became a vicar and took his sermons to Chilwalk, British Columbia, Canada. William died on the 29th August 1909 at the age of 55. He left the considerable sum of £3,791-15-9 to his widow |
| Date | Match | Pos | Opponents | Comp | Venue | FT | FTO | T | G | DG | ||
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| 24th Jan 1874 | 1 | N/K |
19 | Liverpool Royal Infirmary* | FR | H | VIEW | |||||
| 7th Mar 1874 | 2 | N/K |
14 | Waterloo* | FR | A | VIEW | |||||
| 5th Dec 1874 | 3 | D |
15 | Wigan* | FR | H | 0 | 0 | VIEW | |||
| 9th Oct 1875 | 4 | N/K |
14 | Liverpool Rifle Brigade* | FR | H | VIEW | |||||
| 21st Oct 1876 | 5 | N/K |
12 | Birkenhead Flamingoes* | FR | H | VIEW | |||||
| 3rd Mar 1877 | 6 | N/K |
12 | Wigan* | FR | H | VIEW |
| *Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub. |
| WINS : | LOSSES : | DRAWS : 1 |
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