Ken Parkinson

Kenneth Parkinson (21 September 1911 – 1987) was an English footballer who made 87 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Darlington in the 1930s. He was on the books of Sheffield Wednesday, without playing for the club's first team, and also played non-league football for Esh Winning and Shrewsbury Town.[1]

For the Watergate conspirator, see Kenneth Parkinson.

Ken Parkinson
Personal information
Full name Kenneth Parkinson[1]
Date of birth (1911-09-21)21 September 1911[2]
Place of birth Neville's Cross, England
Date of death 1987 (aged 75)
Place of death Darlington, England
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1933 Esh Winning
1933–1935 Sheffield Wednesday 0 (0)
1935–1936 Shrewsbury Town
1936–1939 Darlington 87 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Parkinson was born in 1911 in Neville's Cross, County Durham,[3][4] the son of Walter Parkinson, a cokeman, and his wife, Eliza.[5] He played football for Esh Winning of the Northern League, and was a member of the Durham Amateur XI that faced a North-Eastern League selection in April 1933 as part of the Durham FA's jubilee celebrations.[6]

After trials with their reserve team towards the end of the 1932–33 season, Parkinson signed professional forms with Football League First Division club Sheffield Wednesday.[7] He played regularly in the reserves, and was retained for the 1934–35 season,[8] but got no closer to the first team, and was listed for transfer at a fee of £100.[9][3] Described as "a goalkeeper of whom much is expected", Parkinson joined Shrewsbury Town for the 1935–36 season,[10] during which he made 40 appearances and helped them finish third in the Birmingham League.[3]

He then signed for Football League Third Division North club Darlington, whose regular goalkeeper, Harry Walker, was recovering from a knee cartilage operation.[3] He began the season in the first team, and kept his place even after Walker returned to fitness, but a bout of influenza at the turn of the year gave Walker his opening.[11] After a run of five defeats that left Darlington bottom of the table, Parkinson returned,[12] but there was little improvement, and they shared the role until the end of the season.[13] The club's application for re-election was successful, and both goalkeepers were among just six players retained.[14]

Parkinson began the 1937–38 season in possession, but a broken bone in his wrist let Walker back in,[15] and his performances earned him a £1000 transfer to First Division Portsmouth.[16] Parkinson kept goal for the last couple of months of Darlington's season,[17] and for most of the next. He was left out in December to give Frank Gower his Football League debut,[18] but after a 4–0 loss to Southport, Parkinson returned to the team at the end of January and remained in it.[19][20] Along with most of Darlington's contracted players, he was given a free transfer at the end of the season.[21]

The 1939 Register finds Parkinson working as an annealing furnaceman in a steel foundry and living in Darlington with his wife, Maria Annie née Vest, whom he married in 1936,[22] and their baby son, Walter.[23] He died in Darlington in 1987 at the age of 75.[2][24]

References

General

  • Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.

Specific

  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 203. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. "Player search: Parkinson, K (Ken)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  3. "New goalkeepers". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 14 August 1936. p. 7.
  4. "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  5. "Walter Parkinson". 1911 England Census. RG14/29977 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  6. "'Argus' reviews the sports news. Durham Amateurs selected". Sunderland Echo. 7 April 1933. p. 13.
  7. "Untitled". Ripley and Heanor News. 12 May 1933. p. 8.
  8. "Sporting notes. Retained players". Yorkshire Evening Post. 21 April 1934. p. 6.
  9. "For transfer". Daily Independent. Sheffield. 1 May 1935. p. 8.
  10. "Shrewsbury Town". Birmingham Gazette. 23 August 1935. p. 11.
  11. "Albion may recall Wood". Daily Herald. London. 27 January 1937. p. 14.
  12. "Darlington decline". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 11 March 1937. p. 9.
  13. Tweddle (2000), p. 38.
  14. "Darlington retain six players". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 5 May 1937. p. 7.
  15. "Unlucky Darlington 'keeper". Leeds Mercury. 26 October 1937. p. 9.
  16. "Pompey's new 'keeper". Daily Mirror. London. 3 March 1938. p. 30.
  17. Tweddle (2000), p. 39.
  18. "Goalkeeper's debut". Leeds Mercury. 22 December 1938. p. 9.
  19. 'Sentinel' (26 January 1939). "Rotherham will be unchanged". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. p. 7.
  20. Tweddle (2000), p. 40.
  21. "Darlington's retained. Five to stay at Feethams". North Eastern Gazette. Middlesbrough. 24 April 1939. p. 9.
  22. "Goalkeeper weds". Sunderland Echo. 26 October 1936. p. 7.
  23. "Kenneth Parkinson". 1939 Register. RG101/2668J FABE – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  24. "Kenneth Parkinson". England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007. Retrieved 23 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.org.
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