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John CHADBURN 1873 - 1923

John CHADBURN was a professional footballer in the early days of the football league; between 1893 and 1905 he played for several clubs, notably Notts County, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion. John was born in Mansfield, Notts on the 12th February 1873, the second son in a family of seven headed by his father Walter, a wood turner. Although he initially trained as a shoe rivetter, as did his brothers, he was playing locally for teams such as Leicester Fosse (later Leicester City) in the Midland League, Mansfield Unitarians, and Mansfield Greenhalghs; by the time he was 20 he had started to play football professionally, initially in the red and white stripes of Lincoln City where he scored 10 goals in 27 games. After a year he moved to Notts County, still playing on the right wing, and played two seasons before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers for two seasons in 1897/8. In 1899 he reached the top of his career when he first donned the blue and white stripes of West Bromwich Albion; newly married and with two small children. In four seasons they moved to a new ground at The Hawthorns in 1900, got to the semi final of the FA Cup in 1901 and became Division Two Champions in 1902. By then John was 29 and playing at right back. Age seems to have been catching up with him and, although he got a prestigious transfer to Liverpool FC in 1903, he only played two games and was soon dropped from the first team. After a short spell with Reading, in 1904 he moved to Plymouth Argyle where he made 23 appearances, and even one goal. In 1905 he moved again to Swindon before returning to non-league football back in Mansfield with Mansfield Mechanics and Woodhouse Rangers. John died in Mansfield in 1923, but was well remembered in the Chadburn family as their one and only professional sportsman.