Edgar Chadwick
Edgar Chadwick was born in Blackburn on 14th June 1869. After playing football for Blackburn Olympic he joined Blackburn Rovers in July 1887. However, in August 1888, Chadwick was transferred to Everton.
The first season of the Football League began in September, 1888. Preston North End won the first championship without losing a single match and acquired the name the "invincibles". Everton finished in 8th place. They did much better the following season finishing in second, only two points behind Preston, who was once again champions.
Everton won the Football League championship in the 1890-91 season. The three main stars of the team were Edgar Chadwick, Fred Geary and Alf Milward. Preston North End finished in second place. Geary was top scorer with 20 goals, followed by Milward (12) and Chadwick (10).
As Tony Matthews pointed out in Who's Who of Everton: "Edgar Chadwick, 5 ft 6 in. tall, was a master strategist and dribbler who was an ever-present in Everton's 1890-91 League championship-winning side."
Chadwick won his first international cap for England against Wales on 7th March 1891. Chadwick scored one of the goals in England's 4-1 victory. He retained his place in the team that beat Scotland 2-1 the following month. Once again Chadwick scored one of the goals. He made it three out of three when England beat Scotland 4-1 the following season. The England team at that time included John Goodall, Jack Southworth, Billy Bassett, Dennis Hodgetts, Bob Holmes, Fred Geary, Alf Milward and Johnny Holt.
Everton finished in 3rd place in the 1892-93 season. They also had a good run in the FA Cup beating West Bromwich Albion (4-1), Nottingham Forest (4-2), Sheffield Wednesday (3-0), Preston North End (2-1) to reach the final against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Captained by Bob Howarth, and watched by 40,000 fans at the Fallowfield Ground, Everton lost the final 1-0.
Chadwick and Everton also got to the 1897 FA Cup Final. A crowd of 60,000 arrived at Crystal Palace to watch the final against Aston Villa. Charlie Athersmith scored the opening goal but Everton hit back with goals from Jack Bell and Richard Boyle. Aston Villa continued to dominate the game and added two more from George Wheldon and Jimmy Crabtree. That finished the scoring and therefore Aston Villa had emulated the great Preston North End side that had achieved the FA Cup and Football League double in 1888-89 season.
Chadwick won his last international cap for England against Scotland on 3rd April 1897. The England team included Charlie Athersmith, Steve Bloomer, Alf Milward, Ernest Needham, Jack Reynolds, Gilbert Smith and Howard Spencer. England lost the game 2-1.
Edgar Chadwick scored 110 goals in 300 games before joining Burnley in May 1899. After playing in only 31 games he was transferred to Southampton in August 1900. He was a member of the team that played Sheffield United in the 1902 FA Cup Final. Sheffield took an early lead but Southampton scored a controversial equalizer and the game was drawn 1-1.
Walter Bennett was injured and could not take part in the replay. He was replaced by William Barnes on the wing. The game was only two minutes old when a massive clearing kick by William Foulke reached George Hedley and Sheffield United took an early lead. Led by the outstanding Ernest Needham, Sheffield dominated play but Albert Brown managed to score a equalizer. Southampton began to apply pressure but according to the Athletic News, "Foulke was invincible". With ten minutes to go, Needham took a shot that the Southampton goalkeeper, John Robinson, could only block, and Barnes was able to hit the ball into the unguarded net. Sheffield won 2-1 and Chadwick had his third losing medal.
In May 1902 Chadwick joined Liverpool. He scored 7 goals in 43 games before joining Blackpool in 1904. He also played for Glossop and Darwen before going on to coach in Germany.
In 1908 Chadwick became the coach of the Dutch national team that was taking part in the 1908 Olympic Games. Holland was beaten 4-0 by Great Britain in the semi-final with all four goals coming from Harry Stapley. However, Holland did beat Sweden 2-0 to win the bronze medal.
Chadwick remained in charge of the Dutch team that participated in the 1912 Olympic Games. They defeated Sweden and Austria, but lost in the semi-final 4-1 to Denmark. In the play-off for the bronze medal the Dutch beat Finland 9-0.
Chadwick went onto manage the Dutch national team for 24 games. This included a 2-1 victory over England on 24 March 1913. Chadwick also coached Sparta that won the 1915 Netherlands championship.
During the First World War he returned to Blackburn to work as a baker. In December 1923, he applied for the manager’s job at Blackpool but lost out to Major Frank Buckley.
Edgar Chadwick died in Blackburn on 14th February 1942.
