Henry "Harry" born in 1888, and David, his elder brother by six years, were both professional footballers entirely in Scotland, the former either side of The Great War, the latter before the conflict. In fact the siblings were to take the field together with not one but two clubs, Hibernian between 1910 and 1912 and briefly during the war at Third Lanark.
David was mainly an inside-forward and something of a slow-burner. At already twenty-seven in October 1909 he is recorded in a side-ways move within the Second Division as a late addition from Ayr Utd. to Dumbarton, where he was then an almost ever-present. It then earned him a step up to First Division Hibernian where in three seasons before moving, aged now over thirty and once more sideways, to The Thirds there were sixty-nine League starts and fifteen goals.
Henry too started as an inside-forward, at Vale of Clyde and then in 1909, aged twenty-one, Thirds. But at Cathkin he was a reserve-team player and that would only change when after a season he joined his brother at Easter Road and crucially became a half-back; a left-half, albeit an attacking one, known for the precision of his passing. And with the development of his game came attention from other clubs, notably a struggling Raith Rovers. He joined the Fife club for 1912-13, galvanising it clearly, with a rise to mid-table and at the season's end, although lost to Falkirk, a Scottish Cup Final. Moreover, despite the team doing less well, it led for him in 1914 to a single cap.
During the War Harry was called up and served in the Royal Artillery. At the end of the conflict he initially played for St. Mirren, on loan from Raith. He was in its team that would in 1919 take the Victory Cup. And in 1920, he now just turning thirty-two, the temporary arrangement was made permanent. It was not a success. In 1921 the Paisley club was relegated, at which point he transferred to Clydebank but it too in 1923 dropped into the Second Division.
It prompted Harry's retirement and he, moving back in with his widowed mother and several unmarried siblings, David not included, returned to his pre-football work as a clerk. The family had moved to Rutherglen and it would be from there that in 1925 he would marry. His bride, from Glasgow, was fellow clerk, Elizabeth, "Cissie", Campbell.
It is unclear if they had a family and both would die young. Harry, despite more than half his life as a sportsman, was at fifty-one to suffer a fatal heart attack. And Cissie would follow him just a year later at the age of only forty. They are buried together. David Anderson's passing would be in 1955 in Cathcart.
Birth Locator:
1888 - 15, Blenheim St., Springburn, Glasgow
Residence Locations:
1891 - 15, Blenheim St., Springburn, Glasgow
1901 - 180, Butterbiggins Rd., Govanhill, Glasgow
1911 - 205, Copland Road, Govan, Glasgow
1921-25 - 48, Chapel St., Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
1939 - 40, Garthland Drive, Glasgow
Death Locator:
1939 - Belvidere Hospital, 569, London Rd., Glasgow
Grave Locator:
Riddrie Park Cemetery, Glasgow
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