1923
James Wray
Jimmy Wray was the youngest of six children of a master chimney sweep.
He learned shorthand and probably worked as a solicitors clerk.
He served in the royal flying corps during WW1 as a motor cycle dispatch rider whilst having trials with Bolton Wanderers where he made two apperances.
"On leaving school at Didsbury, Manchester, Exeter's new centre-forward capture joined Norman Athletic, a junior club, which for three years carried off all the honours in their division of the Manchester and District leagues. Wray being the centre-forward".
In wartime football he also assisted Manchester City, where he scored one goal in four games and subsequently spent two seasons at Reading, after the war, where he played 19 games scoring 5 goals, then one year at Southport.
Joining Southport for their Northern League debut, he played in every forward position bar outside right but could not find his form.
He scored regularly for Chorley, after leaving Southport, before becoming seriously ill mid season"
James Wray was signed by Exeter City at the the start of the 1923/24 season.
He scored twice on his debut for Exeter City in the first practice game of the season on August 11th 1923. This was followed four days later with another two goals in the 2nd practice when the Stripes beat the Whites by 2-0.
He did not make the league team at Exeter City though he was top scorer for the reserves.
He was forced to give up football by Parkinson’s Disease in his early thirties and settled in the south west, later scouting for various clubs.
Having been a very early driver and a market gardener and greengrocer in a Sidmouth, he remained active but the disease gradually took hold.When he died aged 69, he had been blind for 5 years and hospitalised for two.
He was born in Didsbury on the 17/11/1893. And Died in Honiton on the 3/8/63.
He learned shorthand and probably worked as a solicitors clerk.
He served in the royal flying corps during WW1 as a motor cycle dispatch rider whilst having trials with Bolton Wanderers where he made two apperances.
"On leaving school at Didsbury, Manchester, Exeter's new centre-forward capture joined Norman Athletic, a junior club, which for three years carried off all the honours in their division of the Manchester and District leagues. Wray being the centre-forward".
In wartime football he also assisted Manchester City, where he scored one goal in four games and subsequently spent two seasons at Reading, after the war, where he played 19 games scoring 5 goals, then one year at Southport.
Joining Southport for their Northern League debut, he played in every forward position bar outside right but could not find his form.
He scored regularly for Chorley, after leaving Southport, before becoming seriously ill mid season"
James Wray was signed by Exeter City at the the start of the 1923/24 season.
He scored twice on his debut for Exeter City in the first practice game of the season on August 11th 1923. This was followed four days later with another two goals in the 2nd practice when the Stripes beat the Whites by 2-0.
He did not make the league team at Exeter City though he was top scorer for the reserves.
He was forced to give up football by Parkinson’s Disease in his early thirties and settled in the south west, later scouting for various clubs.
Having been a very early driver and a market gardener and greengrocer in a Sidmouth, he remained active but the disease gradually took hold.When he died aged 69, he had been blind for 5 years and hospitalised for two.
He was born in Didsbury on the 17/11/1893. And Died in Honiton on the 3/8/63.
Creator
Paul Farley
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Chris Lee.
http://chrisdlee.com/
http://chrisdlee.com/
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Anonymous
I believe he also played 1 game for West Ham in the London Combination on the 15/12/1917 - at Upton Park in a 3-2 win v Arsenal