| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Love | ||
| Date of birth | 17 March 1858[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 27 September 1882(1882-09-27) (aged 24) | ||
| Place of death | Ismailia, Egypt | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Partick | |||
| 1878–1879 | Darwen | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
James Love (17 March 1858 – 27 September 1882) was a Scottishfootballer who is acknowledged as one of the first professional football players in England, having played forDarwen in the late 1870s. He was a native ofGlasgow and played forPartick before moving to England to play for Darwen. He died in 1882 whilst serving in the British military in Egypt.[2]
Love was born inGushetfaulds Cottage in Glasgow in 1858. He set himself up as a street-cleaning contractor inPartick but got into financial difficulties and in October 1878, his two horses and his equipment, including a street-sweeping machine, were sold off at a public warrant sale. Shortly afterwards he was summoned to the Glasgow bankruptcy court but he failed to show up and the court postponed the case for a month.
On 21 November 1878, he again failed to appear and the local Sheriff issued a warrant for his arrest. It was never served as he had left Scotland and moved toDarwen.[3]
Whilst working, Love initially played for Partick (not the same club as the modernPartick Thistle) and had already visitedLancashire with Partick in the 1878 New Year. In summer 1878 he joined Lancashire clubDarwen, arriving before fellow Partick playerFergus Suter.[1]
He scored twice againstEagley in the1878–79 FA Cup second round and scored two more in the third round victory overRemnants atthe Oval, and was in top form when Darwen facedOld Etonians in the famous 5–5 draw on 13 February 1879 where he scored twice a second half comeback from a 5–1 deficit. He was an integral part of the team that season, with the club playing a benefit match for Love and Suter in April 1879. Early the next season he played three times for Darwen, but after the defeat of Haslingden in theLancashire Cup on 25 October, he disappeared from the team.[1]
The following month he played in a friendly for local rivalsBlackburn Rovers. The only other noted appearance was in what is thought to be his final football match, on 10 January 1880 for the village side inHaslingden.[1]
In February 1880 he signed up for theRoyal Marines in Liverpool. By 1881 he was a corporal. In 1882 the Marines were called into action and Love was posted to Egypt during the occupation ofAlexandria which followed theAnglo-Egyptian War. Whilst in Egypt he fell ill withenteric fever and died in the military hospital in Ismailia. He is commemorated on the memorial in Tel-el-Kebir cemetery.[3] His family were in 1883 sent a campaign medal recognising his service. He is also commemorated on a Royal Marine memorial inRochester Cathedral.[1]
Love is one of the characters in the Netflix mini-seriesThe English Game (2020), played byJames Harkness.[4]