Remembering our heroes: The Tottenham Hotspur Grave Society

Very early on into my research I was guided to the grave of John Howard Thompson.  As you will see our founders grave was in bad shape and overrun by ivy and weeds.  After an hour or so I had freed the stone and the inscription saw daylight for the first time in decades.  John and his wife Florence had married at the Church just in front of where they now rest and it is somewhere which holds a very special place in my heart too.  My parents married here in 1983, I was christened at St James in 1984 and my grandfathers funeral service took place here in 1998.  My grandparents now rest here too just yards from John in a park I enjoyed with both of them as a young child.

Born in Derbyshire, along with his brother John who also represented the club, Oliver made 173 appearances when all competitive and non-competitive matches are added up.   From 1911 he lived at 264 West Green Road running a newsagents until his death on 20th January 1929 aged 49.  As you will see when I first visited his stone was filthy and barely readable.  However, after several visits it is now looking much better and I will continue to make sure it is kept in good condition.

There are many men for whom Tottenham Hotspur became more than an employer.  More than just a job but a way of life.  The years must have morphed into one as the decades went by.  I aim to do justice to them all but one such figure is Billy Minter.  Billy joined in 1908 going on to become the first player to score 100 goals for the club and captain on 20 occasions in the 1919/20 season.  At the end of that season he became trainer before being named manager in 1927.  

He managed the club 116 times before resigning in 1929 due to taking the fact he couldn't get us promoted back to Division One so personally.  The club showed loyalty to Minter making him assistant secretary immediately - a position he held until his death on 18th May 1940.  I found an online obituary which told of his burial in Tottenham (Note the date of death is 18th May yet all online sources state 21st May)  I took great pleasure restoring the grave of one of our most loyal heroes and I hope the pictures get that across.

Tom Morris is another figure who gave such fantastic service to our football club - 43 years in fact.  Tom played in that first ever match at White Hart Lane in 1899, was a Southern League winner in 1900 and an FA Cup winner in 1901!  He played, and scored, in our very first football league match on 1st September 1908 and when all appearances are tallied up, competitive and non, he made 526 for the club.  He joined the ground-staff team upon his retirement in 1912 and stayed there until his death in April 1942.

How ironic too that he should be buried just a couple of hundred yards from Billy Minter a man he spent 32 years with at the club (1908-1940) but also fought in the trenches with during the great war of 1914-1918.

I made contact with Sandra who is the great grand-daughter of Tom and her son Ben and we met at Tottenham Cemetery to pay our respects.  His grave was in a poor state but it has been left visibly cared for and I will be sure to keep it in a good shape in the future.

A tough-tackling half-back Darnell joined us in 1903 and begun a 47 year association with the club.  When all competitive and non-competitive appearances are added up he represented our club on 320 occasions before becoming assistant trainer in 1919 until his retirement in 1946.  After this time he still worked for the club on our groundstaff team.

Fife born Tom Collins made the journey south from Hearts in November of 1910 and he made 122 first team appearances including many as captain in the final year of football before WWI was announced.  Tom served during the great war and sustained such serious injuries that he had one arm and one leg amputated.  I was delighted to find Collins' final resting place in a quiet corner of Tottenham Cemetery/.

Signed in 1902 from Bristol Rovers our players decided to nickname John 'Bristol' to distinguish him from our captain John Leonard Jones.  His goalscoring reputation preceded him and he arrived as one of the most lethal finishers in the south.  An injury sidelined him for much of the 1902/3 season but his Southern League record saw him return 19 goals in 32 appearances.  John reported back for training in September 1904 with 'flu like symptons' but it was instead typhoid and he died aged just 29.  A memorial match was organised by the club in December 1904 to raise funds for his family.  His grave now lies flat to the floor in Tottenham Cemetery sadly and it will require a large amount of work to get it standing again.

Sidney White was born in Tottenham and served in WWI before being invited on a trial in March 1921.  A month later he had impressed suitably and had signed professional forms.  However, dislodging club captain Arthur Grimsdell was nigh on impossible and Sid made just 22 first team appearances during his 6 years with the club.  Sidney white rests in Tottenham Cemetery alongside his wife Mabel who he married at St Ann's Church in Stamford Hill on 23rd March 1918.