1910s

1910/11

The Hammers began the 1910/11 season in the Southern League First Division – the same division we had competed in since being promoted as Second Division champions in 1898/99.

A record of 12 wins and just one defeat from 19 home league games helped West Ham finish fifth in the 20-team table.

Wapping-born inside forward Danny Shea (pictured, top) continued his prolific scoring form, netting 25 goals in 35 Southern League games, including four in a 6-0 demolition of Southend United at Roots Hall on New Year's Eve 1910.

Shea also scored three goals in the FA Cup as West Ham shocked Football League First Division teams Nottingham Forest, Preston North End and Manchester United on the way to the quarter-finals.

The third-round upset of Manchester United was played in front of a capacity 27,000 crowd at the Boleyn Ground, with Shea's first-half goal and a late strike from outside left Thomas Caldwell securing a 2-1 victory over opponents who would end the season as Football League champions.

In the quarter-finals, we lost 3-2 at home to another top-flight club, Blackburn Rovers, with 20-year-old inside forward George Butcher scoring both goals in front of another bumper attendance of 20,000.

West Ham's second leading scorer in 1910/11 with 13 goals was Poplar-born centre-forward George Webb. Aged 22, Webb made history when he became the Club's first senior England international when he debuted in a British Home Championship tie with Wales at The Den on 13 March 1911, scoring the second goal in a 3-0 win.

Webb started England's next match, a 1-1 draw with Scotland at Goodison Park which secured the Home Championship, but that was his second and final senior cap.

An amateur player for club and country, Webb also scored seven goals in five caps for England Amateurs between April 1910 and October 1911.

1911/12

After finishing fifth in 1910/11, West Ham United's Southern League First Division form took a dip the following season as Syd King's side finished 13th out of 20.

Danny Shea added another 24 league goals to his tally to finish as leading scorer for the fourth season in a row.

Shea and centre forward William Kennedy both scored hat-tricks in a 7-4 home win over Brentford on 21 October 1911, with Fred Harrison scoring the Hammers' other goal.

Having signed from Fulham in April 1911, inside-left Harrison established himself in the team, replacing George Butcher and later the injured George Webb, and provided able support in attack with 13 Southern League goals and three in the FA Cup.

Some of West Ham's best form was saved for the FA Cup, where Football League Second Division side Gainsborough Trinity and First Division team Middlesbrough were both beaten.

Harrison and Webb scored in a 2-1 home win over Gainsborough in January 1912. Harrison then found the net again in a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park before netting the winner in the replay at the Boleyn Ground on 8 February.

In the third round, Butcher scored in a 1-1 home draw with fellow Southern Leaguers Swindon Town, but the Robins won the replay 4-0 at the County Ground.

An even bigger disappointment followed on 9 March 1912, when West Ham crossed the River Thames to face rivals Millwall at The Den in the Southern League and lost 5-1 in front of a 28,400-strong crowd.

Harrison and Shea bounced back to score twice each in a 6-2 home win over Bristol Rovers two weeks later. The latter hit another hat-trick and Harrison another goal in a 4-0 victory over Norwich City at the Boleyn Ground on 5 April and, by the season's end, the pair had shared 40 of West Ham's 70 goals between them.

Unfortunately, a leaky defence which saw the Irons concede 69 Southern League goals and 77 in total ultimately put paid to hopes of challenging for the Southern League title and taking the FA Cup run deeper.

1912/13

After an underwhelming 1911/12 season, Syd King's West Ham United roared back into form in the Southern League First Division in 1912/13. The Hammers finished third, just two points behind champions Plymouth Argyle.

The title race mathematically went down to the final day of the season on 26 April 1913, albeit West Ham's inferior goal average meant they were highly unlikely to overtake Plymouth or second-place Swindon Town, even with an emphatic victory over Portsmouth.

As it was, Plymouth scored two second-half goals to defeat Northampton Town to take the title, and second-place Swindon's 2-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion was not enough to see the Robins drop below West Ham in the table.

In recent seasons the Irons had been over-reliant on 5'7 tall inside-right Danny Shea to score a large proportion of the goals, but this situation changed when the prolific marksman was transferred to reigning Football League First Division champions Blackburn Rovers for a reported record £2,000 fee on 11 January 1913. Shea refused to complete the deal until Rovers found him a job in Lancashire, and only signed once employment as a clerk had been sourced.

By the time of his departure at the age of 24, Shea had plundered 111 goals in 179 games for the Club, seemingly leaving a big hole in the Hammers' attack.

However, the Hammers had brought back former forward George Hilsdon from Chelsea in the summer of 1912 and the ex-England international proved his quality with 17 goals, including 13 in the Southern League.

Aged 27 at the start of the campaign, Hilsdon had departed for Chelsea at the age of 20 and become the first player to score 100 goals for the west London club. Nicknamed 'Gatling Gun' for the power and accuracy of his shooting, the Bromley-by-Bow striker scored 14 goals in just eight caps for England between 1907-09.

Hilsdon's goals helped the Hammers upset Football League First Division club West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup first round. He scored both in a 2-2 replay draw at the Boleyn Ground, then two more in a 3-0 second-replay victory at his old home ground at Stamford Bridge.

West Ham's third goal in that win over West Brom was scored by Plaistow-born inside forward Bertie Denyer, who had joined from local club Ilford in 1911.

Four years earlier, in April 1907, just four days after his 14th birthday, Denyer started England Schoolboys' first-ever international, a 3-1 win over Wales in Walsall.

Denyer was 19 when he debuted for West Ham in a 4-0 home win over Exeter City on the opening day of the Southern League season on 2 September 1912. He played 33 times in total that season, scoring 13 goals.

Another attacker who debuted that season was an 18-year-old centre-forward named Syd Puddefoot, who started the 2-1 home Southern League win over Norwich City on 1 March 1913. His time would come.

Two days after the Southern League season had ended, on Monday 28 April 1913. West Ham welcomed local rivals Clapton Orient - then a Football League Second Division club - to the Boleyn Ground for a charity match to raise money for the sixth annual fundraising match for West Ham Hospital. Mayor of West Ham William Spittle ceremonially kicked-off the game, which Orient won 4-3.

1913/14

West Ham United moved to bolster their attacking options in May 1913, signing Lincolnshire-born forward Dick Leafe from Football League First Division club Sheffield United. Leafe, 21, had scored 15 goals for the Blades in 1911/12, but featured less often in 1912/13 leading to his transfer to East London.

After debuting in a 1-1 opening-day Southern League First Division draw at Millwall - in which George Hilsdon scored West Ham's goal - Leafe made a superb home debut against Swindon Town on 6 September 1913, scoring both goals in a 3-2 defeat witnessed by a crowd of 25,000.

The match is even more notable for marking the opening of a new Grand Stand at the Boleyn Ground. Signed off in March 1913, the new concrete based structure is 330 feet long and 25 feet deep and held 7,000 supporters in five seating sections, each of which was accessible with a separate staircase, and a terrace at the front. Underneath, the stand held dressing rooms, training facilities, a directors lounge and the tunnel. Construction work was completed in less than six months, enabling the stand to be open for the Swindon fixture.

West Ham's early-season form picked up somewhat with wins over Bristol Rovers, Merthyr Town and Southampton, but ultimately the Irons were an inconsistent team.

A title challenge never materialised and the Hammers ultimately ended the Southern League season in sixth place, eight points behind champions Swindon and runners-up Crystal Palace.

Some of West Ham's best performances were again saved for the FA Cup. In the first round, 19-year-old Syd Puddefoot scored five goals in an 8-1 first-round thrashing of Midland League club Chesterfield at the Boleyn Ground on 10 January 1914.

Three weeks later, Southern League rivals Crystal Palace visited the Boleyn Ground in the second round. An 18,000-strong crowd were present to see 20-year-old inside right Dan Bailey score both goals in a 2-0 win.

The third round saw West Ham drawn at home with Football League First Division Liverpool. Puddefoot scored in a 1-1 draw at the Boleyn Ground to force a replay at Anfield. The teenager found the net again there, but Liverpool ran out 5-1 winners in front of 45,000 fans and would go on to reach the final, where they lost by a single goal to Burnley.

Puddefoot ended the season with 16 goals in 20 appearances, while Leafe led the way with 21 goals, Bailey added nine, outside left Jack Casey scored seven and Hilsdon six.

1914/15

While West Ham United did not know it at the time, the 1914/15 season would turn out to be the Hammers' last as a Southern League club.

The outbreak of what became the First World War at the end of July 1914 threatened the season, but it was decided to continue with the Football League and Southern League football 'to keep up as cheerful a tone as possible', albeit with professional players on reduced wages.

With football given the go-ahead to continue, forwards Dick Leafe and Syd Puddefoot led the way again, sharing 34 of West Ham's 62 goals in the Southern League First Division and FA Cup. Puddefoot scored 18, all of them in the league, while Leafe netted 13 in the league and three of the Irons' four goals in the FA Cup.

Despite West Ham's relatively low scoring output, a much improved defensive record saw Syd King's side finish fourth in the table, having conceded just 47 goals in 38 league matches.

The goalkeeping duties were shared by two Josephs - Hughes and Webster. Hughes had signed from Essex club South Weald in 1911 and played over 100 times for the Hammers. Webster was more experienced when he signed from Southern League rivals Watford in 1914, having played nearly 150 games for the Hornets. Hughes started 21 Southern League games to Webster's 17, while Hughes kept goal in West Ham's two FA Cup ties.

Speaking of those FA Cup ties, West Ham were drawn to host Football League First Division side Newcastle United in the first round on 9 January 1915. Leafe scored both goals in a 2-2 draw, and found the net again in the replay at St James' Park, where Jack Casey opened the scoring for the Irons but Newcastle ran out 3-2 winners.

Unfortunately, the escalation of the war in Europe meant the Football League, Southern League and FA Cup were all suspended in July 1915, initially for the 1915/16 season. However, friendly matches were permitted for the purpose of raising funds and morale.

Sadly, the first of nine former West Ham players to die in the war was killed in December 1914. Frederick 'Frank' Costello had signed on 1 March 1909 from Southampton in an exchange deal that saw Jack Foster join the south coast club.

Costello made his debut at the Boleyn Ground against Kent side New Brompton (now Gillingham) in a 1-0 defeat on 6 March 1909. Two days later, he scored his first goal against Swindon Town. Birmingham-born Costello’s stay in east London did not last long, as he moved to Bolton Wanderers three months, 12 appearances and three goals, later.

He joined his home regiment, the Royal Warwickshire, with whom he saw action in northern France at the Battle of Le Cateau. On 19 December 1914, 32-year-old Costello was killed in action. Sadly, he has no grave but is remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, in Hainaut, Belgium, alongside 11,385 others.

1915/16

When West Ham United's Directors met for the Club's Annual Meeting at East Ham Town Hall on Monday 14 June 1915, the report delivered by Chairman William White and Vice-Chairman Lazzeluer Johnson revealed the situation the country, and football, found itself as war raged in Europe.

With so many young men enlisting to fight for their country, crowds at the Boleyn Ground had dropped by a third in the 1914/15 season. Despite the reduction in gate receipts, the Club had made sure that its professional players were paid their in full throughout, and those same players had made contributions to the National Relief Fund to support soldiers' families and civilians facing distress.

Two months later, on Tuesday 10 August 1915, Arsenal Chairman - and Mayor of Fulham - Henry Norris chaired a meeting at Winchester House in Old Broad Street in the City of London. There, representatives from 12 clubs agreed to form a London Football Combination. Players would not be paid to play, and a percentage of gate receipts from each match would be donated to charity.

West Ham would be one of the dozen clubs to take part when the new competition kicked-off on Saturday 4 September, alongside Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Clapton Orient, Croydon Common, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and Watford.

With the war meaning the future was uncertain, the 1915/16 London Football Combination season initially ran only only until January 1916, with clubs facing one another home and away, making for a 22-game campaign.

Similar regional Combination leagues were set up in Lancashire, the Midlands and South, enabling clubs across the country to continue playing and entertaining the public.

West Ham began their season at Brentford, losing 2-1 in front of 2,000 spectators. Danny Shea, who had returned to the club from Blackburn Rovers, scored the Hammers' goal.

Shea's partnership with Syd Puddefoot in attack was outstanding, with the pair combining to score 42 goals - Puddefoot 25 and Shea 17.

Hackney-born Arthur Stallard (pictured), who turned 23 in the week the season started, added eleven goals in just 17 appearances. Stallard was tragically killed in action in the Battle of Cambrai in France while serving as a Private in the London Regiment in late 1917, aged just 25. His body was never found.

He was not the first Hammer to die in battle. On 13 October 1915, former striker William Kennedy, who scored ten goals in 23 games between November 1910 and February 1912, died in northern France, aged 24. Kennedy had joined the London Scottish 14th Brigade and has no grave, but is listed on the Loos Memorial, Loos-en-Gohelle in France alongside 20,609 other British and Commonwealth soldiers.

On the pitch, West Ham finished fourth in the 12-team table, collecting 24 points from their 22 matches.

The highlight came on Christmas Day, when Arsenal were humbled 8-2 at the Boleyn Ground, with Puddefoot scoring five goals, Shea one and inside-left Bill Masterman two.

Masterman was a 'guest' player Sheffield United and one of a number who featured occasionally for the Hammers in 1915/16 when their wartime commitments allowed.

With the situation so uncertain, a total of 38 players wore a West Ham shirt that season, with George Butcher, N. Cross, A. Gibbs, Jimmy Harrod, Parker, Alfred Tirrell, Harry Tough and Jack Tresadern appearing just once each.

In early January 1916, arrangements for a second 'Supplementary' competition were confirmed, with 14 clubs split into two groups of seven. The 12 teams who competed in the London Combination were joined by Luton and Reading, with Luton being placed in Group A alongside West Ham, Arsenal, Croydon Common, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

However, these arrangements were changed a few days and ultimately West Ham were placed in a group with Brentford, Chelsea, Clapton Orient, Millwall, Reading Tottenham Hotspur and Watford! The eight teams would play each other home and away between 5 February and 6 May.

In between the two seasons, a round of charity matches was played on Saturday 29 January to raise money for the Footballers' Battalion (the 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment) Comfort Fund. The Footballers' Battalion had been formed in December 1914 in Fulham and was comprised of players who fought and played matches. It left for the war in November 1915 and, by the end of the conflict, had lost over 1,000 men. In our fundraising match, West Ham played out a goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers.

West Ham began the Supplementary season with a 2-0 home win over Tottenham on Saturday 5 February, with Stallard scoring both goals. The same player then netted a hat-trick in a 4-2 home win over Brentford on 4 March, before Puddefoot hit a treble in a 4-0 victory at reading the following weekend.

Around this time, the Club was rocked by the news that former outside-right Frank Cannon had been killed after receiving shrapnel wounds in his back at Ypres in Flanders on 16 February. Cannon had risen to the rank of Company Sergeant Major in the 13th Essex Regiment - known as the 'West Ham Pals'. He was buried at Potijze Burial Ground Cemetery. Cannon, who had played four games for West Ham in January 1910, was just 27.

On 15 April, the Hammers recorded their biggest win of the season, thumping Reading 7-0, with Puddefoot, Shea and Rangers 'guest' player Andy Cunningham each scoring two goals.

West Ham won nine of their 14 Supplementary competition matches to finish as runners-up, just one point behind Chelsea.

1916/17

The First World War had raged for two years come the summer of 1916.

With footballers playing as amateurs in the regional Combination tournaments, a proportion gate receipts collected by clubs were given to the Football Association and good causes. At the end of the 1915/16 season, London Combination clubs donated £731 to the Footballers' Battalion Comforts Fund and £840 to local charities.

May 1916 also saw the Government introduce an Entertainments Tax to boost its wartime coffers. At this time, tax on purchases did not exist (Purchase Tax was introduced in 1940, during the Second World War), so the introduction of Entertainments Tax meant ticket prices for supporters were increased.

With no wages to pay, though, West Ham United reported a profit of £715 for the 1915/16 season. Almost all of the Club's £3,782 income came from gate receipts.

In July 1916, the Football League confirmed that a regional competition would be held again in 1916/17, but no cup competitions would take place for the second consecutive season. Interestingly, the Football Association also took the step of controlling the flow of English players to Irish football, where salaries were still being paid.

The London Combination again consisted of 14 clubs, with Croydon Common being replaced by Southampton. Once a Southern League rival of the Hammers, Croydon Common would be wound up in 1917. A 40-match season was planned, with clubs facing each other between two and four times.

The weekend prior to the season, on 26 August, West Ham hosted the Royal Flying Corps team at the Boleyn Ground. Danny Shea was joined by Everton 'guest' outside-right Sam Chedgzoy in attack, and the latter marked his first appearance with the Irons' consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat.

An article published in The Sportsman newspaper the following Thursday, 31 August, previewed the new London Combination season and provides an incredible insight into the challenges faced by football clubs and managers of the time.

Manager Syd King told the journalist, named ‘Wanderer’, that defender Frank Burton was unavailable as he was being treated for a war wound in France suffered serving with the Royal Fusiliers. By the end of the conflict, Burton had been injured SIX times, but recovered and returned to action in September 1916, then went on to play 64 times after West Ham had been elected to the Football League in 1919.

Two others, outside-right Harry Caton and Scottish inside-left Andy Cunningham, were fighting in France. Another inside-left, Sheffield United ‘guest’ player Bill Masterman, who had scored two goals in an 8-2 win over Arsenal on Christmas Day 1915, had ‘returned to the North’.

While four members of his squad were no longer available, King was able to call upon a number of fresh ‘guest’ players who had played in the Football League First Division before war broke out, before moving down South with their respective services.

From Everton, 1906 FA Cup winner Harry Makepeace was serving as a flight sergeant in the RFC. Makepeace also played cricket for Lancashire and, after the war, played four Test matches for England.

Two other Everton players were joining him in Claret and Blue – defender Jock Maconnachie was a mechanic in the RFC, while striker Chedgzoy was a private in the Scots Guards. The future England international spent the season with West Ham, scoring ten goals in 22 appearances, and returned to score four more in six games in spring 1919.

The article also listed Bolton Wanderers defender Bert Baverstock, a private in the RFC, Oldham Athletic left winger Joe Walters, an air mechanic in the RFC, and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jack Crabtree.

The final ‘guest’ member of King’s squad listed was Bolton’s Wales international goalkeeper Billy Jennings, a corporal in the RFC, who actually never appeared in a game for West Ham. Incredibly, seven years later he was in goal for Bolton when they beat the Hammers 2-0 in the famous ‘White Horse’ 1923 FA Cup final at the newly completed Empire Stadium in Wembley.

It was hoped centre-half William Askew would be available as he had successfully applied to be a conscientious objector to the war and remain in England to ‘do national work’.

The article concluded with a full squad list replete with each player’s military commitment, with winger Herbert Ashton serving in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).

Shea, Chedgzoy, Syd Puddefoot and a debutant 24-year-old centre-half named George Kay were all in the team when the Hammers hosted Arsenal on the opening day of the London Combination season on 2 September. Chedgzoy scored, as did another 'guest', Liverpool centre-forward Bob McDougall, in a 2-1 win.

Kay had been born in Manchester and played briefly for Bolton Wanderers before crossing the Irish Sea to join Belfast club Distillery in 1911. There, he won the national Gold Cup and County Antrim Shield, before joining the Royal Artillery and returning to England and joining West Ham. He would later captain the Hammers in the 1923 FA Cup final at Wembley.

A fortnight later, on 16 September, Shea scored four times in a 5-1 home win over Reading, but arguably the standout performance was an 8-1 win at Crystal Palace on 11 November, when Shea scored a hat-trick and Chedgzoy and McDougall each netted twice.

Dozens of players would be called upon throughout the 1916/17 campaign, with 49 appearing for King in total. Despite the high turnover in team selection, West Ham excelled, winning 30 out of 40 matches, losing just five, and scoring 110 goals on the way to winning the London Combination title by seven points ahead of Millwall.

Shea finished the season as leading scorer with 32 goals in as many appearances, while Puddefoot managed 24, McDougall 16 and Chedgzoy ten.