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Tommy Crawshaw


mickjj

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One of our newest members is related to the late Tommy Crawshaw who is a true Wedneday legend. He captained the side to two League Championships plus two FA Cups. After some discussion in another thread I thought Tommy deserved his own. I am sure "Sheff6" will re-relate his memories and stories in this thread but to get it started here are Tommy's stats and a few pictuers I have of the teams he was a part of.

GAMES PLAYED - 465

GOALS - 24

ENGLAND CAPS - 10

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Mickjj and Dunsbyow - many thanks for the picture upload instructions and kind comments about my gt grandfather Tommy Crawshaw. Thanks for the team picture as well. I often used to puzzle about why my gt grandfather, being captain, wasn't in the centre of team photos at the front, until I realised that Edwardian photographers were more into order and symmetry than anything else and with Andrew Wilson being the biggest player - he often got the honours at the front.

By the way, Percy Crawshaw, pictured on the back row, was Tommy's younger brother. I've uploaded pictures of three of Tommy's medals which are: from left to right - the medal that SWFC commissioned to commemorate two successive championship wins 1902/3 and 1903/4 and the FA Cup winner's medals 1896 and 1907. My apologies for the glare on the pictures. I took the pics in a bit of a hurry at the place where they're stored and although I took them without flash, there's still too much light on them. I also forgot to put them beside a ruler, so you can't judge how big they are. They're about the size of a 50 pence piece, made of 18 ct gold and each has the name T.H. Crawshaw inscribed on the back.

I've seen pictures of more modern FA cup winner's medals and the design is pretty much the same - except that the cusp at the top is a little less ornate these days. The other difference is that the shield, in the middle of the front face of these medals, shows the Royal Standard, whereas the shield in the modern design contains the England flag. I'll see if I can get better pics taken somehow. I've got 15 of his 18 medals in all, including his representative medals playing for the English Football League. I think the English League side was discontinued around the 1960's - not certain though.

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Dunsbyowl, you asked about his England caps. Unfortunately, I don't have any of them or the two individual league championship medals made by the Football League. The reason is - Tommy married again after his 1st wife died and without going into detail, his entire possessions including caps, medals and even spare England shirt badges, were ultimately sold at Christie's in Glasgow in 1993. I wasn't at the auction myself. I only knew it had happened after reading the newspapers. Christies kindly acted as intermediary for me, with the person who'd bought most of the collection - but non of his caps. That's why I have most medals back into the fold but no 'headgear'. I'd love to have the caps, but I've absolutely no idea where they are now.

By the way, the person who bought the bulk of Tommy's collection at Christies, now in my possession, was a true Wednesday fan, and realising who I was, offered me all that he'd won at auction, at just the price he'd paid for them. How fortunate was I there and how big was that guy's heart? I still get choked up thinking about it. I had to take a out a loan to pay for the medals, but it was worth every penny.

My gt grandad kept the 'Sportsman's Group' pub (demolished long ago), opposite Owlerton greyhound stadium, after retiring from football. Afterwards, he kept 'The Yorkshireman' pub at the back of John Lewis's for many years and I think he also kept a newsagents shop- ironically on or near Bramall Lane. He died in Wharncliffe hospital in 1960, a few weeks before his 88th birthday - in absolute poverty. John Brodie - Wednesday historian and author of 'The Wednesday Boys' told me that at some point in his eighties, Tommy survived on handouts from Sheffield Wednesday. I'd like to think he would have been proud of me getting his possessions back into the family. :)

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"By the way, Percy Crawshaw, pictured on the back row, was Tommy's younger brother."

Sorry, I was referring to dunsbyowls pic below when I made the comment above. This was in 1902/3 when Wednesday won 5 cups in one season - including the league championship. This cup is exactly the same one now awarded to the winners of the Championship.

The 1907 FA Cup winning picture below, posted by mickjj, is the only one I've seen where the old boy is pictured in the centre on the front row. The cup on his knees was the exact same one that Wednesday won in 1896 when it was brand new (the previous one was stolen). This particular cup was 'retired' in 1910 by the FA when it was discovered that Manchester United had made a replica for their trophy cabinet and the FA realised that they hadn't taken out a copyright on its design.

The old cup was given to Lord Kinnaird to mark his 21 yrs as FA president and his family sold it for £478,000 at Christie's auction in London in 2005, to Barry Gold, Chairman of Birmingham City. The auction price made this old FA Cup the world's most expensive piece of football memorabilia - even beating the £254,000 paid for the Jules Rimet World Cup in 1997.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4568251.stm

One of Tommy's most satisfying moments of the 1907 cup run was when Wednesday played Arsenal at St Andrews in Birmingham, in the semi final. It's a story passed down through our family from the old boy himself. Before the game, as he led the team out, the Arsenal capt. said - "I feel sorry for you today, because you simply won't be in it once we get started". At the final whistle, with the score at Wednesday 3-1 Arsenal, my gt grandfather went to shake hands with the Arsenal capt. and said - "does tha feel sorry for us now then?". The answer - if there was one - hasn't been recorded for posterity!

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An intersting note if you look closley at the line ups in the programme you will see that the home team are numbered one through eleven and the away side twelve through twenty two. BTW I have enlarged the image.

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"A photo of Tommy from"Sheffield Wednesday 1867-1967 - Images of Sport". Is that an England or Football League Kit?"

It's an England kit. It was a picture taken after his first cap against Ireland in 1895 when he was 22 yrs of age. This picture first appeared in a book called 'Famous Footballers', printed in 1896 and it's also in 'The Official History of the FA Cup' published a hundred years later in 1996 by the late Bryon Butler. A number of spare England badges - of the same design as in the picture - were auctioned off with the rest of his effects at Christies in Glasgow in 1993. Recently, one of them came up for auction again (which I only found out about after the event - yet again) and the auction site still had a colour photo of the badge. It was amazingly colourful. The lions had red eyes and if my memory serves, the crest at the top had some royal purple in it. I copied a pic on to my computer at the time. but it later crashed and I lost everything I had stored on it

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Guest skeets

Mikii Hi, l knew TOMMY CRAWSHAW when he was the landlord of the Yorkshiremans pub on burgess st ,[ or cross burgess st] in fact l did a few jobs for him from time to time, one l recall was fitting a new lock to his bedroom door , there was a large [colt type] revolver at the side of his bed, as he was paying me l said in fun, lf the job's not a good un you can shoot me, he just put his finger to his mouth, mums the word he said, at that time he was sat in his wheel chair near the door every night chatting to his pals , and a [good evening to all as they came in ]He was a nice chap and kept a nice well patronised pub in those daysSkeets

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Mikii Hi, l knew TOMMY CRAWSHAW when he was the landlord of the Yorkshiremans pub on burgess st ,[ or cross burgess st] in fact l did a few jobs for him from time to time, one l recall was fitting a new lock to his bedroom door , there was a large [colt type] revolver at the side of his bed, as he was paying me l said in fun, lf the job's not a good un you can shoot me, he just put his finger to his mouth, mums the word he said, at that time he was sat in his wheel chair near the door every night chatting to his pals , and a [good evening to all as they came in ]He was a nice chap and kept a nice well patronised pub in those daysSkeets

Hi skeets - I'm Tom Crawshaw, Tommy's great grandson. Thanks very much for posting your recollections of him. I'm fascinated that he kept a handgun beside his bed when he was landlord of The Yorkshireman pub. I never knew that. I did know that as a publican, at The Yorkshireman, he had trouble with the Sheffield gangs in the 1920's and 30's, especially the Mooney gang, so I wonder if the handgun was a legacy from those times.

His son- my grandad, born in 1900 - would have been in his twenties and thirties in those days (his age in step with the century, so to speak), during the Sheffield gang troubles and I remember him saying to me that he sometimes acted as doorman and bouncer for his Dad at the pub. I also recollect him saying that two policemen from Percy Sillitoe's 'Flying Squad came in The Yorkshireman one night and bounced a couple of the Mooney gang out of the place and down to the police station. Apparently, all they were doing was having a quiet drink, but they still got bounced out of the place by the Police. Can you imagine that happening these days? Do you remember Tommy's son - my grandad? he was also called Tom Crawshaw -as was his son - my dad. As you might know, we're all related to the Simmonite family in Sheffield. Tommy's wife was Jane Simmonite. Her brother was called (you may also know this), Farewell Simmonite, as was his son. If you knew them, how did you greet them.... Hello - Farewell??

Talking of names, we've been very lazy or unimaginative (or both), in naming male offspring in our family!! At one time all four of us Tom Crawshaws were alive in our family. My grandfather (son of the footballer), was referred to as 'old Tom', so using that as a marker, whenever conversation got around to talking about the 'Toms' in the family, we were identified as old Tom's dad, Old Tom, Young Tom and Young Tom's son. The last one being me!! It would be great if you could post any other stories you might know about him, for us all to see. All the best.

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My parents,now both dead,once told me they used to go in the Yorkshireman pub,and what a nice man Tommy Crawshaw was.

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Guest skeets

more stories for sheff6

Mikii Hi, l knew TOMMY CRAWSHAW when he was the landlord of the Yorkshiremans pub on burgess st ,[ or cross burgess st] in fact l did a few jobs for him from time to time, one l recall was fitting a new lock to his bedroom door , there was a large [colt type] revolver at the side of his bed, as he was paying me l said in fun, lf the job's not a good un you can shoot me, he just put his finger to his mouth, mums the word he said, at that time he was sat in his wheel chair near the door every night chatting to his pals , and a [good evening to all as they came in ]He was a nice chap and kept a nice well patronised pub in those daysSkeets

hi sheff6 another story ,of my father who was a patron of tommy's pub he was a cab proprietor on barkers pool , [ lanyone want a cabhope you see it ] he had just come out of theY-PUB WENT BACK TO HIS CAB AND 4 OF THE MOONY GANG WERE IN THE CAB ,DAD KNE THEM AND SAID TAKE THE FIRST CAB THEY SAID WE LIKE THIS ONE get in and start up so he did Doncaster race course driver , said dad l cant i'm booked in an hour , abig fist under his nose Doncaster now , he had to go he was plied with plenty to drink [they knew him l think] and did'nt let hin out of their sight, it was 12 pm when they got back when he asked for his fare they said you drank it all , apparently this happened quite often one cab driver saw them coming to his cab and he drove away aweek later he ended up in hospital for 6 weeks Cheers skeets

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Hi skeets - I'm Tom Crawshaw, Tommy's great grandson. Thanks very much for posting your recollections of him. I'm fascinated that he kept a handgun beside his bed when he was landlord of The Yorkshireman pub. I never knew that. I did know that as a publican, at The Yorkshireman, he had trouble with the Sheffield gangs in the 1920's and 30's, especially the Mooney gang, so I wonder if the handgun was a legacy from those times.

His son- my grandad, born in 1900 - would have been in his twenties and thirties in those days (his age in step with the century, so to speak), during the Sheffield gang troubles and I remember him saying to me that he sometimes acted as doorman and bouncer for his Dad at the pub. I also recollect him saying that two policemen from Percy Sillitoe's 'Flying Squad came in The Yorkshireman one night and bounced a couple of the Mooney gang out of the place and down to the police station. Apparently, all they were doing was having a quiet drink, but they still got bounced out of the place by the Police. Can you imagine that happening these days? Do you remember Tommy's son - my grandad? he was also called Tom Crawshaw -as was his son - my dad. As you might know, we're all related to the Simmonite family in Sheffield. Tommy's wife was Jane Simmonite. Her brother was called (you may also know this), Farewell Simmonite, as was his son. If you knew them, how did you greet them.... Hello - Farewell??

Talking of names, we've been very lazy or unimaginative (or both), in naming male offspring in our family!! At one time all four of us Tom Crawshaws were alive in our family. My grandfather (son of the footballer), was referred to as 'old Tom', so using that as a marker, whenever conversation got around to talking about the 'Toms' in the family, we were identified as old Tom's dad, Old Tom, Young Tom and Young Tom's son. The last one being me!! It would be great if you could post any other stories you might know about him, for us all to see. All the best.

Hi Tom,

Remember me........Jeremy Crawshaw?

You came up to Sheffield a few years ago when I gave you the family bible of Percy Crawshaw (Tommy's Brother) and you gave me in return the framed picture of Tommy which I still have hanging in pride of place on the wall.

Well I'm currenty living and working in Berkshire at the moment but sstill have my home in Sheffield and would love someday to prove that link between our families which must be there as we have the connection to the Simmonites as well.

Hope to hear from you.

Regards

Jeremy Crawshaw

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Hi eastbank - thanks very much for posting the cigarette card picture. I've never seen that picture before. His stare is a bit scary isn't it? Put him in a sharp suit with a violin case in his hand and he could pass for a mafia hitman!! I've got two originals from later in his career (a Cohen Weeten & Co and an Ogden), but I've never seen one so early as yours when he must have only been - say 22 or 23 yrs old. Thanks again, it's a treat to see it.

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[hi sheff6 another story ,of my father who was a patron of tommy's pub he was a cab proprietor on barkers pool , [ lanyone want a cabhope you see it ] he had just come out of theY-PUB WENT BACK TO HIS CAB AND 4 OF THE MOONY GANG WERE IN THE CAB ,DAD KNE THEM AND SAID TAKE THE FIRST CAB THEY SAID WE LIKE THIS ONE get in and start up so he did Doncaster race course driver , said dad l cant i'm booked in an hour , abig fist under his nose Doncaster now , he had to go he was plied with plenty to drink [they knew him l think] and did'nt let hin out of their sight, it was 12 pm when they got back when he asked for his fare they said you drank it all , apparently this happened quite often one cab driver saw them coming to his cab and he drove away aweek later he ended up in hospital for 6 weeks Cheers skeets

Thanks for the story skeets. The Mooney gang story fits in with what I recall my grandad telling me about the Sheffield gang era and the fact that the Mooneys used to frequent the Yorkshireman pub (not far from Barker's Pool - the scene of your story), quite a bit. I don't know whether the Mooney's ever caused trouble in my Grandad's pub but, from what I understand, their occasional presence used to put everyone on edge in the place. Percy Sillitoe's flying squad used to purposely harrass all gang members, (including the Garvins and also the Simmonites - to whom I'm related), and were not averse to roughing them up either - not allowing them to settle, especially in pubs and clubs. It certainly worked in breaking up the gangs and brought about law and order, but imagine that happening these days! The Police would be knee deep in charges of harrassment and denial of human rights, before they knew it...

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Hi Tom,

Remember me........Jeremy Crawshaw?

You came up to Sheffield a few years ago when I gave you the family bible of Percy Crawshaw (Tommy's Brother) and you gave me in return the framed picture of Tommy which I still have hanging in pride of place on the wall.

Well I'm currenty living and working in Berkshire at the moment but sstill have my home in Sheffield and would love someday to prove that link between our families which must be there as we have the connection to the Simmonites as well.

Hope to hear from you.

Regards

Jeremy Crawshaw

Hi Jeremy - hope you're doing ok. Keep on with that family history of yours because I'm confident you'll find the link one day. All the best to you in the Royal county...

Tom.

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Guest skeets

jp.JPGANYONE WANT A CAB

HI TOM MY POST RE;THE TIME 4 OF THE GANGS GOT IN HIS CAB AND ORDERED HIM TO THE RACE COURSE AND I WAS TO SHOW YOU A PHOTO[TITLE ANYONE WANT A CAB] I'M HAVING ANOTHER GO HERESDAD IN THE ACTUAL CAR HE TOK THEM TO THE RACES cheers ARTHUR.

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Guest Broakham

Hello Tom,

I have the Crawshaw family in my family tree via the Simmonite connection, although I was unaware that it was THE Tommy Crawshaw. I'm not sure about his wife Janes maiden name, but I do know that his mothers maiden name was Simmonite. George Crawshaw and Mary Ann Simmonite married in 1866. The 1881 census has them living at 136 Park Hill Lane with three sons:- George, Thomas and Percy. Also living there as a boarder was the older Farewell Simmonite, who was a brother to Mary Ann, not Jane, and was therefore Tommys uncle. The younger Farewell Simmonite (KIA France 1916) was a nephew of the older Farewell, not his son.

Given that in his day Tommy would be regarded as in the top echelon of professional footballers the fact that he was living in Lord Street, Park in the 1901 census just shows how different life is for todays pampered prima-donnas in the premier league.

Regards - Dave S.

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Hello Tom,

I have the Crawshaw family in my family tree via the Simmonite connection, although I was unaware that it was THE Tommy Crawshaw. I'm not sure about his wife Janes maiden name, but I do know that his mothers maiden name was Simmonite. George Crawshaw and Mary Ann Simmonite married in 1866. The 1881 census has them living at 136 Park Hill Lane with three sons:- George, Thomas and Percy. Also living there as a boarder was the older Farewell Simmonite, who was a brother to Mary Ann, not Jane, and was therefore Tommys uncle. The younger Farewell Simmonite (KIA France 1916) was a nephew of the older Farewell, not his son.

Given that in his day Tommy would be regarded as in the top echelon of professional footballers the fact that he was living in Lord Street, Park in the 1901 census just shows how different life is for todays pampered prima-donnas in the premier league.

Regards - Dave S.

Thanks for the clarification Dave. In looking at my family history I’ve had not so much of a time slip, but a generation slip it seems. I knew that Tommy lived on Lord Street in the Park area and that his home was a very modest house, in total contrast to any modern footballer of equal standing today. I also looked at the 1901 census return when it first came available on the PRO website and to my disappointment, I couldn’t find any reference to Tom Crawshaw with his exact date of birth and address etc.

I eventually found that his name had been mistyped as Cranshaw. I contacted the PRO and included a link to Wednesday’s home page and to give the PRO their due, they corrected the spelling of his name fairly quickly. I noticed in the census return that he’s described as a ‘Professional Football Player’, which they were in those days, contrary to what is sometimes thought about players from that era i.e. that they were part timers, holding down some other job during the day etc. It amused me to see that the census official had some trouble deciding whether or not Tommy was an ‘employer’ or an ‘employee’. All you can see is a dot in one of these columns, as the official thought about writing something, but decided against it.

You can imagine the conversation going something like – ‘…so I take it that you are employed by Sheffield Wednesday?’ ‘No, I have a contract with them’. Are you self-employed then, and they have hired your services?’. ‘No, I’m just under contract to play for them’. At this point the official moved on, without making an entry, probably shaking his head and thinking that the forms needed redesigning before the next census! All the best.

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Hi Tom

I sent you a private message but I'll leave on here too. Fred Spiksley is my great great uncle. He has no direct decendants. I've been researching Fred for 15 years and have loads of stuff you would be interested in. Spiksley's biography is being written by me and my father and should be completed in 4 years or so. It is taking a very long time as it will include a comprehensive look at sheffield wednesday 1891-1903, which will be of obvious interst to you.

Please get in touch if you would be interested in communicating with me. clive_w_nicholson@yahoo.co.uk

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Many thanks for the info Clive. I found the youtube clip of Fred, when he was coach at Fulham in 1931, to be fascinating. It gves you just enough of a glimpse of the fleet-footed style of the man who was still very athletic-looking and sprightly at about 61 yrs of age when the film was made. You've got me thinking that I should be doing something about Tommy's biography! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tMsFmXtN74

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Hi Tom,

I've lost your contact detail since you changed your email address. So hopefully you'll see this and drop me an email. We've done some more research and found a few more things since you visited. This article was written by Earnest Needham in a sheffield newspaper.

Next to Crawshaw, I should place Tommy Crawshaw, or ‘Our Tommy’ as the Wednesday fans used to call him with great affection, as the greatest Wednesday player it has been my pleasure to meet. He was the outstanding centre back in the country.

He may not have been one of the smartest players with his feet, perhaps, but he was suych a god chap with his head. In fact I don’t remember a centre half who could head the ball so well. He was sturdy, honest tackler, and having such a good turn of speed he could keep up well in support of his forwards, and still get back in time to assist his defence if his help was needed.

The improvement Tom made after fairly getting going in the First Division of the Football League was wonderful.

No doubt his wonderful speed of recovery was largely due to the starting practise that he did in training to condition himself in connection with professional sprint handicap running. Whenever a Wednesday attack broke down, he was round and after his man in a flash.

As for Crawshaw’s heading ability, he was exceptionally gifted in that direction. Heading is a thing some men never properly master while it comes naturally to others. I always think that good heading is a sign of great determination in a player – it shows that his keen on getting to the ball first and taking risks and it was his courage and tenacity that made him such a force in the Wednesday Team.

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Many thanks for this Clive. It's great to read a contemporary account of Tommy and to learn that he was 'our Tommy' to the Wednesday faithful is really touching. I don't know how you manage to seek these things out but I'm really grateful for your dogged determination in finding these little gems. I've sent you a message from my new email address. All the best mate.

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Hello Sheff6,

My memory of Tom Crawshaw was when he was landlord of the Yorkshireman on Cross Burgess St,my late Uncle,Albert Hill worked there for many many years,and learned his trade during that time to become a very successful landlord himself, I am not sure but maybe there was some sort of connection to Uncle Albert through my late Aunt Edith,but it always seemed more than a employer and employee relationship,I remember Mrs Crawshaw Tom's second wife and I seem to remember someone always called"Janey".

In those days Tom came down stairs at lunch time sat in his usual place for the rest of the day until the then closing time of ten o'clock, and when the pub closed at 3 pm his lunch was brought down to him, as like a lot of footballers in those days he could not walk very well let alone climb stairs easily, so he remained there, enjoying his meal and taking a little nap.

When I went into the pub I was always in awe of this great Wednesday and England player, and in those days there were still people around who saw him play,my paternal grandfather for one,who regaled me with Tom's talent as a player, and I always had a regular look at his caps and medals in the glass case behind the bar.

I hope my vivid memories have contributed to your memories

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hi hougomont,

Thanks very much for your recollections of my great grandfather and The Yorkshireman pub. I'm directly descended from Tommy's first wife Jane (maiden name Blackwell), who died before he married again. I was 9 yrs old when he died in 1960, aged almost 88 yrs old, so you would think I would have spent a fair amount of time with him and got to know him well before he died, but unfortunately I only met him the once towards the very end of his life. Sadly, our arm of the family didn't get on with the family of his second wife, with whom he lived in his very old age, so the two parts of his family kept away from each other, with the upshot being that they only came together briefly when I went to see him, before he went into Wharncliffe hospital, shortly before he died.

Like you, I was a bit in awe of him and I remember having to be coaxed, by my mom and dad, to go sit next to him on a sofa. I remember him talking to me about football and what I liked best at school etc. and that he reached into his pocket and gave me a little sixpenny coin. I wish I'd kept it, but at that age, I probably spent it on sweets or something. I've often wished that circumstances had been different, so that I could have spent a lot of time with him before he passed away, but it wasn't to be. The split between our line of the family and that of his second wife became even wider when, upon Tommy's death, they received all of his possessions (medals, caps - everything), in a much disputed will in 1960. It wasn't until 33 years later, when his entire collection of medals and caps came up for sale, at Christies in Glasgow, that I was able to get most of his possessions back into the Crawshaw family. It cost me a lot of money, but it was worth every penny. Unfortunately, I don't have any of his caps, but I've got 15 of his 18 gold medals, including his two FA cup winners medals and the one specially struck to commemorate him captaining Wednesday to two successive league championships. Thanks again for your great recollections of him. I found it very touching to read.

All the best,

Tom.

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