'Stories from the Stones'
Please visit the Contents Page for this section where you will find other 'Stories from the Stones.' From the St John’s Church Burial Ground Project.
These same stories are also published on Penistone Archive Group's Facebook page, their Journal and in 'The Bridge' magazine issued by St John's church, Penistone. Many thanks to their tireless author, Mr Steve Lavender, for his worthy contributions to local history and this website. - JB.
Story 27 - John Marsh, Footballer and 'mine host' Crystal Palace, Thurlstone. 26th Nov 1842 – 21st April 1880.
Triumph and Tragedy
One of the most prolific families of those interred at St John’s Burial Ground is that of the Marsh family. Going back as far as 1719 we have over 60 Marsh burials in the graveyard. The Marsh family has a long and important association with Penistone, and together with large families and local marriages there are still members of the Marsh family living here.
The subject of this story is John Marsh (born 1842) of whom we shall learn much over the following paragraphs, however let’s first take a look at his ancestry. Our investigation into the records leads us to an unbroken link of the Marsh family in Penistone back to 1590 and we can link his line to the Dickinsons, Wainwrights, Hinchcliffes and Crossleys, to name a few. Many of these family members are interred at St John’s burial ground. Going forward to the present day we can find many local family links that we can follow through to direct descendants of John who still live in the Penistone area. We have identified quite a few ‘Johns’ so to help with identification I shall put an initial after each to clarify which John we are discussing.
John Marsh’s (JM) parents are Thomas and Elizabeth (Moorhouse) and in 1851 they were living at No. 32 Dunford Bridge. Thomas Marsh’s parents are John Marsh (JM senior) and Elizabeth (Dickinson). This John (JM senior) was one of six children and Thomas was from a family of three children. Each of these generations were stone masons – presumably at the quarries surrounding the Dunford and Thurlstone valleys. At this time John’s life would have been pretty normal for a young active lad and he would soon find himself at Penistone Grammar School where his future would take a distinct turn.
During the 1850s, Penistone Grammar School would still be at its Kirk Flatt site opposite St John’s Church near where the Vault Bistro is now. Here our John Marsh (JM) would have been taught by the headmaster of the time Reverend Samuel Sunderland. For more of him see our Story 19. Reverend Sunderland had come to Penistone from Cambridge where we believe he would have become involved with a particular approach to football that suited the environment around his College. In Penistone, with wide open spaces, green fields and lots of lads with plenty of energy, we believe that John Marsh (JM) and John Ness Dransfield (JND, just few years older) must have become familiar with the game. (Story 21).
These two Johns (JM and JND), and a third John (Charles Shaw) (JCS) (Story 16) moved to Sheffield after completing their education in Penistone. By 1861 our John (JM) was an apprentice engraver and living at Charles Street with yet another John (!) – Rodgers (JR). John Rodgers was born just a few months after our John Marsh (JM) and he was an accomplished cricketer for the Wednesday Cricket Club (formed in 1820). It is a well known story that The Wednesday Football Club came from these cricketers looking for a reason to stick together over the winter months. What is less well known is how our John Marsh (JM) became such an important part of the Wednesday set up, indeed John became the first Secretary and Club Captain in 1867.
Back in Penistone, John’s (JM) father Thomas (who had built the Crystal Palace Pub in Thurlstone) passed away in 1860 and by 1861 Thomas’s wife Elizabeth (Moorhouse) was host at the Crystal Palace Public House in Thurlstone. With her at the Crystal Palace were Sophia (12), Susannah (10), Jullian (7), Selina (5) and Tom (1). John as we know was an apprentice engraver in Sheffield and brothers James and Joseph were also apprentices in Sheffield. Running the pub and having 5 children to look after must have been quite a struggle for Elizabeth. John (JM) in the meantime would marry Emily Esther Hemery from London in April 1871. Esther was just a year younger than John and they would have four children: Kate (1872), Frank (1874), Ellen (1875) and Elizabeth (1877).
Let’s now return to John’s football story which makes him our contender for the most important person buried in St John’s Churchyard. John (JM) was educated at Penistone Grammar School under the headship of the Reverend Samuel Sunderland who had relocated from Cambridge where he would have been aware of the variety of sports available for young energetic lads. At this time during the early 1850s, the game of football was beginning to change from the almost mob-like running, hacking and chasing to a more sophisticated game involving positional play, formations, passing the ball and tactics. More importantly, football clubs were being established and Sheffield was at the forefront of this development. When the first football club in the world was established by Sheffield FC in 1857, it was followed closely by many others - work based, church based, pub based, etc., so John’s involvement in football became a major part of his life.
In due course, John (JM) would not only be the first Secretary and Captain of The Wednesday football club, but he would play in the Youdan Cup (the world’s oldest adult knockout competition and in the possession of Hallam FC) and be a winner of the Cromwell Cup (in the possession of Sheffield Wednesday FC) a year later. John never became an international footballer, however he played regularly against people who would go on to gain these honours. In a press report from this time, he was described as:
'... arguably the most important individual of the club’s fledgling years, being Wednesday team's first Captain and Honorary Secretary.'
John (JM) played for the Sheffield Association against the London Association and played for Sheffield against Glasgow in the 1870s. His playing career and influence on the Sheffield game is well documented by Kevin Neill and the reference to his more detailed contribution can be followed there. Further press reports confirm his (JM) ability and potential:
“the little wonder” and “one of the best captains that ever commanded a team and was unquestionably one of the best backs of the day”.
It is around 1874 that John’s life turns from triumph to tragedy. Mother Elizabeth and her growing family were still at the Crystal Palace pub in Thurlstone when daughter Susannah passed away at just 23 years of age.
It is at this time that John discontinues his activities in Sheffield and returns to Thurlstone. We can’t be sure that Susannah’s death was the main reason for John’s return but, with his mother losing one of her main supports, it seems likely that he would return to assist with the running of the pub. Shortly after John’s (JM) return, his mother Elizabeth would retire from the Crystal Palace and move to the Blue Ball at the bottom of Thurlstone where she would live until her death in 1894. Within a few months it is unsurprising that John (JM) was already organising local football. In the October of 1874 the Thurlstone Crystal Palace FC would play their first game against the Wednesday at the Hornthwaite ground. Another game against his old club saw Billy Mosforth, capped nine times for England, playing at the Hornthwaite ground.
John (JM) continued his playing career through the Crystal Palace FC into 1876 when further tragedy would strike. Playing for the pub on 22nd January 1876 against a Firvale side, John suffered a serious break of his arm. Sadly the break did not set correctly and he was in constant pain. Eventually he travelled to London in the hope of re-breaking the arm and resetting it. This procedure failed to work and later in the year, to add to John’s troubles, his good friend John Rodgers passed away at the young age of just 33. In the following months there was no improvement in John’s health and in 1877 a benefit was held for him between The Wednesday and Hallam which raised the sum of 40 pounds (around £5,000 in today’s money).
Sadly the business at the pub went into decline and John was unable to deal with his situation. He passed away on 21st April 1880 at the age of 37. He is buried at St John’s with his father, mother and sister Susannah. His wife Emily moved to Sheffield and, in due course, his four children would grow up and move on: Kate (b.1872) would move to South Africa, Frank (b. 1874) to Sheffield, Ellen (b. 1875) to Manchester, and Elizabeth (b. 1877) destination unknown. Emily herself was remarried to John Jackson and both lived in Sheffield to the mid-1920s.
It is a tribute to John Marsh that after his death local football flourished and we have anecdotal evidence of many teams being formed in the area – Thurlstone FC; Thurlstone C of E school team; Penistone Athletic; Penistone Bridge End; Penistone White Rose; Penistone Wesleyans, and others. Indeed, it is most likely that John’s influence as a key footballer of this time played its part in the establishment of Penistone Church FC in 1906, who still play today in the North East Counties League.
We will remember John Marsh, his family and his contribution to football not just locally but in the wider national setting.
Stephen Lavender, former Chair, Friends of St John’s Church Penistone.
References and Acknowledgments
Postscript
Since the emergence of this story and its importance to the town a number of developments have taken place. An Information Board is now sited at St John’s church graveyard in Penistone. There is an occasional travelling 'pop-up exhibition' regarding the historical links of players from the 1908 Penistone Church side. A plaque is to be placed for John Marsh at the Crystal Palace pub and a mural depicting John Marsh and John Charles Shaw is on display at Penistone Church FC, at Cubley Hall and at the Crystal Palace.
A new iron gate will also be installed at the football club in honour of John Marsh. The group Sheffield Home of Football has recognised John’s part in the development of the early years of association football. We are especially grateful to one of John’s descendants for supporting these tributes. We are proud to have unearthed this amazing family story, this football story, this Penistone story.
William Wordsworth - "Strongest minds are often those whom the world hears last."