Marshall, Harry

Biog

Henry (‘Harry’) Marshall was a formidable centre half who spent several spells with the Bhoys in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In his first spell in football he was so badly injured at Blackburn that he gave up the sport to go back to hiring out boats (hence the nickname ‘The Portobello Boatman’).

He was on loan to Celtic two times in 1899 before fully transferring in June that same year to the club.

His debut came in a 3-0 home Scottish Cup win over St Bernard’s on 4th February 1899 when on loan from Hearts and during that spell at the club he helped Celtic to lift the trophy in April, defeating Rangers 2-0 in the final.

Two reports reported glowing on Marshall stating that

“…[Rangers’] Hamilton was too closely watched by Marshall to be of any service, and this had the effect of completely upsetting the Rangers’ forwards who were a very disjointed set.” (Dundee Evening Telegraph)

“It was at half-back, however, that the Celtic team were strongest, Battles being the most prominent in the line, while Marshall fairly outclassed [Rangers’] Hamilton, and it was rarely that the Rangers’ centre had a look in.” (Dundee Courier)

An interesting speech after that 1899 Scottish Cup final saw Celtic chairman John H McLaughlin say in a fullsome mood:

“Sectarianism is a dead letter in Scottish football… We cull players from all quarters, regardless of sect.”

One wit in the crowd shouted back “Or cost!“. A dig at Celtic’s spending (Harry Marshall’s loan had cost £300, a lot in those days). The line was to sadly prove very wide of the mark.

A year later in season 1899-00, Harry Marshall skippered the Celtic side to Scottish Cup glory once more in a 4-3 victory over Queen’s Park in torrential weather, a key game which heralded the end for Queen’s Park as a premier team in Scotland. It was a major landmark for the advance to professionalism for the game. This season was his best for Celtic, scoring three times and Celtic were undefeated in all the games he played for the first team, but notably he was away for much of the first half of the season on loan.

He almost made it a hat-trick of Scottish Cup titles but Celtic lost the 1902 Scottish Cup final to Hibernian 1-0.

In the league though, Celtic kept falling behind although came close in 1901-02, losing the title by 2pts to Rangers. Harry Marshall had scored in the Ne’er Days game v Rangers which Rangers won 4-2, a contentious game with Celtic lodging a formal protest with the SFA on the grounds of the referee, Mr. Nisbet’s incompetency, and full time not being played. The SFA dismissed the protest but deleted Mr. Nisbet’s name from the referee’s list for his “repeatedly refusing to answer a question arising out of the match“.

His last season (1902-03) saw a poor Celtic slip to 5th in the league, well behind the rejuvenated & reincarnated Hibernian who comfortably won the title, getting revenge for the Scottish Cup final defeat. Harry Marshall only played six league games in that season but Celtic won only two of those matches, so the writing was on the wall.

In total the Portobello-born defender made 46 league & Scottish Cup appearances for the Bhoys and scored 5 goals. He departed Parkhead in August 1903 when he joined Clyde and a year later was reinstated as an amateur. He wrapped up his playing career with Broxburn Athletic, retiring in 1906.

His talent was rewarded on the international front, winning two caps for Scotland, once in a 6-0 victory over Wales in 1899 (scoring a goal too) and then captaining his country in a 3-0 win over Ireland in 1900.

After football, he was working on the new Musselburgh tramway in 1932. He went on to run the Spylaw Tea Room in Colinton with his wife.

He passed away in 1936 from lung cancer.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Cup

• 1899, 1900

Pictures

• Player pics

Articles

Harry Marshall

https://spartacus-educational.com/BLACKBmarshall.htm