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Personal
Fullname: Patrick Slavin
aka: Patrick Slaven, Patrick Slevin
Born: 5 May 1877
Birthplace: Shotts, Lanarkshire
Died: 13 Nov 1916 (Serre, Somme, France)
Signed: 6 Feb 1897
Left: 5 June 1897 (to Motherwell)
Position: Outside-Right
Debut: St Mirren 2-0 Celtic, League, Mar 13 1897
Internationals: none
Biog
Note: some sources have his surname spelt as Slaven or Slevin, others as Slavin. We use Slavin as seems to be the correct spelling.
Shotts-born Patrick Slavin, the son of a Fauldhouse quarryman from Letterkenny, Co Donegal and a mother from Kilross, Co Sligo, signed for Celtic on February 6th 1897 from Fauldhouse Hibs.
The outside-right played his only league match for the Bhoys in a 2-0 league defeat at St Mirren on 13th March 1897, a hard defeat and can be deemed to have ended Celtic’s chances of winning the league title in what was at that time a very competitive push for the title, with only 4pts between the top 4 sides at the end (Celtic ended up in fourth place, with Hearts taking the league title for the first time in their history).
He was tried-out as Tommy Morrison’s replacement, and he had played his first game in the green and white stripes against Third Lanark at Parkhead in the Glasgow League on Feb 27 1897. He scored the opener in a 3-1 win (An Alphabet of the Celts by Eugene MacBride & Martin O’Connor).
With Celtic on the verge of becoming a Limited Company who were planning to invest in new talent to bolster the first team, Patrick Slavin was deemed surplus to requirements and departed for Motherwell on 5 June 1897.
Playing career for “Patrick Slavin” (From the book An Alphabet of the Celts):
- Fauldhouse Hibs/Celtic 6 Feb 1897
- Motherwell 5 June 1897
- Dykehead 1 Sept 1898
- Carfin Emmet 21 Jan 1900
- Dykehead 20 Apr 1900
- Albion Rovers 4 Aug 1900
- East Benhar Rangers 17 Oct 1900
- reinstated amateur 13 Aug 1901
Patrick Slavin appears in the 1901 Scottish census, living at the School Rows, Fauldhouse, with his parents and younger brothers and sisters, occupation: freestone quarryman. The same year he married Mary Graham, in Fauldhouse.
He went on to sign up for the war effort in World War One, and sadly became the second Celtic player to lose their life on the Somme.
From Robert Hoskins’: “Celtic Football Club and the Great War”
“The second Celtic player who lost his life on the Somme [along with Leigh Roose] was Sergeant Patrick Slavin whose playing career included spells at Fauldhouse Hibs, Heatherbell, Celtic, Broxburn and West Calder Swifts. Sergeant Slavin was with the 2nd Bn Royal Scots and died on Monday 13th November 1916. Patrick lies buried in Serre Rd No 2 Cemetery in the same cemetery as my Great Great Uncle Harold Bates, which is the largest cemetery on the Somme, containing 7,126 graves.”Patrick’s Regiment was involved in one of the most significant Battles of the Somme campaign – the 2nd Battle for the village of Serre. On the fateful day of Patrick’s death, fog was thick as zero hour approached at 5am which signified the start of the 2nd ill-fated attack on Serre.”The Regimental diary states that they were not as prepared as they might have been for the unexpected weather conditions, suggesting that tapes should have been laid in advance to guide Patrick’s comrades to where the gaps were in the German barbed wire. One cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like for Patrick and his comrades waiting to go over the top at 5am into ‘insufficient light’ plus thick fog with no tapes to guide them to where the enemy was. If that was not bad enough the diary also informs us that not only had the German wire not been properly cut to the extent reported, but also the enemy lay in wait in ‘greater numbers than expected’.”One suspects that even if Black Adder’s batman Baldrick had been in charge that day, his cunning plan would not have involved this suicide mission which resulted in 23 soldiers including Patrick being killed, 84 missing presumed dead and 177 wounded.”
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1897 | 1 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 1 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
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Patrick Slavin’s Military Records are available from the Ancestry website.
The son of Maurice and Rose Slavin both born in Ireland and who arrived in Scotland between 1871 and 1877. Pat Slavin was born at Bellside, Shotts, Lanarkshire in May 1877. Pat was working as a Freestone Quarryman like his father in the 1901 census. Married to Mary Graham of Heathfield, Fauldhouse at St. John’s Fauldhouse on 12th April 1901. Fauldhouse Hibs: Celtic 6 Feb 1897:
Prior to enlisting he was the foreman at the Bellbrae Quarry. He was a prominent member of the St. John’s Dramatic Society where he was a very successful stage manager. Attested (Promised to joined up) at Fauldhouse, West Lothian on 19th January 1915. At his attestation medical he was described as being just over 5ft 6in tall and of good physique. He gave notice that he had previous military experience with the 10th Bn. (Cyclist) Royal Scots that were based at Linlithgow.
The 2nd Royal Scots attacked on the morning of 13th November after a heavy but ineffectual artillery barrage. Pat Slavin with “A” Company was one of the two front companies for the attack and ran into an uncut field of barbed wire , which they were unable to cross. The entire battalion which included the two support companied were very badly cut up by German machine guns. Over 80 men were killed and two hundred more wounded.
Most of the dead lay in front of the German wire and their bodies could not be recovered. In the spring of 1917, the battlefields of the Somme and Ancre were cleared by V Corps and a number of new cemeteries were made, Serre Road Cemetery No 2 was begun in May 1917 with the burials in Plots I and II.
Pat Slavin’s grave is at Plot I.K.5. Serre Road Cemetery No2.
