Oxley was born and raised in Wallsend, Northumberland, the son of Edward Oxley, a machine driller in a boiler workshop, and his wife Clara.[1][3] He was apprenticed as a boilermaker, and enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry towards the end of the First World War.[4] He died in 1951.[1]
Oxley's older brother Dick also played football professionally.[1][3]
He also scored against Wigan Borough, which may have impressed them, because two weeks after his application to the Football League for a free transfer was successful, he signed for them.[17] Oxley missed the opening of the new season through illness,[18] and never managed to break into Wigan's first team thereafter. He played once and scored once for Darlington in the Third Division,[1] a headed equaliser against Chesterfield in October 1928 that "made amends for previous mistakes",[19] and was granted a free transfer a couple of weeks later.[20]
Consett was his next port of call, for whom he scored 19 North-Eastern League goals before making what proved a brief return to the Football League with Carlisle United in September 1929.[21] He signed for the club, went straight into the starting eleven for that night's match against Wigan, "saw little of the ball and made little use of it when he did get it", Carlisle lost 8–0,[22] and Oxley finished his football career with Blyth Spartans.[1]
References
^ abcdefghijJoyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 201. ISBN978-1-899468-67-6.
^"British Army Service Records 1914–1920 Transcription". William Oxley. Service number: 106395. Regiment: Durham Light Infantry. Unit/Battalion: 5th Grad, 3rd, 5th Battalion. Event year: 1918. Series: WO363. Retrieved 24 October 2014 – via Findmypast.
^"Sporting items". Nottingham Evening Post. 12 November 1925. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive. Urwin, Rob (23 September 2008). "Football League Player List"(PDF). Southport FC Stats. Southport F.C. Archived from the original(PDF) on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
^"The Cobblers. Still without an October victory". Northampton Mercury. 29 October 1926. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. In the forward line were two new faces, Oxley, the old Southport, Rochdale, and Manchester City centre forward, who recently had a trial with Merthyr ... Oxley is well-built for the leadership of forwards, for he has both height and weight. He also possesses a faculty for bursting through, having good ball control, and had he and others been anything resembling deadly shots Northampton would have won. "Notts. and Derby benefits". Nottingham Evening Post. 13 December 1926. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.