Jack Borthwick (footballer, born 1886)

Jack Borthwick

Personal information
Full name	John James Blacklaw Borthwick[1]
Date of birth	15 February 1886
Place of birth	Leith, Scotland
Date of death	23 April 1942(1942-04-23) (aged 56)[2]
Place of death	Liverpool, England[3]
Height	5 ft 10+3⁄4 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s)	Centre half
Youth career
1902–1903	Royal Oak
1903–1904	Edinburgh Clifton
1904–1905	Wemyss Violet
1905–1906	Lochgelly United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1906–1908	Hibernian	30	(0)
1908–1911	Everton	25	(0)
1911–1914	Millwall Athletic
1914–1915	East Fife
1915	Cowdenbeath
1916	Hibernian
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John James Blacklaw Borthwick (15 February 1886 – 23 April 1942) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a centre half in the Football League for Everton.[1] He also played in the Scottish League for Hibernian.[4][5]

Personal life

Borthwick's younger brother Watty also became a footballer and his son Bill worked as a trainer for Everton.[6][7] Borthwick served as a private in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment during the First World War and suffered a gunshot wound to the head at Delville Wood in 1916.[8][3] He described his injuries in a letter to Bert Lipsham: "my head has been trepanned, as the skull was knocked in. The cut extends from nearly the top of my head down to my eyebrow. It was a near thing of losing my right eye".[9] Borthwick was discharged on 12 April 1917.[3] After his retirement from football, he ran the Winslow Hotel, opposite Goodison Park.[9]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hibernian	1906–07[4]	Scottish Division One	2	0	0	0	2	0
	1907–08[4]		28	0	3	1	31	1
	Total		30	0	3	1	33	1
Everton	1907–08[10]	First Division	1	0	0	0	1	0
	1908–09[10]		1	0	0	0	1	0
	1909–10[10]		19	0	0	0	19	0
	1910–11[10]		4	0	0	0	4	0
	Total		25	0	0	0	25	0
Career total			55	0	3	1	58	1

References

1. Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 32. ISBN 978-1905891610.
2. "John James Blacklaw Borthwick (John Borthwick)". Play Up, Liverpool. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
3. Jack Borthwick on Lives of the First World War
4. "Hibernian Player John Borthwick Details". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
5. "Borthwick John Everton 1909". Vintage Footballers. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
6. "Watty Borthwick". The Thistle Archive. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
7. "August 1945". bluecorrespondent.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
8. Riddoch, Andrew; Kemp, David (2010). When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War. Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset: Haynes Publishing. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-0857330772.
9. "This is worse than a whole season of cup ties". Royal British Legion. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
10. "John Borthwick". Everton Football Club. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.