[Lord Snooty]

June 12:

Edwin Watson only played six matches for Huddersfield Town, but one of them was an FA Cup semi final. He arrived in 1937 from Partick Thistle, a Scotsman born in Pitenweem, a fishing village on the coast of Fife, in 1914.

He made his first team debut in January 1938, a home defeat to the mob from Beeston, playing centre forward when the regular Willie MacFadyen, a fellow Scotsman who'd come from Motherwell, was unavailable. Edwin wasn't in the next line up, manager Clem Stephenson played Lewis Brook at number 9 instead.

He was back in the side in March though, playing three consecutive matches. The first was the FA Cup quarter final match at Bootham Crescent against giant killing Third Division side, York City. He replaced Frank Chivers at inside left as First Division Town kept the minnows at bay by playing out a nil nil draw.

The replay was four days later and Edwin kept his place, but was moved to centre forward again, once more taking MacFadyen's shirt, with Chivers back in his usual position, instead of the midfield role he had at York. This was a famous occasion in the histories of both clubs with a massive crowd of 58,066 turning out on a Tuesday afternoon to see Town win 2-1 to go through to the Cup semis. And Edwin scored the first Town goal, his only goal for the club, with Chivers getting the winner.

Edwin kept the number 9 shirt for the trip to the Valley on the following Saturday, but Town got stuffed 4-0 against Charlton Athletic and he was dropped for the next one. But he wasn't out of the picture for long and came back into the side for another momentous match, one of the great occasions in our history, the Cup semi against Sunderland at Ewood Park in Blackburn.

Sunderland were the Cup holders and favourites to win this one, but Town won it with George Wienand destroying them on the wing. Edwin played inside left again for this one, alongside Bobby Barclay at inside right and MacFadyen at number 9. Wienand was on the right wing with Pat Beasley on the left. And it was Beasley who gave Town the lead, with Barclay and MacFadyen adding the others in a famous 3-1 win.

Edwin kept his place for the next game, a home defeat to Liverpool, but was then transferred to Bradford Park Avenue in the Second Division.

Wikipedia has no record of his time at Park Avenue and the next entry for him is when he became a flight sergeant in No. 201 Squadron RAF of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. He was a gunner on one of these planes, known as a Short Sunderland, a flying boat patrol bomber built by Short Brothers in the north east town.

Edwin was aboard the plane, attacking German U-boats in the Bay of Biscay on the Spanish coast on this date in 1944 when they were shot down by flak from German submarine U-333, killing everyone on board, including our Edwin.

He was 30 years old and his body was never recovered. He is recognised on the RAF Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, as well as the Huddersfield Town Roll of Honour. His team mate Frank Chivers is on there as well.