Jimmy Smith Takes Ned Liddle’s Crown
For 2026 I’ve been celebrating the birthdays of Arsenal players, managers, backroom staff and directors each day on my Bluesky account. In putting together the list of Arsenal birthdays for 27 March, I stumbled across an error in a player’s date of birth which actually meant they are now the proud owner of an Arsenal club record. It also gives an insight into how recorded history changes and the methods Mark and I use to research our publications.
If you cast your mind back to last season, Neto made his Arsenal debut at the age of 35 years 194 days making him the club’s second oldest Arsenal debutant. Ned Liddle is recognised as the oldest debutant at 36 years 308 days (some sources are a few days out as they had an incorrect date of birth).
Among those who have celebrated their birthday on 27 March was Jimmy Smith who, until a couple of days ago, was believed to have been born in Preston in 1887 making him 33 years 154 days on his Arsenal debut in August 1920. That would make him the tenth oldest player to make his Arsenal debut. Looking for some more details on him, I noticed that someone on the ancestry.co.uk website had a James Smith in their family tree with the date of birth as 27 March 1883 in Preston. Now James Smith is very common name but it did seem strange that they had the same day, month and birthplace. Could this be the same person and, if so, which was the correct year of birth?
Let’s look at where the year 1887 came from. It looks likely that the source is a ledger held in the Arsenal Museum store room that records all of the players signed by the club between 1919-20 and 1938-39. Below is Jimmy Smith’s entry for the 1920-21 season.
Whoever recorded the dates of birth did it in a strange way. What they did was take the day and month they were born and appended it with the year in which they were signed, and then added the age they were on that date. So, for Jimmy it shows that he was 33 years old on 27 March 1920 which makes his year of birth 1887 and that he was born in Preston.
Over the years I’ve found a number of instances where the age on that date is out by a year. Most famously was David Jack but also Joe Shaw and Clem Voysey have been shown to be a year older than they actually were. This makes the ledger not the most reliable source of information.
There are now other sources of information available that we can use to corroborate his date of birth. The British Newspaper Archive and the Arsenal official programme show us that he had previously played for Fulham.
If we look at the 1911 census we can see that he and his wife, Florence, were lodging with the Henson family in Fulham and that he is 28 years old which indicates he was born in, or around, 1883.
We now have two sources that are four years apart. If we go forward ten years to the 1921 census we find the Smiths living with Florence’s parents (the Hills) in Preston. Also at the house that day was Florence’s niece, Greta.
There are a couple of issues here that I am going to have make assumptions to explain. At the time of the census (24 April) Jimmy was still an Arsenal player – he played his last game on 30 April – but the entry states that he is a professional footballer but not currently employed. I think this is because he would have been told prior to this that he wouldn’t be retained for the 1921-22 season and hadn’t found a new club to play for. More importantly, his age is shown as 37 years 3 months which gives the impression that he was born around January 1884 – a third date! My theory is that Mr Hills and Jimmy had a bit of a mix up when they filled out the census form, especially when we see the next document.
Shortly after Britain joined the Second World War, the government took a mini‑census which is known as the 1939 Register. Here we can see Jimmy and Florence living at 13 St. Philip’s Road, Preston. Also there is Florence’s niece Greta Hill (with her surname overwritten with her married name) which shows that they are the same people from the 1921 census. We can now see an actual date of birth for Jimmy – 27 March (18)83. This date would have been provided by Jimmy himself to the enumerator.
Was there a James Smith born on 27 March 1883 in Preston? Yes, there was. Here is his birth certificate.
The year isn’t particularly legible but this is the order that I placed for the image which shows his birth was registered in the second quarter of 1883.
There was one James Smith who was born in Preston in at the start of 1887, but the 1921 census and 1939 register show that he was born on 19 February and was a “Powerloom Overlooker” in 1921.
Jumping back to the early years of the century there is a newspaper story in the Stalybridge Reporter telling us that he was transferred from Stalybridge Rovers to Bury in February 1904, aged 20. If he was born on 27 March 1883, he would have been 20 in February 1904.
Jimmy joined Arsenal in May 1920 and played his first game for them aged 37 years 154 days making him the oldest player to make their competitive first team debut. At 37 years 156 days he is also the oldest player to score their first goal for Arsenal (this was previously held by Ronnie Rooke at 35 years 7 days) and third oldest player to score a goal for the Arsenal after Jock Rutherford (39 years 344 days) and Leslie Compton (39 years 187 days).
This is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t believe what someone writes if they don’t show primary sources to back up their claim and we should all be prepared to accept that what we’ve been told is true, isn’t necessarily so.
Here is a list of the ten oldest players to make their Arsenal debut
| Age | Name | Date of debut | Opponents |
| 37y 154d | Jimmy Smith | 28/08/1920 | Aston Villa |
| 36y 308d | Ned Liddle* | 02/04/1915 | Hull City |
| 35y 194d | Neto | 29/01/2025 | Girona |
| 35y 7d | Ronnie Rooke | 14/12/1946 | Charlton Athletic |
| 34y 278d | Mart Poom | 08/11/2006 | Everton |
| 34y 208d | Stephan Lichtsteiner | 12/08/2018 | Manchester City |
| 34y 19d | Dick Roose | 16/12/1911 | Middlesbrough |
| 33y 348d | Tommy Lawton | 19/09/1953 | Manchester City |
| 33y 341d | Charlie Buchan | 29/08/1925 | Tottenham Hotspur |
* The spelling of Ned Liddle’s name is worthy of another blog as his involvement in the downfall of Sir Henry Norris.
Sources
Arsenal official matchday programme
ancestry.co.uk
British Newspaper Archive
Copies of our books Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South and Arsenal: The Complete Record 1886-2018 are still available from the publishers.
