David Hamer, familiarly known as “Taffy”, was a member of the Royal Engineers’ side that carried off the Hampshire Senior Cup twice in successive years (1899 & 1900). He left the military in January 1892, soon after joining St. Mary’s.

He was a sound, strong and resolute full-back who was hard to beat and the owner of a powerful volley.

He was only at The Antelope one season before crossing the Solent to Cowes, but soon returned to take part in the club’s first ever Southern League game in 1894. In 1895 he was reinstated as an amateur and once again moved to Cowes but returned yet again, this time to The Dell in 1898, as player/assistant trainer. Recalled to active service in December 1899, Sapper Hamer took part in the Boer War in South Africa, and when leaving the army in August 1902 decided not to take part in any further football. In January 1908 David moved to Long Island, New York to find work as a tunnel miner before finding a similar position in Dundas, Ontario.

In 1918 he signed attestation papers to join the Canadian Engineers. It’s not clear if David saw action in the final throes of the Great War (he was nearly 50), but in 1920 he returned to live in Liverpool becoming the proprietor of a fish-and-chip business in Birkenhead.