Henry Hamilton had graduated from a boat-building apprenticeship to the Football League, initially with Sheffield Wednesday in Division I and then with Huddersfield Town, during their inaugural season in Division II. His scoring feats during that 1910-11 season persuaded Saints’ manager, George Swift, to make him one of his first signings. It is an indicator of the Saints’ struggles in 1911-12 that centre-forward Hamilton managed to top-score, for their Southern league season, with nine goals in the 23 matches he had played by early March.

That would be his lot. He and Andrew Gibson received sine die suspensions for being drunk, a serious breach of club discipline. Henry left for Belfast Celtic that same month – the start of some toing-and-froing between his home-town team and the Irish League. In September 1916 he was holding a pub licence in the Peters Hill area of Belfast and later he became the publican of “The Red Hand Inn” in Carnmoney, Belfast. He returned to South Shields sometime in the 1930s and was living in Bath Street at the time of his death.