On the trail of George Camsell: Researching a football great

A selection of match reports and photos will be made accessible through the placement.

As Boro once again look to add firepower to their forward line as they seek promotion to the Premier League once more, the club can only dream of discovering a talent that once hammered home a remarkable 59 league goals in one glorious season back in 1926/27! This remarkable statistic is just one of the many legacies of Middlesbrough’s George Camsell that I have exploring during a recent placement with Heritage Unlocked and Teesside University as part of my BA (Hons) History degree. During the six week placement, I have spent hours delving into historic records on Camsell’s career as a Research Assistant to Dr Tosh Warwick, who has been busy writing a biography of the Boro great.

Camsell’s 59 goals in one League season set a new record that was incredibly bettered by Everton player Dixie Dean just one year later with 60 goals. Although Camsell’s record lasted just over a year, it is unlikely his phenomenal England record goals-to-games ratio of 18 goals in 9 games will ever be beaten, nor are any of today’s forwards likely to surpass his nine hat tricks in a Football League season.

Firing home for the Boro - the goalkeeper can only look on as Camsell scores

Despite his goalscoring feats, Camsell is still a relatively unknown figure in the football world, something soon to change and helped by new attention turning to his record after Aleksandar Mitrović’s 43 goal exploits for Fulham (often incorrectly credited as breaking a second-tier record) in helping his side to promotion – just as Camsell’s strikes did for Boro back in 1927. Dr Tosh Warwick is soon to be publishing a biography on the man himself to bring to light the profound impact he had on Middlesbrough Football Club and his community that deserves further recognition.

Through my time research his achievements and digitising archival material, Camsell’s legend has brought a new-found respect for what he was able to accomplish, despite not being a massive football fan myself! The material that I have explored through online newspapers and research I have carried out reveal spectacular achievements even in the twilight of his time at Boro, including when his five goals helped the club to an 8-0 win at Hull in 1941 as war raged in Europe. At times, his goalscoring prowess was just as outstanding on the pitch in the early war years as in the 1920s and he was able to bring some joy to the people of the town at times of economic strife, bombardment and devastation. In the decades after his playing career had finished, he continued to serve the football club in a variety of roles behind the scenes including as a scout and coach.

Researching Camsell’s life beyond the football field has also shed light on his place in the community and wider sporting life

By helping to uncover some of the historic material from Camsell’s incredibly career, the research I carried out will hopefully help his achievements be celebrated more widely and has helped develop my research and technical skills as an aspiring historian.

Written by Adam Shillaw