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Research dossier · People & Ideas

Bill Hand

English association footballer (1898-?)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ23951664 ↗
Source-derived summary

William R. Hand (5 July 1898 – ) was an English professional footballer, who played in the Football League for Crystal Palace as a forward. He also played non-league football for Sutton Town.

Playing career

Hand began his career with Sutton Town, and was signed by Crystal Palace in October 1920. He made 100 league appearances (15 goals) for Palace between then and October 1925 when his contract, along with that of Dick Strang, was cancelled due to breach of contract.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Bill Hand” as english association footballer (1898-?). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bill, Hand and English.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1898, 1920, 1925—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1898-07-05. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Bill, Hand and English providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Bill Hand”, the useful work is to connect “english association footballer (1898-?)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23951664. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1920 and 1925.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bill Hand”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bill Hand primary sources, Bill Hand archive and Bill research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bill Hand”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Bill Hand” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.