Billy Slater (footballer)
English footballer (1858-?)
William Slater (1858 – after 1883) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward for Small Heath Alliance in the 1880s.
The club entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1881–82, and were drawn to play at home to Derby Town. The game was played on 17 October 1881 at Coventry Road. Slater's opening goal in a 4–1 win was the first goal scored by Small Heath Alliance, later to become Birmingham City, in national competitive football. He made five appearances in the FA Cup, scoring four goals, but left the club long before they started playing organised league football.
Slater was born in Birmingham.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Billy Slater (footballer)” as english footballer (1858-?). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as english footballer (1858-?). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4913313. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1883 and 1881.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. 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.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Billy Slater (footballer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Billy Slater (footballer) primary sources, Billy Slater (footballer) archive and Billy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Billy Slater (footballer)”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Billy Slater (footballer)” 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.