John McTavish (footballer, born 1885)
Scottish footballer (1885-1926)
John Kay McTavish (7 June 1885 – 4 April 1944) was a Scottish footballer who played for several clubs, including Falkirk, Oldham Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Partick Thistle, Dumbarton and East Stirlingshire, and for Scotland at international level.
Club career
McTavish began his career at the Glasgow junior side Petershill before joining Falkirk in 1905, being a part of the team which finished runners-up in Scottish Division One twice (the 1907–08 and 1909–10 seasons).
In summer 1910, he joined Oldham Athletic and played 10 matches at Boundary Park before signing for Tottenham Hotspur by the end of the same year. The inside right featured in 40 games and scored twice in all competitions for the Lilywhites between December 1910 and April 1912, when he left White Hart Lane to join Newcastle United where he made a further 34 appearances and scored six goals.
He went on have spells at Partick Thistle, York City, Goole Town, Heart of Midlothian, a return to Falkirk, East Fife, Dumbarton and finally East Stirlingshire.
International career
McTavish played once for Scotland against Ireland on 19 March 1910. The match played in Belfast ended in a 1–0 victory for Ireland.
Personal life
McTavish's younger brother Bob was also a footballer and a forward whose career path took him to Petershill then Falkirk, where the siblings were teammates – although Bob's preferred position at right wing was occupied by Jock Simpson, with whom John had a noted partnership. The brothers also played together at Tottenham.
McTavish died in 1944.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John McTavish (footballer, born 1885)” is scottish footballer (1885-1926). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, McTavish and footballer, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “scottish footballer (1885-1926)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
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 Mar 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3182077. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1944, 1905 and 1907.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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 “John McTavish (footballer, born 1885)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow John McTavish (footballer, born 1885) primary sources, John McTavish (footballer, born 1885) archive and John 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 “John McTavish (footballer, born 1885)”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “John McTavish (footballer, born 1885)” 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.