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William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)

Footballer (1871-1943)

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 revisionJul 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ7945827 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Fish Marsden (20 June 1871 – 1943) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Darwen. Marsden scored a consolation goal for Darwen in the 3-1 1891 Lancashire Cup Final defeat against Blackpool at Anfield.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)” as footballer (1871-1943). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Marsden and footballer.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1871, 1943, 1891—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1871-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, Marsden and footballer providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)”, the useful work is to connect “footballer (1871-1943)” 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 Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7945827. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1871, 1943 and 1891.

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 “William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Marsden (footballer, born 1871) primary sources, William Marsden (footballer, born 1871) archive and William 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 “William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Marsden (footballer, born 1871)” 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.