RateTheRef

Charity Shield lino's - first names needed

1953   W. Thomas (Luton, Bedfordshire)
1954   J. Fisher (Earl Shilton, Hinckley, Leicestershire)
1955   D.F. Rawlins (Whitstable, Kent)
1956   M. Walmsley (Huddersfield, West Yorkshire)

I would guess that Mr Rawlins is Don or Donald. The Kent County League had, at one time, a "Don Rawlins Shield" for their Referee of the Year. Of course, that could be a coincidence :-

http://kentcountyfootballleague.co.uk/referee-awards/

M Walmsley -FL yearbooks give address as 199 Long Lane, Dalton, Huddersfield.
The phone book for 1958 shows a Morris Walmsley at that address. Sounds like your man.

Charity Shield lino's - first names needed

1953   W. Thomas (Luton, Bedfordshire)
1954   J. Fisher (Earl Shilton, Hinckley, Leicestershire)
1955   D.F. Rawlins (Whitstable, Kent)
1956   M. Walmsley (Huddersfield, West Yorkshire)

As Mr Fisher lives in a small village, review of the 1939 Household Register on Ancestry or FindMyPast might be worth a look. Was he living in Earl Shilton fifteen years earlier ? 

I'll check it out at the weekend unless anyone else does it in the meantime. 

There is a young married couple in Earl Shilton in 1901 but they have moved to Rugby by 1911

Another large Fisher family are there by 1911 but they all move in to Hinckley itself

And none of them are J's although Albert Josiah might have dropped the A

However he was born in 1901 so would have been too old in 1954

I cannot see any Fisher's there in 1939

The 1956 phone book shows a J Fisher (no first name sadly) as the owner of the General Stores at 2 Sandringham Avenue in Earl Shilton.
The FL yearbook for 52/3 shows Mr F on the linesmen's list and his address as Doctors' Field, Earl Shilton, but I can't find him there in the phonebook for that year.
Unfortunately Ancestry doesn't seem to have Leicestershire voters lists for the right period, because these would show a Christian name which could be linked to the address. They would be in the local record office but I presume that it's been locked down (again) for the moment.
A search on the Newspaper Archive hasn't produced anything useful. Perhaps someone with local knowledge or even a street directory  could help?

Meanwhile turning to W Thomas of Luton, he seems to have been promoted to the FL line after 52/3 because he's not in the yearbook for that season, although maddeningly I do remember seeing him a couple of times doing friendlies at Bedford Town and I'm sure he was on the FL line in the mid 50s. The Luton voters lists are on Ancestry for the right period so if somebody with access to a FL yearbook for the mid 50s could let us know the address I might be able to track his first name down. (I thought I'd found him via the phone book but the voters list revealed that the W Thomas shown there was called Winifred!)

W. Thomas was at 142 Selbourne Road Luton in 1958-59

Thanks John. At No 142 Selbourne Rd in 1956 (the nearest I can get) were William and Gladys M Thomas.