Chris Porter

The son of a Blackpool publican, Chris Porter was educated at Manchester Grammar School and played football for the Old Mancunians who won the Beerschote Cup in Antwerp at the turn of the century. After school he worked at the Horwich (near Bolton) depot of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways for a while but he was already beginning to shine as an all-round sportsman. In 1903 he joined the Broughton Football Club and also played for Broughton Cricket Club, and in 1905 and 1906 topped the latter’s batting averages. He also played cricket for the Lancashire second XI.

On the football field Porter also played for Northern Nomads and in 1906 joined Stockport County and spent four seasons with them scoring 23 goals in 66 Football League games. He played in the international trial match at Chelsea in 1908 and in September that year made his England amateur début against Sweden. A month later he was a member of the 18-man Great Britain squad at the London Olympics, but did not get to play. Porter played seven more times for England and scored 13 goals from an inside-forward position, including hat-tricks against Germany and France in 1909 and Wales in 1910. He moved from Stockport to Glossop North End in 1909 and played a further 44 Football League games. In addition he occasionally continued turning out for the Northern Nomads as he never turned professional. Porter served as a private with the 6th Batallion of the Manchester Regiment during the war but was sadly killed in action during the Gallipoli Campaign in June 1915 and is remembered at the Helles Memorial.