Early Life
Meredith was born in 1874 in Black Park, Chirk, a small mining town in North Wales, just south of Wrexham. He started work at Black Park Colliery as a pit pony driver at the age of 12. An interest in football was kindled by his elder brothers. Elias, the eldest, was a train driver for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. His work allowed him to take Meredith to watch professional teams such as Everton. Football was a keen pastime for the miners, and the standard of amateur teams from towns and villages in north east Wales was high as a result. Chirk won the Welsh Cup five times between 1887 and 1894, with miners making up a large proportion of the team. All the Meredith brothers played football, but Sam, two years older than Meredith, was the first to make an impression. He left Chirk to attempt a professional career, and went on to play for Stoke as a full-back.
Meredith made his debut for the Chirk first team in September 1892. The club played in The Combination, a league which contained a mixture of town clubs and reserve teams of clubs from big cities. At the end of his first season Meredith played in the 1893 Welsh Cup final, which Chirk lost 2–1 to Wrexham. 1893 was a time of industrial unrest for the miners, who chose to strike in response to a pay cut. Chirk withdrew from the Combination and entered only the Welsh league. In an attempt to make ends meet, Meredith not only played for Chirk, but accepted an offer to play for Football League club Northwich Victoria as well, who gave him a small fee on top of his expenses. Northwich were a struggling side, who withdrew from the Football League at the end of the 1893–94 season after finishing bottom of the Second Division. The club won just three League matches; Meredith featured in each win. Back at Chirk, Meredith gained his first honour as part of the team which beat Westminster Rovers to win the 1894 Welsh Cup.
Read more about this topic: Billy Meredith
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