The John Lowe Collection - Tommy Walker XI Archive 1945 India/Ceylon

05/09/2023  -  3.49

John Lowe

My father's name is John Lowe. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was a professional football player, having played for Hamilton Academical and Clyde. While an Accies player he turned out 200 times in the top team. When he hung up his boots he was never far away from Douglas Park (Accies home ground). In 1951, he was appointed assistant manager, then secretary, and finally manager of Hamilton Accies from 1956 to 1958.

John Lowe (centre) playing for Hamilton Academical against St Johnstone in 1939. Source: Author’s Collection

During the Second World War he guested/played for Wolves, Port Vale and Blackpool. At that time, he was stationed in Blackpool (RAF Volunteer Reserve) as a physical training instructor. 

John Lowe (middle row, centre) with fellow RAF colleagues at Blackpool. Source: Author’s Collection

In July 1945, he was posted to India to join the Tommy Walker Touring Football Team. This tour was to provide activities for the British troops.

John Lowe in uniform along with his RAF badge. Source: Author’s Collection

Tommy Walker was a professional football player, born in Livingston in 1915 and died in Edinburgh in 1993, aged 77. He played mostly for Hearts and many times for Scotland. He captained this touring side.

Signed photograph of Tommy Walker. Source: Author’s Collection

The Tommy Walker X1 Touring Football Team Number 3, toured India and Ceylon between 1 September and 16 December 1945. The team comprised of many well-known international and football league professional players.

My father, died in 1995 at his home in Lochranza, Isle of Arran. When clearing out the loft, I found a wealth of material, including photographs, newspaper cuttings, original football match programmes, and a map of India and Ceylon showing the dates, location of games and teams, giving an almost complete picture of the Tommy Walker X1 Team Number 3 Tour. According to the map, drawn by my father, there were 45 games and the itinerary was drawn in numerical order. It is not known if this route was drawn before, during or after the tour. It should be recognised however, that some games/venues may have been changed/cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, for example – bad weather.

It took me a great deal of time collating and indexing all the material and names. However, the more I worked on this, the more I excited I became. Many of the names of the players I recognised as great football legends and I wished I was around a few years earlier to see them playing. My other big regret was that I didn’t go over the collection with my father, as there were and still are, so many questions to be answered. 

Prior to the tour commencing, Tommy Walker team members met in Bangalore and Delhi in August 1945, for training and preparation for the forthcoming tour. There are photographs in the collection detailing this pre-tour training. For example, on 8 August 1945, at Bangalore, there was a football tournament possibly played between Inter Services/RAF teams and in which RAF Jalahalli (of which my father was a member) were the winners of the 'Patterson Cup'. 

John Lowe (centre, kneeling with ball) as part of the RAF Jalahalli team. Source: Author’s Collection

I have in my possession a miniature engraved 'Patterson Cup' which was obviously brought back from India by my father. In one photograph you see six members of RAF Jallahalli who were stationed at Blackpool together before coming to India. The members were: John Lowe, Roy John, Eric Hayward, Harry McShane, Billy McEwan, Ivor Powell. The cup is shown with the group. Unfortunately, my father is not about to explain, what the Patterson Cup tournament was.

There are photographs of all team members and also photographs of the ISSECC Touring Team Number.2, that being the Denis Compton X1. There is invaluable information contained, and I hope to enlighten any football fan and any player's relatives, giving an insight into football and the Forces during 1945.

During the past few years, particularly during the Covid-19 lockdown, I decided to piece everything together. I have followed my father's map detail, collated all the games, results, and indexed players from all teams, and Service personnel. Many others, including ENSA stars, boxing combatants, in fact every person connected with the tour are indexed. Most of the match programmes are included, and there are many photographs of locations, players, officers and service personnel. This collection will be of interest to Service/ Football historians and anyone with relatives who were in India and Ceylon during 1945. 

The collection has been transferred to the Scottish Football Museum. It has been digitised and is entitled: The John Lowe Collection – Tommy Walker X1 Archive India/Ceylon 1945. It can now be accessed at: https://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/ 

Biography

John Lowe, is the son of John Lowe. He also played football and, for his sins, he still follows the fortunes of Hamilton Academical. His career, he modestly states, only allowed him to play as an amateur footballer, and he represented his country at amateur level. John states the players in the 1930s and 1940s were real football players, hard-working, tough, loyal, not like footballers today.