James "Jimmy" Ashcroft (12 September 1878 – 9 April 1943) was an English football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 goalkeeper.

Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Ashcroft began his career with several local sides, briefly signing as an amateur with Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

, before moving south and joining Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 side Gravesend United

Gravesend United F.C.

Gravesend United Football Club was a football club based in Gravesend, Kent.They were founder members of the Kent League in 1894-95 before moving to join the Southern League in 1896-97...

 in 1899. He was quickly spotted by nearby Woolwich Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 of the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

, and signed as a professional for the Gunners in June 1900.

Ashcroft immediately made his debut against Burton Swifts

Burton Swifts F.C.

Burton Swifts were an English football club from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club ceased to exist in 1901 when they merged with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United.-History:...

 on 15 September 1900; although Arsenal lost 1–0, Ashcroft kept his place and remained an ever-present for that season, and the following one. In 1901–02

1901-02 in English football

The 1901–02 season was the 31st season of competitive football in England.-League changes:Doncaster Rovers and Burton United replaced Walsall and Burton Swifts in the Football League. Burton United were formed by a merger of Burton Swifts with former League side Burton Wanderers...

, Ashcroft kept 17 clean sheets in 34 League matches for Woolwich Arsenal, including six clean sheets in a row (a club record, that has only been equalled once since, by Alex Manninger

Alex Manninger

Alexander "Alex" Manninger is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Juventus F.C. in the Italian Serie A. He has played for a variety of high-profile clubs, almost always as a substitute....

 in 1998); Arsenal finished fourth in the Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 that season, and third the season after that.

Ashcroft kept 20 clean sheets in 1903–04

1903-04 in English football

The 1903–04 season was the 33rd season of competitive football in England.-Events:For the first time ever, a London team, Woolwich Arsenal, is promoted to the First Division and makes the League's reach nationwide...

, a club record, as Arsenal gained promotion to the First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

, and in 1904–05

1904-05 in English football

The 1904–05 season was the 34th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Stockport County were replaced by Doncaster Rovers in the Second Division....

 set a then record of 154 consecutive matches for the club (since only bettered by Tom Parker

Tom Parker (footballer)

Thomas Robert "Tom" Parker was an English football player and manager.-Southampton:Born in Woolston, Southampton, Parker began playing with local sides, such as Sholing Rangers and Sholing Athletic, before joining Southern League side Southampton as an amateur in 1918, just before the end of the...

). Arsenal reached the 1905–06

1905-06 in English football

The 1905–06 season was the 35th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Following the increase in size of the Football League from 36 clubs to 40, and with Doncaster Rovers having been relegated from the Second Division, four new clubs were elected into the league, along with Stockport...

 and 1906–07

1906-07 in English football

The 1906–07 season was the 36th season of competitive football in England.-Honours:-First Division:-Second Division:P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = PointsReferences...

 FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 semi-finals twice with Ashcroft in goal, and he also won three caps for England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

, playing in all three of England's British Home Championship

British Home Championship

The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...

 matches of 1906 (England won twice and lost once, sharing the 1905–06 championship with Scotland

Scotland national football team

The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...

). Ashcroft thus was Arsenal's first England international.

In all, Ashcroft played 303 first-class games in eight seasons for Arsenal. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....

 in the summer of 1908, in order to alleviate the club's financial problems at the time. For Rovers, he played over 120 times and reached another FA Cup semi-final in 1910–11

1910-11 in English football

The 1910–11 season was the 40th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Huddersfield Town entered the Football League for the first time. Grimsby Town were the team who made way for them...

, and won the First Division title in 1911–12

1911-12 in English football

The 1911–12 season was the 41st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Blackburn Rovers won the First Division title for the first time....

. In 1913 he was released by Blackburn on a free transfer; unable to find a club he was forced to place an advert in The Athletic News, which read:

J Ashcroft, goalkeeper, Blackburn Rovers, open for engagement; free transfer – Willaston Road, Walton, Liverpool.

Ashcroft eventually signed for Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere Rovers F.C.

Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...

, where he played for one more season before World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

intervened and all first-class football was halted; he seems to have retired from playing football at that point. He died in 1943, aged 64.