[ Editor’s note: A follow up article to this piece has since been published which corrects some aspects of the below. Please click here for the follow up article: Correcting Hockey History: The Hunt for Harvey Wood | hockeymuseum.net ]

A piece of research on the 1908 Olympic Games together with a study on hockey in the East Riding of Yorkshire by museum volunteer researcher James Ormandy has unearthed a mystery that spans both hockey and social history.

James’s research on hockey in the East Riding has revealed an amazing amount of hockey in the area at the end of the 19th century and the early 1900s. There was as much hockey being played in the north of England as in the south. The difference was that most of the clubs in the north did not affiliate to the Hockey Association so their exploits have gone largely unnoticed and unrecorded. That is until James began investigating.

One such club was Beverley HC whose goalkeeper was one Harvey Jesse Wood, a 15-year-old railway clerk and son of a local butcher. This characterised the difference between hockey in the suburban south and the rural and industrial north which was much more cosmopolitan. Labourers, shopkeepers and clerks (like Harvey) were the mainstays of many hockey teams.

Harvey Jesse Wood in 1908. Harvey featured in one of James Ormandy’s recent articles, published on the sports history website Playing Pasts. You can read “When Hull Got Hooked on Hockey: East Yorkshire’s Edwardian Sporting Boom” by clicking here.

Harvey Wood stood 6’4” tall – a giant of his day – and his imposing stature would have drawn attention. By 1907 he was playing for West Bromwich HC in Staffordshire, some 75 miles away. How Harvey came to make this move is a mystery, but it certainly had a positive effect on West Bromwich.

In season 1907-08 West Bromwich were the only unbeaten team in the Midlands, thanks in no small part to Harvey’s goalkeeping. This was recognised by his selection for both Staffordshire (county level) and the Midlands (territorial level). He made his debut for England against Wales in March 1908. Harvey went on to play in England’s seven matches in 1908, which included the Olympic Games at the White City in London where he won a gold medal. The Olympic-winning team of 1908 consisted entirely of upper-middle-class ex-public schoolboys, apart from the imposing Harvey. He conceded only six goals in his short international career but never again played for England after the Olympic final. He was 23.

The gold medal-winning England team of 1908 featuring Harvey Jesse Wood, third from the right in the back row.

This story begs so many questions. How did Harvey come to move from Beverley to West Bromwich? Why were his England, Midlands, Staffordshire, and West Bromwich careers so short? Did he play hockey again after his return to Beverley? What has happened to his gold medal – in 1908 they were solid gold? And finally, what did Harvey do during WW1? Chances are that he did not enlist – railway workers were considered a ‘reserved occupation’ and exempt from military service. Nevertheless, he probably had an interesting story or two to tell.