Jack Humble

Who was Jack Humble?

John Wilkinson "Jack" Humble was an English football player and club director, who was one of the principal founders of Arsenal Football Club.

Humble was born in Hartburn, County Durham, but moved to London in 1880 to work at the Royal Arsenal, in a somewhat unusual manner; he and his brother walked the 400-mile journey south from their home village to the capital, which made headlines in the local newspapers back home. A staunchly left-wing man and a member of local socialist parties, he strongly believed in workers' rights and campaigned for shorter working hours and more time for leisure activities, which included football, a passion of his.

Humble met several other football fanatics, such as David Danskin, Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates at the Royal Arsenal and in 1886 became one of the founding members of Dial Square Football Club, who were soon renamed Royal Arsenal, and would eventually become the club known today as Arsenal. Royal Arsenal soon became one of the strongest amateur sides in Southern England. Humble played for Royal Arsenal during 1887-88 and 1888–89, mainly as a full-back or half-back.

Humble's biggest contribution to Arsenal was his successful drive to turn the club professional. In 1891 Derby County tried to recruit two of Royal Arsenal's players after an FA Cup match between the clubs; Humble and Danskin realised that the club would be unable to survive if its players were being continually tempted away. Therefore, at the club's 1891 AGM, Humble proposed the club turn professional; however with his socialist views, he baulked at turning the club into a limited liability company at the same time, declaring: "The club [has been] carried on by working men and it is my ambition to see it carried on by them."