The image above is a digital design which will assist in painting a portrait of the player as part of the nufc portrait collection ‘Men in Stripes’ and is copyright Piotr Jozefowicz.
The image above is an AI enhanced version of the original image which is from a contemporary team picture as shown in the Resource section.
| Bth | Tyneside | ||
| P/H/W | Goalkeeper | 5ft 10in | |
| Jnd | 09/93 | Blyth | |
| Deb | 30/09/93 | Woolwich (H) | D2 |
| Dep | 1895 | ||
| A/G | 30 |
William Lowery had been in good form for both Trafalgar and Blyth during 1892/93 and was selected for the Northumberland County side. And, whilst at Blyth, United tried on more than one occasion to persuade him to “walk into their parlour”. William, perhaps reluctant to turn professional, steadfastly refused.
During the summer United turned to Stockton goalkeeper George (Andrew) Ramsey. But, when the club had to cut costs after the first game, Ramsey refused to accept a reduction in pay and left.
Meanwhile “Did” had been persuaded to return to Trafalgar, but he was not happy as “things were not what they were made to seem”. Therefore when United approached him once more he decided to take time by the forelock and throw in his lot with the local professionals.
It was generally believed that Newcastle had secured one of the best custodians that there had been in the district for a long time and Lowery kept his place for the rest of the 1893/94 season.
By all accounts he was in decent form, even saving two penalties. However, inconsistency was an issue, with him being occasionally brilliant and occasionally off.
In the first game of 1894/95 United were thrashed 5-0 by Darwen and although Lowery did reasonably well he was at fault for the fifth when he misjudged a tame effort from King which bounced over his shoulders.
Loughborough custodian Ward was immediately brought in on trial and impressed enough to, both be kept on and take over as first choice. Lowery got one more game, against Manchester City in October, when Ward was unavailable. But he conceded four more goals.
In December information circulated that Lowery had returned to Blyth, however the coastal club denied that this was the case. He ended up leaving sometime in the first half of 1895.
For a more extensive biography of his full career see the Paul Joannou book "Newcastle United - The Complete Who's Who 1881-2014" and the accompanying supplement "The Ultimate Who's Who Supplement 1"