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Harry Storer senior (1870-1908) pictured in his Arsenal colours in 1895

Harry Storer's grave in Ripley Cemetery, which he shares with his wife Flora

The name of Storer looms large in Derbyshire sport. Traditionally the plaudits go to William Storer and Harry Storer jnr., both of whose links with Derbyshire County Cricket Club and Derby County Football Club are impressive.

But another member of the Storer clan has been less well-documented - he is HARRY STORER snr., brother to William and father to Harry jnr. - somewhat marginalised in Derbyshire local history, perhaps because his greatest sporting successes were achieved outside the county of his birth.

Harry was born at Butterley, near Ripley, Derbyshire, on 24 July 1870.

After he took to football he discovered a talent for goalkeeping, and began playing seriously for Ripley Town. He then played progressively for Derby Midland, Gainsborough Trinity and Loughborough Town, before joining Woolwich Arsenal in May 1894.

He made his Arsenal debut against Lincoln City on 1 September 1894, and immediately became first choice goalkeeper. He only missed two matches of Arsenal's 1894-95 Second Division campaign, and was the first Arsenal player to win representative honours after he was selected for a Football League XI in 1895. He was first choice at the start of the next season as well, until he was suspended by the club for a disciplinary issue in November 1895. In all he played 41 league and cup matches for the London side.

Now unwanted by Arsenal, Storer was signed by Liverpool's manager John McKenna in December 1895. Storer made his debut on 1 January 1896 in a 3-1 win over Manchester City at Anfield. He kept the goalkeeping shirt for the remaining 11 games, conceding just 8 goals as Liverpool regained their spot back in the top tier of English football. Storer then had a long run in the first team, missing just 7 of the Reds' 87 fixtures, before he was eventually replaced by the versatile Matt McQueen for two matches and then William Perkins for the final five games of the 1898-99 season. Storer then became Perkins' understudy, and apart from an 11 match spell in 1899 he never played for the club again, although he didn't leave them until 1901, when he had amassed a total of 121 games.

He was also a fine cricketer, a right-hand batsman, and in season 1895 he played six matches for Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

Although robust on the field of play, he proved less enduring in the wider world. He died at Holloway, Derbyshire, on 25 April 1908, aged only 37, from tuberculosis.

He was buried back 'home' in Ripley, and his grave may be found in the cemetery there, where casual observers would have no idea that the redoubtable Storer had once stood valiantly between the sticks for both Arsenal and Liverpool.

• HARRY STORER snr
• HARRY STORER snr.

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County:  Derbyshire