Thurston Rostron

Thurston ( Tot ) was born in Darwen on the 21st April 1863, he was the youngest member (18) of the Darwen team beaten in the FA Cup semi-final of 1881 in which Darwen lost to eventual winners The Old Carthusians 1-4
Tot had begun his football career with Helmshore FC and then Darwen Old Wanderers, before joining Darwen FC.
On the 26th February 1881 at the age of 17 Tot made his England debut against Wales alongside team-mate T. Marshall at the Alexandra Meadows Blackburn, His second and last England Cap came when England lost to Scotland at the Kennington Oval on the 12th March 1881, In his book " the English football Internationals Who's Who", Douglas Lamming discribes Tot as a "small but clever forward with plenty of pace, good screw kick and works hard".
To this day Thurston Rostron is the third youngest player ever to represent England in a full international, at 17 years and 312 days old when he played for England against Wales on the 26th February 1881 he was 59 days older than James Prinsep of Clapham Rovers. (Thurston was 112 days younger than Micheal Owen)
In 1883 Tot joined Great Lever (Bolton) but returned to Darwen FC the following year and guested for Blackburn Rovers in one their FA cup ties in 1885 the year they won the cup.
Tot died in 1891 aged only 28.

Below: are the 22 youngest players ever to represent England at full International level, and Thurstons International records.
# Please note the list below is taken with permission from the England Football Online website: www.englandfootballonline.com

Below is Thurston's International details:

26-2-1881
Location ........... Blackburn
Competition ...... Friendly
Fixture ............... England v Wales
Result .......... 0-1
Wales Scorer .......... Vaughan
Team.
Hawtrey (Old Etonians),
Harvey (Wednesday Strollers),
Bambridge AL (Swifts),
Hunter (Sheffield Heeley),
Hargreaves FW (Blackburn Rovers),
Marshall (Darwen),
Rostron (Darwen),
Brown J (Blackburn Rovers),
Tait (Birmingham Excelsior),
Hargreaves J (Blackburn Rovers),
Mosforth (Sheffield Wednesday).

12-3-1881
Location ............ Kennington Oval Crowd: 8.500.
Competition ....... Friendly Fixture .............. England v Scotland
Result ............ 1-6
England Scorer ........... Bambridge
Scotland Scorers ............. J Smith (I) (3), Ker (2), McGuire
Team.
Hawtrey (Old Etonians),
Field (Clapham Rovers),
Wilson (Oxford University),
Bailey (Clapham Rovers),
Hunter (Sheffield Heeley),
Holden (Wednesday Old Athletic),
Rostron (Darwen),
Macauley (Cambridge University),
Mitchell (Upton Park),
Bambridge EC (Swifts),
Hargreaves (Blackburn Rovers).

SCOTLAND: George Gillespie (2/Rangers) - Andrew Watson (1/Queen's Park) Thomas C. Vallance (6/Rangers) - Charles Campbell (Captain) (8/Queen's Park) David Davidson (4/Queen's Park) David Hill (1/Rangers) - William McGuire (1/Beith) George Ker (2/Queen's Park) Joseph Lindsay (2/Dumbarton) Henry McNiel (9/Queen's Park) John Smith (6/Edinburgh University)
NOTES: This 6-1 victory was Scotland's biggest ever win in England.