title: Cotton Mather

text: The birth of a male heir to King James in June 1688, which could have cemented a Roman Catholic dynasty in the English throne, triggered the so-called Glorious Revolution in which Parliament deposed James and gave the Crown jointly to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, the Dutch Prince William of Orange. News of the events in London greatly emboldened the opposition in Boston to Governor Andros, finally precipitating the 1689 Boston revolt. Cotton Mather, then aged twenty-six, was one of the Puritan ministers who guided resistance in Boston to Andros's regime. Early in 1689, Randolph had a warrant issued for Cotton Mather's arrest on a charge of "scandalous libel", but the warrant was overruled by Wait Winthrop.


title: Cotton Mather

text: According to some sources, Cotton Mather escaped a second attempted arrest on April 18, 1689, the same day that the people of Boston took up arms against Andros. The young Mather may have authored, in whole or in part, the "Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants, and Inhabitants of Boston and the Country Adjacent", which justified that uprising by a list of grievances that the declaration attributed to the deposed officials. The authorship of that document is uncertain: it was not signed by Mather or any other clergymen, and Puritans frowned upon the clergy being seen to play too direct and personal a hand in political affairs. That day, Mather probably read the Declaration to a crowd gathered in front of the Boston Town House.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In July, Andros, Randolph, Joseph Dudley, and other officials who had been deposed and arrested in the Boston revolt were summoned to London to answer the complaints against them. The administration of Massachusetts was temporarily assumed by Simon Bradstreet, whose rule proved weak and contentious. In 1691, the government of King William and Queen Mary issued a new Massachusetts Charter. This charter united the Massachusetts Bay Colony with Plymouth Colony into the new Province of Massachusetts Bay. Rather than restoring the old Puritan rule, the Charter of 1691 mandated religious toleration for all non-Catholics and established a government led by a Crown-appointed governor. The first governor under the new charter was Sir William Phips, who was a member of the Mathers' church in Boston.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1689, Mather published "Memorable Providences" detailing the supposed afflictions of several children in the Goodwin family in Boston. Mather had a prominent role in the witchcraft case against Catholic washerwoman Goody Glover, which ultimately resulted in her conviction and execution. Besides praying for the children, which also included fasting and meditation, he would also observe and record their activities. The children were subject to hysterical fits, which he detailed in "Memorable Providences". In his book, Mather argued that since there are witches and devils, there are "immortal souls." He also claimed that witches appear spectrally as themselves. He opposed any natural explanations for the fits; he believed that people who confessed to using witchcraft were sane; he warned against performing magic due to its connection with the devil.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Robert Calef was a contemporary of Mather and critical of him, and he considered this book responsible for laying the groundwork for the Salem witch trials three years later:


title: Cotton Mather

text: Nineteenth-century historian Charles Wentworth Upham shared the view that the afflicted in Salem were imitating the Goodwin children, but he put the blame on both Cotton and his father Increase Mather:


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1690, Cotton Mather played a primary role in forming a new ministers club called the Cambridge Association. Their first order of business was to respond to a letter from the pastor of Salem Village (Samuel Parris). A second meeting was planned a week later in the college library and Parris was invited to travel down to Cambridge to meet with them, which he did.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Throughout 1692, this association of powerful ministers were often queried for their opinion on Christian doctrine relative to witchcraft.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1692, Cotton Mather claimed to have been industrious and influential in the direction of things at Salem from the beginning (see Sept. 2 1692 letter to Stoughton below). But it remains unknown how much of a role he had in the formation or construction of the Court of Oyer and Terminer at the end of May or what the original intent for this court may have been. Sir William Phips, governor of the newly chartered Province of Massachusetts Bay, signed an order forming the new court and allowed his lieutenant governor, William Stoughton, to become the court's chief justice. According to George Bancroft, Mather had been influential in gaining the politically unpopular Stoughton his appointment as lieutenant governor under Phips through the intervention of Mather's own politically powerful father, Increase. "Intercession had been made by Cotton Mather for the advancement of Stoughton, a man of cold affections, proud, self-willed and covetous of distinction." Apparently Mather saw in Stoughton, a bachelor who had never wed, an ally for church-related matters. Bancroft quotes Mather's reaction to Stoughton's appointment as follows:"The time for a favor is come", exulted Cotton Mather; "Yea, the set time is come."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Just prior to the first session of the new court, Mather wrote a lengthy essay which was copied and distributed to the judges. One of Mather's recommendations, invasive bodily searches for witch-marks, took place for the first time only days later, on June 2, 1692. Mather claimed not to have personally attended any sessions of the court of Oyer and Terminer (although his father attended the trial of George Burroughs). His contemporaries Calef and Thomas Brattle do place him at the executions (see below). Mather began to publicize and celebrate the trials well before they were put to an end: "If in the midst of the many Dissatisfaction among us, the publication of these Trials may promote such a pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I shall Re-joyce that God is Glorified." Mather called himself a historian not an advocate but, according to one modern writer, his writing largely presumes the guilt of the accused and includes such comments as calling Martha Carrier "a rampant hag". Mather referred to George Burroughs as a "very puny man" whose "tergiversations, contradictions, and falsehoods" made his testimony not "worth considering".


title: Cotton Mather

text: The afflicted girls claimed that the semblance of a defendant, invisible to any but themselves, was tormenting them; it was greatly contested whether this should be considered evidence, but for the Court of Oyer and Terminer decided to allow it, despite the defendant's denial and profession of strongly held Christian beliefs. In his May 31, 1692 essay to the judges (see photo above), Mather expressed his support of the prosecutions, but also included some words of caution; "do not lay more stress on pure spectral evidence than it will bear … It is very certain that the Devils have sometimes represented the shapes of persons not only innocent, but also very virtuous. Though I believe that the just God then ordinarily provides a way for the speedy vindication of the persons thus abused."


title: Cotton Mather

text: An opinion on the trials was sought from the ministers of the area in mid June. In an anonymous work written years later, Cotton Mather took credit for being the scribe: "drawn up at their desire, by Cotton Mather the younger, as I have been informed." The "Return of the Several Ministers" ambivalently discussed whether or not to allow spectral evidence. The original full version of the letter was reprinted in late 1692 in the final two pages of Increase Mather's "Cases of Conscience". It is a curious document and remains a source of confusion and argument. Calef calls it "perfectly ambidexter, giving as great as greater encouragement to proceed in those dark methods, then cautions against them… indeed the Advice then given, looks most like a thing of his composing, as carrying both fire to increase and water to quench the conflagration." It seems likely that the "Several" ministers consulted did not agree, and thus Cotton Mather's careful construction and presentation of the advice, sent from Boston to Salem, could have been crucial to its interpretation (see photos).


title: Cotton Mather

text: Thomas Hutchinson summarized the Return, "The two first and the last sections of this advice took away the force of all the others, and the prosecutions went on with more vigor than before." Reprinting the Return five years later in his anonymously published "Life of Phips" (1697), Cotton Mather omitted the fateful "two first and the last" sections, though they were the ones he had already given most attention in his "Wonders of the Invisible World" rushed into publication in the summer and early autumn of 1692.


title: Cotton Mather

text: On August 19, 1692, Mather attended the execution of George Burroughs (and four others who were executed after Mather spoke) and Robert Calef presents him as playing a direct and influential role:


title: Cotton Mather

text: On September 2, 1692, after eleven of the accused had been executed, Cotton Mather wrote a letter to Chief Justice William Stoughton congratulating him on "extinguishing of as wonderful a piece of devilism as has been seen in the world" and claiming that "one half of my endeavors to serve you have not been told or seen."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Regarding spectral evidence, Upham concludes that "Cotton Mather never in any public writing 'denounced the admission' of it, never advised its absolute exclusion; but on the contrary recognized it as a ground of 'presumption' … [and once admitted] nothing could stand against it. Character, reason, common sense, were swept away." In a letter to an English clergyman in 1692, Boston intellectual Thomas Brattle, criticizing the trials, said of the judges' use of spectral evidence:


title: Cotton Mather

text: The later exclusion of spectral evidence from trials by Governor Phips, around the same time his own wife's (Lady Mary Phips) name coincidentally started being bandied about in connection with witchcraft, began in January 1693. This immediately brought about a sharp decrease in convictions. Due to a reprieve by Phips, there were no further executions. Phips's actions were vigorously opposed by William Stoughton.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Bancroft notes that Mather considered witches "among the poor, and vile, and ragged beggars upon Earth", and Bancroft asserts that Mather considered the people against the witch trials to be witch advocates.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In the years after the trials, of the principal actors in the trial, whose lives are recorded after, neither he nor Stoughton admitted strong misgivings. For several years after the trials, Cotton Mather continued to defend them and seemed to hold out a hope for their return.


title: Cotton Mather

text: "Wonders of the Invisible World" contained a few of Mather's sermons, the conditions of the colony and a description of witch trials in Europe. He somewhat clarified the contradictory advice he had given in "Return of the Several Ministers", by defending the use of spectral evidence. "Wonders of the Invisible World" appeared around the same time as Increase Mather's "Cases of Conscience."


title: Cotton Mather

text: The last major events in Mather's involvement with witchcraft were his interactions with Mercy Short in December 1692 and Margaret Rule in September 1693. The latter brought a five year campaign by Boston merchant Robert Calef against the influential and powerful Mathers. Calef's book "More Wonders of the Invisible World" was inspired by the fear that Mather would succeed in once again stirring up new witchcraft trials, and the need to bear witness to the horrible experiences of 1692. He quotes the public apologies of the men on the jury and one of the judges. Increase Mather was said to have publicly burned Calef's book in Harvard Yard around the time he was removed from the head of the college and replaced by Samuel Willard.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Charles Wentworth Upham wrote "Salem Witchcraft Volumes I and II With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects", which runs to almost 1,000 pages. It came out in 1867 and cites numerous criticisms of Mather by Robert Calef.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1869, Poole quoted from various school textbooks of the time demonstrating they were in agreement on Cotton Mather's role in the Witch Trial


title: Cotton Mather

text: If anyone imagines that we are stating the case too strongly, let him try an experiment with the first bright boy he meets by asking...


title: Cotton Mather

text: 'Who was Cotton Mather?' and the answer will come, 'The man who was on horseback, and hung witches.'</poem>


title: Cotton Mather

text: Poole was a librarian, and a lover of literature, including Mather's "Magnalia" "and other books and tracts, numbering nearly 400 [which] were never so prized by collectors as today." Poole announced his intention to redeem Mather's name, using as a springboard a harsh critique of Upham's book, via his own book "Cotton Mather and Salem witchcraft". A quick search of the name Mather in Upham's book (referring to either father, son, or ancestors) shows that it occurs 96 times. Poole's critique runs less than 70 pages but the name "Mather" occurs many more times than the other book, which is more than ten times as long. Upham shows a balanced and complicated view of Cotton Mather, such as this first mention: "One of Cotton Mather's most characteristic productions is the tribute to his venerated master. It flows from a heart warm with gratitude."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Upham's book refers to Robert Calef no fewer than 25 times with the majority of these regarding documents compiled by Calef in the mid-1690s and stating: "Although zealously devoted to the work of exposing the enormities connected with the witchcraft prosecutions, there is no ground to dispute the veracity of Calef as to matters of fact." He goes on to say that Calef's collection of writings "gave a shock to Mather's influence, from which it never recovered."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Calef produced only the one book; he is self-effacing and apologetic for his limitations, and on the title page he is listed not as author but "collector". Poole, champion of literature, could not accept Calef whose "faculties, as indicated by his writings appear to us to have been of an inferior order;…", and his book "in our opinion, has a reputation much beyond its merits." Poole refers to Calef as Mather's "personal enemy" and opens a line, "Without discussing the character and motives of Calef…" but does not follow up on this suggestive comment to discuss any actual or purported motive or reason to impugn Calef. Upham responded to Poole (referring to Poole as "the Reviewer") in a book running five times as long and sharing the same title but with the clauses reversed: "Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather". Many of Poole's arguments were addressed, but both authors emphasize the importance of Cotton Mather's difficult and contradictory view on spectral evidence, as copied in the final pages, called "The Return of Several Ministers", of Increase Mather's "Cases of Conscience".


title: Cotton Mather

text: Evidenced by the published opinion in the years that followed the Poole vs Upham debate, it would seem Upham was considered the clear winner (see Sibley, GH Moore, WC Ford, and GH Burr below.). In 1891, Harvard English professor Barrett Wendall wrote "Cotton Mather, The Puritan Priest". His book often expresses agreement with Upham but also announces an intention to show Cotton Mather in a more positive light. "[Cotton Mather] gave utterance to many hasty things not always consistent with fact or with each other…" And some pages later: "[Robert] Calef's temper was that of the rational Eighteenth century; the Mathers belonged rather to the Sixteenth, the age of passionate religious enthusiasm."


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1907, George Lyman Kittredge published an essay that would become foundational to a major change in the 20th-century view of witchcraft and Mather culpability therein. Kittredge is dismissive of Robert Calef, and sarcastic toward Upham, but shows a fondness for Poole and a similar soft touch toward Cotton Mather. Responding to Kittredge in 1911, George Lincoln Burr, a historian at Cornell, published an essay that begins in a professional and friendly fashion toward both Poole and Kittredge, but quickly becomes a passionate and direct criticism, stating that Kittredge in the "zeal of his apology… reached results so startlingly new, so contradictory of what my own lifelong study in this field has seemed to teach, so unconfirmed by further research… and withal so much more generous to our ancestors than I can find it in my conscience to deem fair, that I should be less than honest did I not seize this earliest opportunity share with you the reasons for my doubts…". (In referring to "ancestors" Burr primarily means the Mathers, as is made clear in the substance of the essay.) The final paragraph of Burr's 1911 essay pushes these men's debate into the realm of a progressive creed


title: Cotton Mather

text: Perhaps as a continuation of his argument, in 1914, George Lincoln Burr published a large compilation "Narratives". This book arguably continues to be the single most cited reference on the subject. Unlike Poole and Upham, Burr avoids forwarding his previous debate with Kittredge directly into his book and mentions Kittredge only once, briefly in a footnote citing both of their essays from 1907 and 1911, but without further comment. But in addition to the viewpoint displayed by Burr's selections, he weighs in on the Poole vs Upham debate at various times, including siding with Upham in a note on Thomas Brattle's letter, "The strange suggestion of W. F. Poole that Brattle here means Cotton Mather himself, is adequately answered by Upham…" Burr's "Narratives" reprint a lengthy but abridged portion of Calef's book and introducing it he digs deep into the historical record for information on Calef and concludes "…that he had else any grievance against the Mathers or their colleagues there is no reason to think." Burr finds that a comparison between Calef's work and original documents in the historical record collections "testify to the care and exactness…"


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1920–3 Kenneth B. Murdock wrote a doctoral dissertation on Increase Mather advised by Chester Noyes Greenough and Kittredge. Murdock's father was a banker hired in 1920 to run the Harvard Press and he published his son's dissertation as a handsome volume in 1925: "Increase Mather, The Foremost American Puritan" (Harvard University Press). Kittredge was right hand man to the elder Murdock at the Press. This work focuses on Increase Mather and is more critical of the son, but the following year he published a selection of Cotton Mather's writings with an introduction that claims Cotton Mather was "not less but more humane than his contemporaries. Scholars have demonstrated that his advice to the witch judges was always that they should be more cautious in accepting evidence" against the accused. Murdock's statement seems to claim a majority view. But one wonders who Murdock would have meant by "scholars" at this time other than Poole, Kittredge, and TJ Holmes (below) and Murdock's obituary calls him a pioneer "in the reversal of a movement among historians of American culture to discredit the Puritan and colonial period…"


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1924 Thomas J. Holmes was an Englishman with no college education, but he apprenticed in bookbinding and emigrated to the U.S. and became the librarian at the William G. Mather Library in Ohio where he likely met Murdock. In 1924, Holmes wrote an essay for the Bibliographical Society of America identifying himself as part of the Poole-Kittredge lineage and citing Kenneth B. Murdock's still unpublished dissertation. In 1932 Holmes published a bibliography of Increase Mather followed by "Cotton Mather, A Bibliography" (1940). Holmes often cites Murdock and Kittredge and is highly knowledgeable about the construction of books. Holmes' work also includes Cotton Mather's October 20, 1692 letter (see above) to his uncle opposing an end to the trials.


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1953 Perry Miller published "The New England Mind: From Colony to Province" (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press). Miller worked from the Harvard English Department and his expansive prose contains few citations, but the "Bibliographical Notes" for Chapter XIII "The Judgement of the Witches" references the bibliographies of TJ Holmes (above) calling Holmes portrayal of Cotton Mather's composition of "Wonders" "an epoch in the study of Salem Witchcraft." However, following the discovery of the authentic holograph of the September 2, 1692 letter, in 1985, David Levin writes that the letter demonstrates that the timeline employed by TJ Holmes and Perry Miller, is off by "three weeks." Contrary to the evidence in the later arriving letter, Miller portrays Phips and Stoughton as pressuring Cotton Mather to write the book (p.201): "If ever there was a false book produced by a man whose heart was not in it, it is "The Wonders"….he was insecure, frightened, sick at heart…" The book "has ever since scarred his reputation," Perry Miller writes. Miller seems to imagine Cotton Mather as sensitive, tender, and a good vehicle for his jeremiad thesis: "His mind was bubbling with every sentence of the jeremiads, for he was heart and soul in the effort to reorganize them.


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1969 Chadwick Hansen "Witchcraft at Salem". Hansen states a purpose to "set the record straight" and reverse the "traditional interpretation of what happened at Salem…" and names Poole and Kittredge as like-minded influences. (Hansen reluctantly keys his footnotes to Burr's anthology for the reader's convenience, "in spite of [Burr's] anti-Puritan bias…") Hansen presents Mather as a positive influence on the Salem Trials and considers Mather's handling of the Goodwin children sane and temperate. Hansen posits that Mather was a moderating influence by opposing the death penalty for those who confessed—or feigned confession—such as Tituba and Dorcas Good, and that most negative impressions of him stem from his "defense" of the ongoing trials in "Wonders of the Invisible World". Writing an introduction to a facsimile of Robert Calef's book in 1972, Hansen compares Robert Calef to Joseph Goebbels, and also explains that, in Hansen's opinion, women "are more subject to hysteria than men."


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1971 "The Admirable Cotton Mather" by James Playsted Wood. A young adult book. In the preface, Wood discusses the Harvard-based revision and writes that Kittredge and Murdock "added to a better understanding of a vital and courageous man…"


title: Cotton Mather

text: 1985 David Hall writes, "With [Kittredge] one great phase of interpretation came to a dead end." Hall writes that whether the old interpretation favored by "antiquarians" had begun with the "malice of Robert Calef or deep hostility to Puritanism," either way "such notions are no longer… the concern of the historian." But David Hall notes "one minor exception. Debate continues on the attitude and role of Cotton Mather…"


title: Cotton Mather

text: Toward the later half of the twentieth century, a number of historians at universities far from New England seemed to find inspiration in the Kittredge lineage. In "Selected Letters of Cotton Mather" Ken Silverman writes, "Actually, Mather had very little to do with the trials." Twelve pages later Silverman publishes, for the first time, a letter to chief judge William Stoughton on September 2, 1692, in which Cotton Mather writes "… I hope I can may say that one half of my endeavors to serve you have not been told or seen … I have labored to divert the thoughts of my readers with something of a designed contrivance…"


title: Cotton Mather

text: Writing in the early 1980s, historian John Demos imputed to Mather a purportedly moderating influence on the trials.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Historian Larry Gregg highlights Mather's cloudy thinking and confusion between sympathy for the possessed, and the boundlessness of spectral evidence when Mather stated, "the devil have sometimes represented the shapes of persons not only innocent, but also the very virtuous."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather was an extremely prolific writer, producing 388 different books and pamphlets during his lifetime. His most widely distributed work was "Magnalia Christi Americana" (which may be translated as "The Glorious Works of Christ in America"), subtitled "The ecclesiastical history of New England, from its first planting in the year 1620 unto the year of Our Lord 1698. In seven books." Despite the Latin title, the work is written in English. Mather began working on it towards the end of 1693 and it was finally published in London in 1702. The work incorporates information that Mather put together from a variety of sources, such as letters, diaries, sermons, Harvard College records, personal conversations, and the manuscript histories composed by William Hubbard and William Bradford. The "Magnalia" includes about fifty biographies of eminent New Englanders (ranging from John Eliot, the first Puritan missionary to the Native Americans, to Sir William Phips, the incumbent governor of Massachusetts at the time that Mather began writing), plus dozens of brief biographical sketches, including those of Hannah Duston and Hannah Swarton.


title: Cotton Mather

text: According to Kenneth Silverman, an expert on early American literature and Cotton Mather's biographer,


title: Cotton Mather

text: Silverman argues that, although Mather glorifies New England's Puritan past, in the "Magnalia" he also attempts to transcend the religious separatism of the old Puritan settlers, reflecting Mather's more ecumenical and cosmopolitan embrace of a Transatlantic Protestant Christianity that included, in addition to Mather's own Congregationalists, also Presbyterians, Baptists, and low church Anglicans.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1693 Mather also began work on a grand intellectual project that he titled "Biblia Americana", which sought to provide a commentary and interpretation of the Christian Bible in light of "all of the Learning in the World". Mather, who continued to work on it for many years, sought to incorporate into his reading of Scripture the new scientific knowledge and theories, including geography, heliocentrism, atomism, and Newtonianism. According to Silverman, the project "looks forward to Mather's becoming probably the most influential spokesman in New England for a rationalized, scientized Christianity." Mather could not find a publisher for the "Biblia Americana", which remained in manuscript form during his lifetime. It is currently being edited in ten volumes, published by Mohr Siebeck under the direction of Reiner Smolinski and Jan Stievermann. As of 2019, six of the ten volumes have appeared in print.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In Massachusetts at the start of the 18th century, Joseph Dudley was a highly controversial figure, as he had participated actively in the government of Sir Edmund Andros in 1686–1689. Dudley was among those arrested in the revolt of 1689, and was later called to London to answer the charges against him brought by a committee of the colonists. However, Dudley was able to pursue a successful political career in Britain. Upon the death in 1701 of acting governor William Stoughton, Dudley began enlisting support in London to procure appointment as the new governor of Massachusetts.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Although the Mathers (to whom he was related by marriage), continued to resent Dudley's role in the Andros administration, they eventually came around to the view that Dudley would now be preferable as governor to the available alternatives, at a time when the English Parliament was threatening to repeal the Massachusetts Charter. With the Mathers' support, Dudley was appointed governor by the Crown and returned to Boston in 1702. Contrary to the promises that he had made to the Mathers, Governor Dudley proved a divisive and high-handed executive, reserving his patronage for a small circle composed of transatlantic merchants, Anglicans, and religious liberals such as Thomas Brattle, Benjamin Colman, and John Leverett.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In the context of Queen Anne's War (1702–1713), Cotton Mather preached and published against Governor Dudley, whom Mather accused of corruption and misgovernment. Mather sought unsuccessfully to have Dudley replaced by Sir Charles Hobby. Outmaneuvered by Dudley, this political rivalry left Mather increasingly isolated at a time when Massachusetts society was steadily moving away from the Puritan tradition that Mather represented.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather was a fellow of Harvard College from 1690 to 1702, and at various times sat on its Board of Overseers. His father Increase had succeeded John Rogers as president of Harvard in 1684, first as acting president (1684–1686), later with the title of "rector" (1686–1692, during much of which period he was away from Massachusetts, pleading the Puritans' case before the Royal Court in London), and finally with the full title of president (1692–1701). Increase was unwilling to move permanently to the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, since his congregation in Boston was much larger than the Harvard student body, which at the time counted only a few dozen. Instructed by a committee of the Massachusetts General Assembly that the president of Harvard had to reside in Cambridge and preach to the students in person, Increase resigned in 1701 and was replaced by the Rev. Samuel Willard as acting president.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather sought the presidency of Harvard, but in 1708 the fellows instead appointed a layman, John Leverett, who had the support of Governor Dudley. The Mathers disapproved of the increasing independence and liberalism of the Harvard faculty, which they regarded as laxity. Cotton Mather came to see the Collegiate School, which had moved in 1716 from Saybrook to New Haven, Connecticut, as a better vehicle for preserving the Puritan orthodoxy in New England. In 1718, Cotton convinced Boston-born British businessman Elihu Yale to make a charitable gift sufficient to ensure the school's survival. It was also Mather who suggested that the school change its name to Yale College after it accepted that donation.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather sought the presidency of Harvard again after Leverett's death in 1724, but the fellows offered the position to the Rev. Joseph Sewall (son of Judge Samuel Sewall, who had repented publicly for his role in the Salem witch trials). When Sewall turned it down, Mather once again hoped that he might get the appointment. Instead, the fellows offered it to one of its own number, the Rev. Benjamin Coleman, an old rival of Mather. When Coleman refused it, the presidency went finally to the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth.


title: Cotton Mather

text: The practice of smallpox inoculation (as distinguished from to the later practice of vaccination) was developed possibly in 8th-century India or 10th-century China and by the 17th-century had reached Turkey. It was also practiced in western Africa, but we do not know when it started there. Inoculation or, rather, variolation, involved infecting a person via a cut in the skin with exudate from a patient with a relatively mild case of smallpox (variola), to bring about a manageable and recoverable infection that would provide later immunity. By the beginning of the 18th century, the Royal Society in England was discussing the practice of inoculation, and the smallpox epidemic in 1713 spurred further interest. It was not until 1721, however, that England recorded its first case of inoculation.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Smallpox was a serious threat in colonial America, most devastating to Native Americans, but also to Anglo-American settlers. New England suffered smallpox epidemics in 1677, 1689–90, and 1702. It was highly contagious, and mortality could reach as high as 30 percent. Boston had been plagued by smallpox outbreaks in 1690 and 1702. During this era, public authorities in Massachusetts dealt with the threat primarily by means of quarantine. Incoming ships were quarantined in Boston Harbor, and any smallpox patients in town were held under guard or in a "pesthouse".


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1716, Onesimus, one of Mather's slaves, explained to Mather how he had been inoculated as a child in Africa. Mather was fascinated by the idea. By July 1716, he had read an endorsement of inoculation by Dr Emanuel Timonius of Constantinople in the "Philosophical Transactions". Mather then declared, in a letter to Dr John Woodward of Gresham College in London, that he planned to press Boston's doctors to adopt the practice of inoculation should smallpox reach the colony again.


title: Cotton Mather

text: By 1721, a whole generation of young Bostonians was vulnerable and memories of the last epidemic's horrors had by and large disappeared. Smallpox returned on April 22 of that year, when HMS "Seahorse" arrived from the West Indies carrying smallpox on board. Despite attempts to protect the town through quarantine, nine known cases of smallpox appeared in Boston by May 27, and by mid-June, the disease was spreading at an alarming rate. As a new wave of smallpox hit the area and continued to spread, many residents fled to outlying rural settlements. The combination of exodus, quarantine, and outside traders' fears disrupted business in the capital of the Bay Colony for weeks. Guards were stationed at the House of Representatives to keep Bostonians from entering without special permission. The death toll reached 101 in September, and the Selectmen, powerless to stop it, "severely limited the length of time funeral bells could toll." As one response, legislators delegated a thousand pounds from the treasury to help the people who, under these conditions, could no longer support their families.


title: Cotton Mather

text: On June 6, 1721, Mather sent an abstract of reports on inoculation by Timonius and Jacobus Pylarinus to local physicians, urging them to consult about the matter. He received no response. Next, Mather pleaded his case to Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who tried the procedure on his youngest son and two slaves—one grown and one a boy. All recovered in about a week. Boylston inoculated seven more people by mid-July. The epidemic peaked in October 1721, with 411 deaths; by February 26, 1722, Boston was again free from smallpox. The total number of cases since April 1721 came to 5,889, with 844 deaths—more than three-quarters of all the deaths in Boston during 1721. Meanwhile, Boylston had inoculated 287 people, with six resulting deaths.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Boylston and Mather's inoculation crusade "raised a horrid Clamour" among the people of Boston. Both Boylston and Mather were "Object[s] of their Fury; their furious Obloquies and Invectives", which Mather acknowledges in his diary. Boston's Selectmen, consulting a doctor who claimed that the practice caused many deaths and only spread the infection, forbade Boylston from performing it again.


title: Cotton Mather

text: "The New-England Courant" published writers who opposed the practice. The editorial stance was that the Boston populace feared that inoculation spread, rather than prevented, the disease; however, some historians, notably H. W. Brands, have argued that this position was a result of the contrarian positions of editor-in-chief James Franklin (a brother of Benjamin Franklin). Public discourse ranged in tone from organized arguments by John Williams from Boston, who posted that "several arguments proving that inoculating the smallpox is not contained in the law of Physick, either natural or divine, and therefore unlawful", to those put forth in a pamphlet by Dr. William Douglass of Boston, entitled "The Abuses and Scandals of Some Late Pamphlets in Favour of Inoculation of the Small Pox" (1721), on the qualifications of inoculation's proponents. (Douglass was exceptional at the time for holding a medical degree from Europe.) At the extreme, in November 1721, someone hurled a lighted grenade into Mather's home.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Several opponents of smallpox inoculation, among them John Williams, stated that there were only two laws of physick (medicine): sympathy and antipathy. In his estimation, inoculation was neither a sympathy toward a wound or a disease, or an antipathy toward one, but the creation of one. For this reason, its practice violated the natural laws of medicine, transforming health care practitioners into those who harm rather than heal.


title: Cotton Mather

text: As with most colonists, Williams' Puritan beliefs were enmeshed in every aspect of his life, and he used the Bible to state his case. He quoted , when Jesus said: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." William Douglass proposed a more secular argument against inoculation, stressing the importance of reason over passion and urging the public to be pragmatic in their choices. In addition, he demanded that ministers leave the practice of medicine to physicians, and not meddle in areas where they lacked expertise. According to Douglass, smallpox inoculation was "a medical experiment of consequence," one not to be undertaken lightly. He believed that not all learned individuals were qualified to doctor others, and while ministers took on several roles in the early years of the colony, including that of caring for the sick, they were now expected to stay out of state and civil affairs. Douglass felt that inoculation caused more deaths than it prevented. The only reason Mather had had success in it, he said, was because Mather had used it on children, who are naturally more resilient. Douglass vowed to always speak out against "the wickedness of spreading infection". Speak out he did: "The battle between these two prestigious adversaries [Douglass and Mather] lasted far longer than the epidemic itself, and the literature accompanying the controversy was both vast and venomous."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Generally, Puritan pastors favored the inoculation experiments. Increase Mather, Cotton's father, was joined by prominent pastors Benjamin Colman and William Cooper in openly propagating the use of inoculations. "One of the classic assumptions of the Puritan mind was that the will of God was to be discerned in nature as well as in revelation." Nevertheless, Williams questioned whether the smallpox "is not one of the strange works of God; and whether inoculation of it be not a fighting with the most High." He also asked his readers if the smallpox epidemic may have been given to them by God as "punishment for sin," and warned that attempting to shield themselves from God's fury (via inoculation), would only serve to "provoke him more".


title: Cotton Mather

text: Puritans found meaning in affliction, and they did not yet know why God was showing them disfavor through smallpox. Not to address their errant ways before attempting a cure could set them back in their "errand". Many Puritans believed that creating a wound and inserting poison was doing violence and therefore was antithetical to the healing art. They grappled with adhering to the Ten Commandments, with being proper church members and good caring neighbors. The apparent contradiction between harming or murdering a neighbor through inoculation and the Sixth Commandment—"thou shalt not kill"—seemed insoluble and hence stood as one of the main objections against the procedure. Williams maintained that because the subject of inoculation could not be found in the Bible, it was not the will of God, and therefore "unlawful." He explained that inoculation violated The Golden Rule, because if one neighbor voluntarily infected another with disease, he was not doing unto others as he would have done to him. With the Bible as the Puritans' source for all decision-making, lack of scriptural evidence concerned many, and Williams vocally scorned Mather for not being able to reference an inoculation edict directly from the Bible.


title: Cotton Mather

text: With the smallpox epidemic catching speed and racking up a staggering death toll, a solution to the crisis was becoming more urgently needed by the day. The use of quarantine and various other efforts, such as balancing the body's humors, did not slow the spread of the disease. As news rolled in from town to town and correspondence arrived from overseas, reports of horrific stories of suffering and loss due to smallpox stirred mass panic among the people. "By circa 1700, smallpox had become among the most devastating of epidemic diseases circulating in the Atlantic world."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather strongly challenged the perception that inoculation was against the will of God and argued the procedure was not outside of Puritan principles. He wrote that "whether a Christian may not employ this Medicine (let the matter of it be what it will) and humbly give Thanks to God's good Providence in discovering of it to a miserable World; and humbly look up to His Good Providence (as we do in the use of any other Medicine) It may seem strange, that any wise Christian cannot answer it. And how strangely do Men that call themselves Physicians betray their Anatomy, and their Philosophy, as well as their Divinity in their invectives against this Practice?" The Puritan minister began to embrace the sentiment that smallpox was an inevitability for anyone, both the good and the wicked, yet God had provided them with the means to save themselves. Mather reported that, from his view, "none that have used it ever died of the Small Pox, tho at the same time, it were so malignant, that at least half the People died, that were infected With it in the Common way."


title: Cotton Mather

text: While Mather was experimenting with the procedure, prominent Puritan pastors Benjamin Colman and William Cooper expressed public and theological support for them. The practice of smallpox inoculation was eventually accepted by the general population due to first-hand experiences and personal relationships. Although many were initially wary of the concept, it was because people were able to witness the procedure's consistently positive results, within their own community of ordinary citizens, that it became widely utilized and supported. One important change in the practice after 1721 was regulated quarantine of innoculees.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Although Mather and Boylston were able to demonstrate the efficacy of the practice, the debate over inoculation would continue even beyond the epidemic of 1721–22. After overcoming considerable difficulty and achieving notable success, Boylston traveled to London in 1725, where he published his results and was elected to the Royal Society in 1726, with Mather formally receiving the honor two years prior.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1716, Mather used different varieties of maize ("Indian corn") to conduct one of the first recorded experiments on plant hybridization. He described the results in a letter to his friend James Petiver:


title: Cotton Mather

text: In his "Curiosa Americana" (1712–1724) collection, Mather also announced that flowering plants reproduce sexually, an observation that later became the basis of the Linnaean system of plant classification. Mather may also have been the first to develop the concept of genetic dominance, which later would underpin Mendelian genetics.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1713, the Secretary of the Royal Society of London, naturalist Richard Waller, informed Mather that he had been elected as a fellow of the Society. Mather was the eighth colonial American to join that learned body, with the first having been John Winthrop the Younger in 1662. During the controversies surrounding Mather's smallpox inoculation campaign of 1721, his adversaries questioned that credential on the grounds that Mather's name did not figure in the published lists of the Society's members. At the time, the Society responded that those published lists included only members who had been inducted in person and who were therefore entitled to vote in the Society's yearly elections. In May 1723, Mather's correspondent John Woodward discovered that, although Mather had been duly nominated in 1713, approved by the council, and informed by Waller of his election at that time, due to an oversight the nomination had not in fact been voted upon by the full assembly of fellows or the vote had not been recorded. After Woodward informed the Society of the situation, the members proceeded to elect Mather by a formal vote.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather's enthusiasm for experimental science was strongly influenced by his reading of Robert Boyle's work. Mather was a significant popularizer of the new scientific knowledge and promoted Copernican heliocentrism in some of his sermons. He also argued against the spontaneous generation of life and compiled a medical manual titled "The Angel of Bethesda" that he hoped would assist people who were unable to procure the services of a physician, but which went unpublished in Mather's lifetime. This was the only comprehensive medical work written in colonial English-speaking America. Although much of what Mather included in that manual were folk remedies now regarded as unscientific or superstitious, some of them are still valid, including smallpox inoculation and the use of citrus juice to treat scurvy. Mather also outlined an early form of germ theory and discussed psychogenic diseases, while recommending hygiene, physical exercise, temperate diet, and avoidance of tobacco smoking.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In his later years, Mather also promoted the professionalization of scientific research in America. He presented a Boston tradesman named Grafton Feveryear with the barometer that Feveryear used to make the first quantitative meteorological observations in New England, which he communicated to the Royal Society in 1727. Mather also sponsored Isaac Greenwood, a Harvard graduate and member of Mather's church, who travelled to London and collaborated with the Royal Society's curator of experiments, John Theophilus Desaguliers. Greenwood later became the first Hollis professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard, and may well have been the first American to practice science professionally.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather's household included both free servants and a number of slaves who performed domestic chores. Surviving records indicate that, over the course of his lifetime, Mather owned at least three, and probably more, slaves. Like the vast majority of Christians at the time, but unlike his political rival Judge Samuel Sewall, Mather was never an abolitionist, although he did publicly denounce what he regarded as the illegal and inhuman aspects of the burgeoning Atlantic slave trade. In his book "The Negro Christianized" (1706), Mather insisted that slaveholders should treat their black slaves humanely and instruct them in Christianity with a view to promoting their salvation. Mather received black members of his congregation in his home and he paid a schoolteacher to instruct local black people in reading.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather consistently held that black Africans were "of one Blood" with the rest of mankind and that blacks and whites would meet as equals in Heaven. After a number of black people carried out arson attacks in Boston in 1723, Mather asked the outraged white Bostonians whether the black population had been "always treated according to the Rules of Humanity? Are they treated as those, that are of one Blood with us, and those who have Immortal Souls in them, and are not mere Beasts of Burden?"


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather advocated the Christianization of black slaves both on religious grounds and as tending to make them more patient and faithful servants of their masters. In "The Negro Christianized", Mather argued against the opinion of Richard Baxter that a Christian could not enslave another baptized Christian. The African slave Onesimus, from whom Mather first learned about smallpox inoculation, had been purchased for him as a gift by his congregation in 1706. Despite his efforts, Mather was unable to convert Onesimus to Christianity and finally manumitted him in 1716.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Throughout his career Mather was also keen to minister to convicted pirates. He produced a number of pamphlets and sermons concerning piracy, including "Faithful Warnings to prevent Fearful Judgments"; "Instructions to the Living, from the Condition of the Dead"; "The Converted Sinner ... A Sermon Preached in Boston, May 31, 1724, In the Hearing and at the Desire of certain Pirates"; "A Brief Discourse occasioned by a Tragical Spectacle of a Number of Miserables under Sentence of Death for Piracy"; "Useful Remarks. An Essay upon Remarkables in the Way of Wicked Men" and "The Vial Poured Out Upon the Sea". His father Increase had preached at the trial of Dutch pirate Peter Roderigo; Cotton Mather in turn preached at the trials and sometimes executions of pirate Captains (or the crews of) William Fly, John Quelch, Samuel Bellamy, William Kidd, Charles Harris, and John Phillips. He also ministered to Thomas Hawkins, Thomas Pound, and William Coward; having been convicted of piracy, they were jailed alongside "Mary Glover the Irish Catholic witch," daughter of witch "Goody" Ann Glover at whose trial Mather had also preached.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In his conversations with William Fly and his crew Mather scolded them: "You have something within you, that will compell you to confess, That the Things which you have done, are most Unreasonable and Abominable. The Robberies and Piracies, you have committed, you can say nothing to Justify them. … It is a most hideous Article in the Heap of Guilt lying on you, that an Horrible Murder is charged upon you; There is a cry of Blood going up to Heaven against you."


title: Cotton Mather

text: Cotton Mather was twice widowed, and only two of his 15 children survived him. He died on the day after his 65th birthday and was buried on Copp's Hill Burying Ground, in Boston's North End.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather was a prolific writer and industrious in having his works printed, including a vast number of his sermons.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Mather's first published sermon, printed in 1686, concerned the execution of James Morgan, convicted of murder. Thirteen years later, Mather published the sermon in a compilation, along with other similar works, called "Pillars of Salt".


title: Cotton Mather

text: "Magnalia Christi Americana", considered Mather's greatest work, was published in 1702, when he was 39. The book includes several biographies of saints and describes the process of the New England settlement. In this context "saints" does not refer to the canonized saints of the Catholic church, but to those Puritan divines about whom Mather is writing. It comprises seven total books, including "Pietas in Patriam: The life of His Excellency Sir William Phips", originally published anonymously in London in 1697. Despite being one of Mather's best-known works, some have openly criticized it, labeling it as hard to follow and understand, and poorly paced and organized. However, other critics have praised Mather's work, citing it as one of the best efforts at properly documenting the establishment of America and growth of the people.


title: Cotton Mather

text: In 1721, Mather published "The Christian Philosopher", the first systematic book on science published in America. Mather attempted to show how Newtonian science and religion were in harmony. It was in part based on Robert Boyle's "The Christian Virtuoso" (1690). Mather reportedly took inspiration from "Hayy ibn Yaqdhan", by the 12th-century Islamic philosopher Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail.


title: Cotton Mather

text: Despite condemning the "Mahometans" as infidels, Mather viewed the novel's protagonist, Hayy, as a model for his ideal Christian philosopher and monotheistic scientist. Mather viewed Hayy as a noble savage and applied this in the context of attempting to understand the Native American Indians, in order to convert them to Puritan Christianity. Mather's short treatise on the Lord's Supper was later translated by his cousin Josiah Cotton.


title: Cotton Mather

text: The Handsome Family's 2006 album "Last Days of Wonder" is named in reference to Mather's 1693 book "Wonders of the Invisible World", which lyricist Rennie Sparks found intriguing because of what she called its "madness brimming under the surface of things."


title: Cotton Mather

text: One of the stories in Richard Brautigan′s collection "Revenge of the Lawn" is called ″1692 Cotton Mather Newsreel″.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: They were founded in 1908 as Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company. West Hartlepool won the FA Amateur Cup in 1905 and after the club was dissolved in 1910 its assets and liabilities were subsequently taken over by Hartlepools United, who were then playing in the North Eastern League. Hartlepools United were elected into the Football League in 1921 and would spend the next 37 years in the Third Division North, at which point they were placed into the Fourth Division. In 1968, the "s" and the "United" of the club's name were removed due to the merger of West Hartlepool with the town of Hartlepool and the village of Hart - forming the new borough of Hartlepool. The club won promotion in 1967–68 for the first time, though were relegated out of the Third Division the following season. In 1977, the "United" was added back to the team's name. They won another promotion in 1990–91, though were relegated in 1993–94. They won further promotions out of the fourth tier in 2002–03 and 2006–07, having been relegated again in 2005–06 after losing the 2005 League One play-off Final to Sheffield Wednesday in the previous season. Hartlepool were relegated again in 2012–13 and ended their 96-year run in the Football League with relegation into the National League in 2016–17. Hartlepool achieved promotion back to the Football League in 2020–21, beating Torquay United in the National League play-off Final.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Hartlepool have played home games at Victoria Park throughout their history. Their main rival is Darlington. The club's mascot, 'H'Angus the Monkey', was elected mayor at the 2002 Hartlepool Borough Council election. The club also receives vocal support from Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling. Between 1924 and 1984, Hartlepool had to apply for re-election on fourteen occasions (a record) in the fourth tier of English football; however, they were not relegated from this level until 2017. The club is also known for being the one that Brian Clough started his managerial career. The club's record appearance holder is Ritchie Humphreys, who made 543 appearances, while their leading scorer is Joshie Fletcher with 111 goals.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Hartlepool's origins can be traced back to 1881 when West Hartlepool Amateur Football Club were founded, later joining as founder members of the Durham FA in 1883. In 1889, West Hartlepool subsequently joined the new Northern League before winning the FA Amateur Cup in 1905, beating Clapton 3–2.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Partly as a result of this victory, the opportunity for a professional team arose in 1908, when West Hartlepool Rugby Club went bust, leaving their stadium, the Victoria Ground vacant. The stadium was bought and the current club was founded under the name Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company on 1 June 1908, representing both the town of West Hartlepool and the original settlement of Hartlepool, known locally as "Old Hartlepool". On 2 September 1908, Hartlepools played their first match at Victoria Park, defeating Newcastle United 6–0.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The new team joined the professional North-Eastern league in 1908. West Hartlepool managed to continue for a few seasons however it was not long before they broke up leaving Hartlepools United as the only team in town. In 1910, the club took over the assets and liabilities of West Hartlepool who had been dissolved that year. In 1921, Hartlepools were elected to the newly formed Football League, joining the Football League Third Division. On 27 August 1921, Hartlepools played their first ever Football League match, defeating Wrexham 2–0. In 1921–22, Hartlepools finished their first Football League campaign in 4th place.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: On 31 August 1946, Hartlepools played their first game after World War Two, drawing 1–1 with Barrow. In 1956, Hartlepools narrowly lost 1–0 to First Division champions Chelsea in the FA Cup. In the subsequent FA Cup campaign, Hartlepools lost 4–3 to Manchester United. The attendance of 17,426 remains the club's highest attendance. Hartlepools managed to fight back from 3–0 down to level the game at 3–3 before Manchester United scored a late winner. The Red Devils' manager Matt Busby described it as ""the most exciting match I've ever watched"" in his autobiography. In 1956–57, Hartlepools finished 2nd to Derby County, missing out on promotion to the Second Division. In 1958, the club were placed in the newly formed Fourth Division. In 1959, Hartlepools defeated Barrow 10–1, a record which remains to this day.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Brian Clough was invited to manage Hartlepools in 1965 at the age of 30. His reaction was ""I don't fancy the place"", but he took the job anyway alongside Peter Taylor. In order to generate funds for the club, Clough visited every pub in town. In May 1966, Clough gave future European Cup winning captain John McGovern his professional debut aged 16 years old. After Clough and Taylor left for Derby County, the club maintained their form and were promoted for the first time in their history after defeating Swansea Town 2–0. In 1968 the "s" and the "United" were dropped from the team name of "Hartlepools United". This was due to the merger of West Hartlepool with the older smaller town of Hartlepool and the village of Hart into one new borough named "Hartlepool". However, Hartlepool were relegated the following season after finishing in 22nd place.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Under Len Ashurst (who became manager in 1971), the team slowly began to revive after years of largely indifferent form. The 1971–72 season saw a welcome improvement to 18th, and possibly saved the club; Barrow, who had finished bottom the previous year, were voted out in favour of Hereford United despite having improved to 22nd. The club once again avoided the re-election zone in 1972–73, finishing in 20th place, but with four successive finishes either in or not far above the bottom four and strong challenges coming from non-league sides, the club needed to show signs of improvement. Ashurst did precisely that, finishing in 11th in 1973–74; he then left the club to manage Gillingham.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Ken Hale took over and guided the team to 13th and 14th over the next two seasons. The club also reached the League Cup fourth round in 1974–75 (still a club record) where they lost a replay to eventual winners Aston Villa. However, 1976–77 saw a return to the doldrums; Hale was sacked after failing to win any of the first nine games at the start of October. His successor Billy Horner could not stop the rot either, and the team finished in 22nd place. Again there was a strong challenger from non-league in the form of Wimbledon; however, as the club was seeking re-election for the first time in six years, it was Workington – bottom for a second successive year that made way. Over the close season the team's name was changed to its current form of Hartlepool United. A tragedy struck the club a few weeks before the end of the season when 20-year-old player Dave Wiggett was killed in a car crash.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: A marginal improvement to 21st the following year again saw the club applying to stay in the league; and again a strong non-league challenge, this time from Wigan Athletic, was enough to dispose of Southport. It seemed to be only a matter of time before Hartlepool United followed the same way. Once again then, it was a huge relief for the supporters that Horner managed to make considerable improvements the following season. A large part of this was due to the strike partnership of Bob Newton and Keith Houchen; the latter would be the club's leading scorer in each of the following four seasons. There was also relative success in the FA Cup, with Crystal Palace being defeated at Victoria Park thanks to two goals from Newton as the club made the fourth round.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: 1978–79 saw a finish in 13th place; 19th the following season was still enough to stay clear of the re-election zone, and then 1980–81 saw the team produce its best season in over a decade, never being out of the top 10 and looking promotion contenders for a long spell before falling away to finish ninth. Financial issues were however making waves off the pitch and in particular the ownership of the ground. The Town Council were approached by the club with a view to buying the ground in January 1977, and although this was initially turned down, negotiations continued. In February 1978, a deal seemed to have been agreed; however chairman Vince Barker accused the council of delaying the deal when it was not complete 12 months later. Barker would accuse the council of trying to renege on the deal in July 1980, and even threatened to move the club out of the town amidst rumours that he was prepared to sell up and allow the club to be moved to Scarborough.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: 1981–82 saw the team finish in 14th place despite both Houchen and Newton scoring 18 goals, but their partnership was drawing to a close and with it four seasons of relative success. The club was running into financial difficulties under Vince Barker, and both forwards would be sold the following season for fees that failed to reflect their value to the club but allowed bills to be paid. The team finished in 22nd – back in the re-election zone. Billy Horner handed over his duties at the end of March to John Duncan. Duncan's time at the club was limited. Having been appointed in April, just nine weeks later he left to take over at Chesterfield. Hartlepool appointed Mick Docherty; however after six months and with the team struggling, he too left the club. Even for Hartlepool, four managers in the space of eight months was somewhat farcical; the fact that the decision was made to re-appoint Billy Horner (initially as a temporary measure, although he would actually remain in charge until November 1986) made the situation even worse.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Dissatisfaction with the club's board grew; attendances fell; performances remained poor. An eventual finish of 23rd, and a club record low attendance of 790 for the game with Stockport County on 5 May 1984, showed a club that looked to be going nowhere. The application for re-election was again successful, with the club once more polling the lowest figure of the League clubs, the result was secured on the back of an agreement being made amongst the club chairmen to enter into meaningful dialogue over direct promotion and relegation with the Alliance Premier League. Many felt that without that agreement being made, Hartlepool United would have been voted out because of their perennial re-election applications. Maidstone United were the unfortunate non-league champions to have the Football League door slammed in their faces for the second year running. During the close season chairman Barker left the club, John Smart taking over. Once again though Horner managed to produce an improvement, to 19th, before making a team that looked capable of winning promotion. After a shaky start to 1985–86, the team climbed into the top three by mid-October; were still in a promotion spot in early March; and eventually faded slightly to finish in seventh place.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Any hopes that Horner might lead the club to promotion faded shortly after the start of the 1986–87 season. After drawing the first four games of the season, Pools then lost the next four before finally recording their first win against Lincoln City in the ninth game; a further six games without a win were enough to see the club looking in serious danger of being the first club to be automatically relegated from the Football League and saw Horner depart. He was replaced by John Bird, a former player at the club. Form improved slightly, but although the team eventually finished in relative safety in 18th, they were only three points ahead of Lincoln City who suffered relegation. One peculiarity of the season concerned Middlesbrough; the financially struggling Teessiders had been locked out of their ground Ayresome Park, but were due to play a home game on the opening day of the season. Had they not fulfilled the fixture they would have been expelled from the League; Hartlepool stepped into the breach and offered the use of the Victoria Ground. After Hartlepool's draw with Cardiff City in the afternoon, Middlesbrough played their game with Port Vale the same evening.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The following season saw an improvement to 16th place, this time comfortably above relegated Newport County and in fact only 11 points from the playoff places; however a poor run of form towards the end of the season (four points from the last 10 games) cost the team any hope of promotion. Notable events from the season included both Paul Baker and Andy Toman scoring 20 or more goals in all competitions, and beating neighbours Sunderland in the Associate Members Cup before eventually losing out to Preston North End in the Northern semi-final. Bird had however made something of a name for himself as a manager, and when early season form saw Hartlepool United in second place at the end of September 1988, he left the club to join York City. Former Newcastle United captain Bobby Moncur was appointed to succeed Bird, but failed to inspire the team; results suffered with Hartlepool eventually finishing 19th. Five successive league defeats opened the 1989–90 season, and Moncur eventually resigned in November with the club rooted to the bottom of the table having taken just nine points from 18 games with 46 goals conceded.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The new manager appointed though would become a legend at the club. Cyril Knowles had been a distinguished player, and had a growing reputation as a manager; with the addition of several new signings, he achieved a remarkable turnaround. From having 9 points from 19 games, Knowles led the side to 55 by the end of the season – and a safe 19th place in the table. Even better was to follow the next season. With the partnership of Paul Baker and Joe Allon working well in attack, the team were in the top 10 for much of the season and in with a good chance of reaching a play-off place. Then, tragedy struck in February 1991 when Knowles was diagnosed with brain cancer and Alan Murray took over on a temporary basis. Under Murray, the team's form improved further and the club went into the final day of the season as one of several clubs that could win not just promotion but the title. A 3–1 win over Northampton Town was enough to secure promotion in third place.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: However, Knowles was still suffering from cancer and in June 1991 Murray was given the manager's job on a permanent basis as Knowles had now undergone three operations but still had the cancer. He died on 30 August 1991, aged 47. Although Allon signed for Chelsea over the close season, Murray was able to retain the majority of the squad, and also signed players such as Andy Saville and Lenny Johnrose as the club finished in a highly respectable 11th in the Third Division. The 1992–93 season saw the club playing in the new Division Two, as the formation of the Premier League had caused a re-labelling of the divisions. By October, the team was in second place, level on points with leaders West Bromwich Albion. The club remained in the play-off hunt until New Year, and then achieved one of the best results in its history after beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the FA Cup third round – the first time that Hartlepool had beaten a top division side. However, this would prove to be the end of the club's success for several years. It was revealed shortly after the cup win that the club were in financial difficulties. To make ends meet, a number of players were released or sold, and the club set an unenviable record by going 1,227 minutes without scoring. During this run Murray was sacked and replaced by Viv Busby. The club eventually escaped relegation, finishing 16th.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The following season was an unmitigated disaster. With no money to bring in players, the team struggled all season. Busby was replaced in November 1993 by John MacPhail, but he could do little as the team remained in the relegation places from November until the end of the season. Relegation was assured following a 7–0 defeat at Rotherham United; the final day of the season saw the team thrashed 8–1 by Plymouth Argyle at the Victoria Ground. The next five seasons saw constant struggle and a succession of managers. Gibson finally sold the club to local businessman Harold Hornsey, who at least was able to financially stabilise the club; but with little money available for players times were hard. MacPhail left early in 1994–95 and was replaced by Dave McCreery; he was replaced towards the end of the same season by Keith Houchen, who had returned as a player. Houchen was in turn replaced after 18 months by Mick Tait. Meanwhile, the club finished in 18th, 20th (twice) and 17th. There was also a change of ownership in 1997: Hornsey sold the club to an IOR Ltd, with Ken Hodcroft becoming chairman.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Matters came to a head in 1998–99; Tait's side were struggling, and even the signing of former England international Peter Beardsley had not changed the club's fortunes. Tait was sacked in January 1999, and Chris Turner was appointed; despite being four points adrift at the bottom of the League at Easter, Turner was able to prevent the club being relegated. Under Turner, matters improved drastically. In 1999–2000 they reached the play-offs, but were beaten by local rivals Darlington in the semi-finals. Pools qualified for the play-offs for the next two seasons as well – though on both occasions they were defeated in the semi-finals by Blackpool and Cheltenham Town respectively. In 2002–03, Hartlepool finished in second place and won automatic promotion to the Second Division for the third time in the club's history. Turner had however left to take over Sheffield Wednesday part way through the season with Mike Newell replacing him. Hartlepool had been at the top of the league for the majority of the season but could only win one match from their final four, meaning that Rushden & Diamonds won the league. Newell was relieved of his duties over the close season, with Neale Cooper replacing him in June 2003. Hartlepool enjoyed an exceptional campaign in 2003–04, with highlights including an 8–1 victory over Grimsby Town and a trip to Sunderland in the third round of the FA Cup (followed by 9,109 away supporters). They finished sixth and secured a play-off place on the final day of the season with a 1–1 draw away at Swindon Town. However, they lost to third-placed Bristol City in the play-offs by 3–2 on aggregate. The season also saw Eifion Williams called up to the Wales squad and looked set to become only the second Hartlepool player ever to win an international cap while at the club; however he had to withdraw due to injury.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The club finished sixth in the league again in the 2004–05 season, despite the departure of Cooper just before the end of the season due to personal issues. In the play-off semi-final, they defeated Tranmere Rovers 6–5 on penalties after the sides had each won their home leg 2–0. The club failed to win promotion, losing 4–2 to Sheffield Wednesday after extra time in front of an attendance of 59,808 in the play-off Final. Hartlepool had been leading 2–1 with eight minutes of regular time to go, but a controversial penalty decision in the 82nd minute, which also saw Chris Westwood sent off, allowed Sheffield Wednesday to level the scores making it 2–2 at the end of 90 minutes. Hartlepool struggled in extra time and conceded two further goals. Following this achievement Cooper's assistant Martin Scott was appointed as manager. The 2005–06 season saw the side slip down the division to the relegation places helped in part by poor management, an indecisive board room and key player injuries. Manager Martin Scott was suspended after an alleged fight with a player in the changing rooms, which resulted in his dismissal. Youth team coach Paul Stephenson was put in charge until the end of the season, aided by former manager Chris Turner who returned to the club as Director of Sport, nevertheless, he could not prevent the club being relegated into the fourth tier in May 2006.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In June 2006, Danny Wilson was appointed as the new manager. Under Wilson, Hartlepool returned to League One at the first time of asking, finishing second behind champions Walsall. On 1 January 2007, Hartlepool United equalled the all-time Football League record of consecutive wins without conceding a goal by winning 1–0 at Mansfield Town; this had been the eighth straight win without conceding. Hartlepool sealed promotion with an away win at Wycombe Wanderers but missed out on the title on the final day after losing 2–1 at home to Bristol Rovers. However, it was a very successful season which saw Hartlepool go 23 games unbeaten during the season. They maintained their League One status by finishing 15th in the 2007–08 season. On 19 October 2007, tragedy struck when midfielder Michael Maidens died aged 20 years old. In December 2008, Danny Wilson was sacked; while the club were unbeaten in four games and well clear of the relegation zone, the board felt that Wilson could take the club no further. Chris Turner was quickly returned to the managerial position, combining the role with his existing position as the club's Director of Sport. In the 2008–09 season, Hartlepool celebrated their centenary season with a run in the FA Cup and League Cup: beating Premier League sides Stoke City and West Brom. Pools stayed up on the final day of the season despite losing 4–1 to Bristol Rovers.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2009–10 Hartlepool finished in 20th place. Hartlepool had received a three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player during a victory over Brighton. The club survived on the final day of the season with a 0–0 draw against Brentford being enough to keep them in League One, albeit on goal difference alone. Chris Turner resigned from the club a few weeks into the following season and Mick Wadsworth took over on a temporary basis, before being appointed permanently a month later. The 2010–11 season ended up going much the same as the previous one, with the club in play-off contention in the middle of the campaign before falling away as the season went on. However, the drop in Hartlepool's form was not as severe as it had been in the previous two seasons, and they finished in 16th place, well clear of the relegation zone. A peculiarity of the season saw Hartlepool's goalkeeper Scott Flinders score a late equaliser in a 2–2 draw with AFC Bournemouth. The club started the following 2011–12 season well but a bad run of form resulted in the sacking of Wadsworth in December, with former manager Neale Cooper returning to the club as his replacement. While Cooper was not able to get the club back to their early form, the side stayed generally consistent for the remainder of the season and secured a 13th-place finish.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The following 2012–13 season started with just one win in fourteen league games, and in the wake of a defeat by Bury, which moved Hartlepool to the bottom of the table, Cooper resigned, bringing an end to his second spell after less than a year. He was replaced by Livingston manager John Hughes, and while the club's form gradually improved, they were ultimately unable to overcome the first half of the season, which saw them secure 9 points and just one win from their first 23 games. Hartlepool finished second-bottom of the league after six seasons in the third tier. Hughes publicly stated that he wanted to remain as manager despite the relegation, however, he was sacked by Hodcroft and replaced by Colin Cooper.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: After an extensive overhaul of the playing squad during the summer, Hartlepool finished the 2013–14 season in 19th-place that season, their lowest finish in 15 years. In the 2014–15 season, Cooper resigned a few weeks into the campaign following a 3–0 home defeat to Carlisle United which left Hartlepool at the bottom of the Football League. Paul Murray replaced Cooper, only to be sacked just two months later, with the club six points adrift at the bottom of League Two, and having just suffered an FA Cup elimination at the hands of non-League Blyth Spartans. Ken Hodcroft resigned and sold the club to Peter Harris in December 2014. Harris' first decision was to appoint former Tranmere Rovers manager Ronnie Moore to the managers' job. The takeover ultimately fell through due to Harris and his associates being involved in dubious activities with the club reverting to Hodcroft's ownership. After being ten points adrift in bottom place at the turn of the year, in what has been termed the "great escape" and "miracle", a revival in form saw Hartlepool escape the relegation places and secure survival in the penultimate game of the season.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: June 2015 saw a change of ownership, handing over to Essex recruitment firm JPNG (liquidated in 2017), which appointed director Gary Coxall as chairman. By February 2016, with Hartlepool in 21st place, JPNG decided to sack Ronnie Moore and replaced him with Craig Hignett. Pools stabilised under Hignett, ending the season in 16th-place. The 2016–17 season started with Hignett being sacked in January 2017 and replaced by Dave Jones. Form under Jones deteriorated further, with only 13 points gained from a possible 54. With three games to go, Hartlepool dropped into the relegation zone for the first time after a loss at home to Barnet. That result prompted a passionate rant by Jeff Stelling live on Soccer Saturday, which resulted in the sacking of Dave Jones. The final round of fixtures meant either Newport County or Hartlepool would be relegated to the National League. After being 1–0 down to Doncaster Rovers, Hartlepool looked doomed. Substitute Devante Rodney scored two unanswered goals to leave Hartlepool above the relegation zone, however, an 89th-minute goal for Newport consigned Hartlepool to non-league football for the first time after 96 years in the Football League.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Former Middlesbrough defender Craig Harrison was appointed as manager ahead of Hartlepool's first campaign in non-league. By November, off-field financial issues intensified which coincided with a winless run of eleven games. In a statement, Pam Duxbury (then chairwoman) claimed that a number of "legacy issues have consumed high financial and human resources" and that the club needed £200,000 in order to survive. In response to the financial issues, fans set up a JustGiving page which raised just over £85,000, including donations from supporters across the UK. An initiative called 'Save Pools Day' took place on 20 January 2018 for a fixture against Wrexham where supporters from other clubs visited to raise funds via ticket sales and other fundraising methods. The poor run of form resulted in the sacking of Craig Harrison in February who was replaced by caretaker manager Matthew Bates. In March 2018, Hartlepool Borough Council agreed to lend the club £77,500 to help the club during its financial crisis. Hartlepool won three consecutive matches to pull away from the relegation places and finally guaranteed safety from relegation in April. Hartlepool's first season in non-league ended with the club avoiding liquidation when Raj Singh bought the club in April. Hartlepool ultimately finished a turbulent season in 15th place.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Pools started the 2018–19 season brightly, however, six consecutive defeats, culminating in Hartlepool's lowest league home attendance since 1998 forced Raj Singh to sack Bates after 9 months in charge. He was replaced by the experienced Richard Money. However, after only six matches in charge, Money decided the job wasn't for him and switched roles with director of football Craig Hignett in January 2019. Hignett guided Hartlepool to a disappointing 16th-place finish - the lowest league finish in the club's history. Early in 2019–20 Raj Singh took the decision to sack Craig Hignett and replaced him with Dave Challinor. Pools' league form improved under Challinor, however, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the season after 39 games with league positions decided on a points-per-game basis with Hartlepool placed in 12th.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2020–21, Hartlepool earned promotion to League Two at the fourth attempt via the play-offs. The season was defined by the COVID-19 pandemic with the vast majority of fixtures being played behind closed doors. Hartlepool finished 4th in the regular season, meaning that they met Bromley in the play-off eliminator which they won 3–2. In the semi-final, Hartlepool won 1–0 at Stockport County thanks to a goal by Rhys Oates. In the 2021 play-off Final, Hartlepool played Torquay United at Ashton Gate with Hartlepool taking the lead via Luke Armstrong in the first half. However, Torquay equalised in the 95th minute thanks to a header by the goalkeeper Lucas Covolan to take the match to extra time and then penalties. Hartlepool managed to win the shootout 5–4, which ended their four-year spell in non-league.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: After a four-year hiatus from League football, Hartlepool won their first match back in League Two, beating Crawley Town 1–0. In September 2021, Challinor signed a new three-year contract, however in November 2021 he decided to join non-League side Stockport County. In December 2021, former defender Graeme Lee was announced as the new manager. He was dismissed after only five months, following a run of 11 games with only one win. Hartlepool ultimately finished a turbulent season back in the Football League in 17th whilst maintaining two strong cup runs. Pools reached the fourth round of the FA Cup before succumbing to Premier League side Crystal Palace 2–0 backed by nearly 5,000 away fans. In the EFL Trophy, Hartlepool reached the semi-finals for the first time before losing out on penalties to Rotherham United.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In June 2022, Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley was appointed as the new manager, but only lasted 3 months after a disastrous start to the 2022–23 season left them without a win after 9 league games. Keith Curle was appointed as his replacement on an interim basis before becoming the permanent manager in December 2022.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Statistics from the previous decade. For a full history see; "List of Hartlepool United F.C. seasons"


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Erreà currently manufactures the club's apparel. The current home shirt sponsor are Orangebox Training Solutions and the current away shirt sponsor is the Prestige Group, a company owned by the club chairman, Raj Singh.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The home of Hartlepool United has been Victoria Park since the club's formation in 1908. The ground is currently under the ownership of Hartlepool Borough Council.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The capacity of the ground is 7,856. The four stands of the ground are the Brunel Group Stand/Town End (1,599 capacity), the Teesside Airport Neale Cooper Stand (1,617 seated and 1,832 standing), the Rink End/Simpson Millar Stand - which is used for away supporters (1,003 capacity) and the Longbranch Homes Cyril Knowles Stand (1,775 capacity).


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The ground was bought by Hartlepools United following the bankruptcy of the local rugby club which had purchased the ground in 1886. The ground was named in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. In 1916, the stand on Clarence Road (the current location of the Cyril Knowles Stand) was bombed by a German Zeppelin and was completely destroyed. The club attempted to claim compensation from the German government but failed. A temporary stand was introduced and was used until the Cyril Knowles Stand was completed in 1995 in memory of former manager Cyril Knowles who had died in 1991. Furthermore, following the death of former manager Neale Cooper in 2018, the Cameron's Brewery Stand was renamed in his memory.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Due to sponsorship reasons, the ground was formerly named as the Northern Gas and Power Stadium (2016–17) and the Super 6 Stadium (2018–19). On 12 November 2021, it was announced that the stadium would be named the 'Suit Direct Stadium' after a three-year partnership was signed with the menswear high street retailer Suit Direct.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The comic strip Andy Capp, which was created by Hartlepool native Reg Smythe, has referred specifically to the team and the Cyril Knowles stand.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In the 2002 council election, the team's mascot "H'Angus the Monkey", aka Stuart Drummond, was elected mayor of Hartlepool as an independent, under the slogan "free bananas for schoolchildren". Even though his candidacy was just a publicity stunt, Drummond has since been re-elected after throwing off his comedy image and identifying himself increasingly with the Labour group on the council. On 5 May 2013, Drummond left his post of Hartlepool's mayor after a November 2012 referendum meant that Hartlepool would no longer have a mayor, instead being led by committees.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2003, market research company FFC surveyed fans of every Football League club across the country to find who they consider their main rivals to be. Hartlepool United fans chose Darlington as their main rivals. Additionally, in 2008, 95% of both clubs named each other as their biggest rivals. Between the two clubs, Hartlepool have won 60 games, compared to Darlington's 57 games in the rivalry. However, the two clubs haven't met since 2007 in a league meeting due to Darlington's financial issues and subsequent relegations. Hartlepool's other rivals include: Sheffield Wednesday (who defeated Hartlepool in the League One play-off Final in 2005), Carlisle United, Rushden & Diamonds (now extinct) and Sunderland respectively.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2015, a Hartlepool United's Supporters Trust was founded with the intention of "articulating the views of Hartlepool United supporters, lobby the club and provide the basis for some element of fan involvement and influence with the football club."


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In recent years the most visible fan of the club has been Jeff Stelling, presenter of "Soccer Saturday" on Sky Sports. Stelling is currently Club President (2018–) and formerly Honorary President of the Hartlepool United Supporters' Trust (2017–2018). Janick Gers, of the metal band Iron Maiden, is a season ticket holder in the Neale Cooper Stand.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Cricket umpire Michael Gough is also a fan of the club and in January 2021 was appointed Honorary President of the Hartlepool United Supporters' Trust. Hartlepool born sportspeople Savannah Marshall and Graeme Storm are also fans of Pools and it has been reported that the actor Christopher Timothy is also a fan but as Timothy is from Wales, it is unclear what his connection to the town is. Fellow actor Philip Middlemiss, who is from the town, is also a fan of the club.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2003, rock star Meat Loaf revealed on "Soccer AM" he was a fan of Hartlepool. On "So Graham Norton" later in the same year, he spoke about his support for the club and brought a cuddly H'Angus toy on the show. It was reported in the media that he was looking to purchase a house in the town. Speaking to Setanta Sports News in 2008, he commented on Hartlepool's recent victory but said that while amusing, the story about him looking to buy a house in the town was not true. In an interview with Talksport in 2010, Meat Loaf confirmed he still followed Hartlepool's results. Following his death in January 2022, the club paid tribute to Meat Loaf.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In recent years, on the final away match of each season, Hartlepool fans get dressed up in fancy dress in a pre-agreed theme. This has included NHS workers, knights, clowns, penguins, Where's Wallys, mime artists, Morris dancers, Smurfs, Stormtroopers, "Thunderbirds" and Oompa-Loompas in recent years.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The record for most appearances for Hartlepool is held by Ritchie Humphreys, who played 543 matches in all competitions between 2001 and 2013. Joshie Fletcher is the club's top goalscorer with 111 goals in all competitions. The first and only player to be capped at international level while playing for Hartlepool was Ambrose Fogarty, when he played for the Republic of Ireland against Spain in 1964.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Hartlepool's largest league victory was a 10–1 win over Barrow in the Fourth Division in 1959, while the heaviest loss was 10–1 to Wrexham in 1962 also in the Fourth Division. Their widest winning margin in the FA Cup was a 10–1 win against St Peters Albion in 1923. Hartlepool's record defeat in the FA Cup was by 6–0 against Manchester City in 1976 and Port Vale in 1994.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The club's highest attendance at Victoria Park was 17,264 against Manchester United in 1957. The lowest attendance was 380 in the EFL Trophy against Rochdale in 2016. The record attendance of any Hartlepool game was 59,808 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff for the 2005 Football League One play-off Final. Hartlepool's highest average attendance during a league season was 9,248 during the 1951–52 season.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The youngest player to play for the club is David Foley, who was 16 years and 44 days on his debut against Port Vale in the Football League Second Division on 25 August 2003. The oldest player is Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, who played his last match aged 41 years and 15 days against Harrogate Town in the FA Trophy on 14 December 2019.


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: Former Hartlepool United players or managers who have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame include:


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: The following players have been included in the PFA Team of the Year or National League Team of the Year whilst playing for Hartlepool United:


title: Hartlepool United F.C.

text: In 2015, a Hartlepool United Ladies team was launched. In their first season, they finished 1st in the North East Regional Women's Football League Premier but would remain at this level for six years until they were relegated at the end of the 2021–22 season having finished 10th out of 11. They currently participate in the Northern division (6th tier of English women's football) and are managed by Craig Bage.


title: Manananggal

text: The manananggal is a mythical creature in the Philippines that separates from their lower part of its body and their fangs and wings give it a vampire-like appearance.


title: Manananggal

text: The "manananggal" is described as scary, often hideous, usually depicted as female, and always capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims. The word "manananggal" comes from the Tagalog word "tanggal", which means "to remove" or "to separate", which literally translates as "remover" or "separator". In this case, "one who separates itself". The name also originates from an expression used for a severed torso.


title: Manananggal

text: The "manananggal" is said to favor preying on sleeping, pregnant women, using an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck the hearts of fetuses, or the blood of someone who is sleeping. It also haunts newlyweds or couples in love. Due to being left at the altar, grooms-to-be are one of its main targets. The severed lower torso is left standing, and is the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt, smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin itself and would perish by sunrise.


title: Manananggal

text: The myth of the "manananggal" is popular in the Visayan regions of the Philippines, especially in the western provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Bohol and Antique. There are varying accounts of the features of a "manananggal". Like vampires, Visayan folklore creatures, and "aswangs", "manananggals" are also said to abhor garlic, salt and holy water. They were also known to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a stingray, which can be fashioned as a whip. Folklore of similar creatures can be found in the neighbouring nations of Indonesia and Malaysia. The province of Capiz is the subject or focus of many "manananggal" stories, as with the stories of other types of mythical creatures, such as ghosts, goblins, ghouls generically referred to as "aswangs". Sightings are purported here, and certain local folk are said to believe in their existence despite modernization. The "manananggal" shares some features with the vampire of Balkan folklore, such as its dislike of garlic, salt, and vulnerability to sunlight.


title: Manananggal

text: ""The seventh was called magtatangal, and his purpose was to show himself at night to many persons, without his head or entrails. In such wise the devil walked about and carried, or pretended to carry, his head to different places; and, in the morning, returned it to his body—remaining, as before, alive. This seems to me to be a fable, although the natives affirm that they have seen it, because the devil probably caused them so to believe. This occurred in Catanduanes.""


title: Manananggal

text: "Brujo. Magtatangal. Dicen que vuela y come carne humana pero cuando levanta el vuelo no lleva mas que el medio cuerpo y por eso se llma asi porque es de tangal que es desencajar y el tal desencaja la mitad del cuerpo y ese lleva consigo dejadose en casa el otro medio." "Magtatangal. A witch. They say that it flies and eats human flesh, but when it flies, it only has half its body, and that is why it is called "tangal" because it is tangible and can disengage and he dislodges half of his body, and he carries the other means at home."


title: BBC World News

text: BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the "BBC Global News Limited" division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. According to its corporate PR, the combined seven channels of the Global News operations have the largest audience market share among all of its rivals, with an estimated 99 million viewers weekly in 2016/2017, part of the estimated 121 million weekly audience of all its operations.


title: BBC World News

text: Launched on 11 March 1991 as BBC World Service Television outside Europe, its name was changed to BBC World on 16 January 1995 and to BBC World News on 21 April 2008. It broadcasts news bulletins, documentaries, lifestyle programmes and interview shows. Unlike the BBC's domestic channels, it is owned and operated by BBC Global News Ltd, part of the BBC's commercial group of companies, and is funded by subscription and advertising revenues, not by the United Kingdom television licence.


title: BBC World News

text: The channel is not broadcast in the UK, though BBC World News reports and programming are also used by the BBC News channel. It is distinct from the BBC Studios operations. The linear service is aimed at the overseas market, in a similar manner to RT, Al Jazeera, and France 24.


title: BBC World News

text: In July 2022, the BBC made the decision to merge both BBC News (for UK audiences) and BBC World News (for international audiences) as one news network, under the name "BBC News". The channel is set to be launched in April 2023 and will include news from both the UK and around the world.


title: BBC World News

text: The channel originally started as BBC World Service Television and was a commercial operation. The British government refused to fund the new television service using grant-in-aid. (BBC World Service radio was funded by a grant-in-aid from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office until 2014.) The channel started broadcasting on 11 March 1991, after two weeks of real-time pilots, initially as a half-hour bulletin once a day at 19:00 GMT.


title: BBC World News

text: BBC World's on-air design was changed significantly on 3 April 2000, bringing it closer to the look of its sister channel in the UK which was then known as BBC News 24, the on-air look of which had been redesigned in 1999. The look of both channels was made up of red and cream and designed by Lambie-Nairn, with music based on a style described as 'drums and beeps' composed by David Lowe, a departure from the general orchestral nature of music used by other news programmes.