William Barbour, known as Billy Barbour, was a Scottishfootballer who played in the English Football League for Accrington and Buryfootball clubs. Barbour began his footballing career at Queen of the South Wanderers in 1887. Fans of the club were angry when he left to join Accrington in September 1888, and this led to the club being suspended by the Scottish Football Association for professionalism. Billy Barbour had received groceries in lieu of payment. Billy Barbour, playing at centre–forward, made his Accrington and League debut on 22 September 1888 at the County Ground, the then home of Derby County. The match ended as a 1–1 draw. Barbour scored his debut League goal on 29 September 1888 at Victoria Ground, the then home of Stoke. Billy Barbour put Accrington 3–0 ahead of the home side early in the second–half. Accrington defeated Stoke 4–2. Barbour appeared in 19 of the 22 League matches played by Accrington in season 1888–89 scoring 13 League goals. Barbour, playing at centre–forward, was part of the Accrington forward–line that scored three–League–goals–or–more on seven separate occasions. Barbour top scored for Accrington in 1888–89 with 13 goals with eight of those goals coming in just four matches. Barbour scored two–in–a–match on the following dates/matches; 6 October 1888 at Thorneyholme Road, home of Accrington, in a 4–4 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers; 3 November 1888 at Stoney Lane, the then home of West Bromwich Albion. Barbour got both Accrington goals in a 2–2 draw; 10 November 1888 at Trent Bridge, the then home of Notts County. Barbour got two of Accrington' goals in a 3–3 draw; 1 December 1888 at Thorneyholme Road, with Barbour getting two Accrington goals in a 5–1 victory over Burnley. Barbour continued to score regularly for Accrington making 34 League appearances and scoring 20 League goals from 1889–91. He also played in four FA Cup ties and scored two goals in the same period. When he returned to Scotland in 1891 he had made 59 League and Cup appearances and scored 35 goals. In 1891 he returned to Scotland to play for Annan. In 1894 he joined Bury scoring 11 goals in 101 appearances over four seasons. In 1898 he joined Gravesend United, and left to join Millwall Athletic later the same year. He rejoined Gravesend in 1899. Barbour worked as a dock labourer and played for Grays in 1900, which was sadly his last season, as in June 1900 he died suddenly due to failure of the heart caused by chronic alcoholism.
