Born in
Boston,
Lincolnshire, he first played for his local side Boston Excelsior, then Boston. He impressed in a home match for Boston Town against
Royal Arsenal on
Good Friday in 1889, and Arsenal then arranged a job for him at the
Royal Arsenal factory so that he could play for their team. He played in Arsenal's very first
FA Cup tie, against
Lyndhurst on 5 October 1889, and soon earned a reputation as a determined and tough-tackling wing-half. He became club captain in 1890, and was still captain when Arsenal turned
professional in 1891. However, he was replaced as Arsenal captain in October 1891 by new arrival
Sandy Robertson (who had previously played for
Preston North End's
1888–89 Double-winning side), and although assured of a place in the first team, he decided to step down to the reserves. In total, he played 4 FA Cup ties and 71 other senior matches for Woolwich Arsenal. In the summer of 1892, he moved to
Luton Town, to become the club's captain and coach. After two years at Luton, he joined
Tottenham Hotspur (thus making him the first person to play for both Spurs and Arsenal, albeit long before the latter moved to
north London in 1913), and played in Spurs' very first FA Cup tie, a first qualifying match against
West Hertfordshire, on 13 October 1894; Spurs won 3–2. He left Tottenham in 1895, to play for
Dartford, before finishing his career at
Shepherd's Bush. He later opened a sports shop in
Plumstead and became the first British ladies team coach in 1895. Julian remained loyal to Woolwich Arsenal, going back to work for the club during the
Boer War. He lived until the age of 89, dying in Enfield in 1957, outliving both Crawford and McBean to make him the last surviving member of Arsenal's first professional team. ==Personal life==