Blow was born in
Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the second son of Thomas Blow, a
wheelwright, and his wife Anna. As an 11-year-old, he received the Bronze Medal of the
Royal Humane Society, "awarded to people who have put their own lives at great risk to save or attempt to save someone else", after an incident in
Boultham, Lincoln, in January 1889. The
Nottinghamshire Guardian reported that The 1891
Census records the 13-year-old Blow living in Lincoln with his parents and six siblings and working in a
skin yard alongside his brother Thomas, a year older. The 23-year-old Blow had been working as a
journeyman joiner and playing football for Lincoln team Blue Star when he joined his local professional club,
Lincoln City. He made his senior debut in the last match of the
1900–01 Football League season, a 2–0 defeat away to
Glossop in the
Second Division. He became a regular member of the first team for the next five years; in April 1902, the
Daily Express commented on how, despite the absence of Blow and fellow half-back
Will Gibson, Lincoln "pressed continuously during the first half" and beat
Bristol City 1–0. He scored just once in nationally organised competition, but did contribute the winning goal against
Grimsby Town in the 1904
Lincolnshire Cup semi-final (Lincoln lost the final to
Gainsborough Trinity). Blow's 180th and last appearance came in the penultimate game of the 1905–06 season, after which he returned to local
non-League football. Blow was married and had eight children. He died in London in 1938 at the age of 60. ==Notes==