James Henderson was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er.

Henderson was born in Thornhill

Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway

Thornhill is a town in the Mid Nithsdale area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of Sanquhar and north of Dumfries.A monument to the explorer Joseph Thomson , who lived in neighbouring Penpont and Gatelawbridge, can be found close to the school...

, Dumfries

Dumfries

Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...

, and first played for the 5th Kirkcudbright Rifle Volunteers and then Rangers

Rangers F.C.

Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

; he was a squad player in Rangers 1890-91

1890-91 in Scottish football

1890–91 in Scottish football was the inaugural season of the Scottish Football League with ten teams competing.-Scottish Football League:...

 Scottish League

Scottish Football League

The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...

-title winning season. In 1892 he moved south to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, signing for Woolwich Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

. An inside forward

Hole (football)

In association football, or soccer, the hole is generally referred to as the gap between a team's midfield players and its front strikers, particularly in a 4-4-2 formation resulting in a 4-4-1-1 formation. The gap might be filled through the employment of an attacking midfielder, or a deep lying...

, he was a consistent goalscorer in Arsenal's last season before they joined the Football League; having been boycotted by other sides for their turn to professionalism, these mainly consisted of friendlies and FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 matches.

Henderson was a regular in Arsenal's inaugural season in the Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

, and scored 18 goals in 27 first-class games, finishing as Arsenal's top goalscorer; they finished 9th that season. However, the following season his goalscoring touch deserted him and he was released by the club in the summer of 1895, having played 47 League & Cup matches and scoring 30 goals in total. He played another 49 first-team matches and scored 30 goals in them. He returned to his native Scotland. His fate after that is unknown.