 Thomas Lawton was born on 6 October 1919 to Elizabeth Riley and Thomas Lawton senior in <unk> , Lancashire . His father was a rail @-@ road <unk> of Irish extraction , and his mother worked as a <unk> at <unk> Mill . His father left the family 18 months after Lawton was born , and Elizabeth moved back into her parents ' home in Bolton . Elizabeth 's father , James Hugh " Jim " Riley , became Lawton 's surrogate father . Lawton 's natural <unk> ability earned him a place on the Bolton Town Schools team in 1930 . He was picked by Lancashire Schools at the age of 13 . Despite scoring a hat @-@ trick in a trial game for England <unk> , he never earned a full England <unk> cap . At the age of 14 he began playing for Hayes Athletic in the Bolton Senior League , and went on to score 570 goals in three seasons . The FA 's rules meant he was unable to turn professional at a club until he was 17 , and Lawton 's grandfather rejected Bolton Wanderers 's offer for Lawton to work as a delivery driver for two years before turning professional at the club . Lawton instead played as an amateur for <unk> United in the Lancashire <unk> , scoring a hat @-@ trick on his debut against <unk> . He took up temporary work at a tannery , and then joined Burnley as assistant <unk> after his mother rejected an offer from Sheffield Wednesday as she objected to him travelling to Sheffield on a daily basis . 
