The "Hooligan" Boys 1896

[Stephen Goranson]

OED2 has "Origin unascertained.  The word first appears in print in daily
newspaper police-court reports in the summer of 1898...."

1896 THE "HOOLIGAN BOYS."
Liverpool Mercury etc (Liverpool, England), December 26, 1896; Issue
15285, page
3
Category:News [19th Century British Library Newspapers]
Mr. A. C. Langham, the Southwark coroner, held and inquiry with
reference to the
death of... Nellie Bryan....alleged...kicks received from a gang of roughs who
attacked her for robbery....The Coroner: Whom did you understand her to mean
had attacked her?--Witness: One of the Hooligan gangs about the district....

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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