Aston Villa won the competition, beating Manchester United 2–1 in the final at Wembley, London.
If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week.
New Brighton, who had been in the Football League from 1923 until 1951, became the first club since Chelmsford City in 1938-39 to feature in nine rounds of an FA Cup tournament.
They progressed from the preliminary round to the fourth round proper, defeating Prescot Cables, Marine, Earlestown, South Liverpool, Hyde United, Stockport County, Derby County and Torquay United before going out to Burnley at Turf Moor.
To complete this round Bishop Auckland and Bedford Town were given byes to this round, with Bishop Auckland being the champions from the previous season's FA Amateur Cup and Bedford Town having taken Arsenal to a third-round replay in the previous season's FA Cup.