[1][3] Cawthorne had four older brothers who all played football in the Clitheroe area,[4] one of whom, Fred, followed in his father's footsteps and became well known locally as a portraitist and particularly as a landscape painter.
[8] According to the Athletic News, he made a very promising display on his debut on 25 February 1899, playing at left back at home to Glossop North End.
[11][12] He enlisted in the 11th Hussars in 1900; his record describes him as 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) in height, physically well developed, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
The club renamed itself Clitheroe Central and joined the Lancashire Combination in 1903, and Cawthorne remained a loyal, consistent and popular player.
[7] According to a 1906 profile in the Lancashire Daily Post, he "filled the centre half position for a number of years, and plays with skill and judgment, feeding his forwards judiciously, and breaking up the attacks of opposing forwards, who find his play a sturdy stumbling block, for he tackles them fearlessly", and in that position "has few if any superiors in Division II of the Combination.