Nowadays, football terms like “heroic” are used so frequently that it’s easy to forget what they actually imply. However, some Manchester United players—including those during the Newton Heath era—deserve the term’s usage.
Here, we honour the men who played for United and later lost their lives in battle, with assistance from Mark Wylie, the former curator of the United museum.
BOER WAR
Driver 12690 Gilbert Godsmark | 75th Battery Royal Field Artillery, Army Service Corps, Newton Heath, 1900
Godsmark joined Newton Heath without being a serving soldier, but a few months later, during a national emergency, he was called up as a former soldier. Considered a promising football player who was identified by former Heathens forward Bob Donaldson while performing in Kent, the 25-year-old passed away from illness while serving in Pretoria.
World War I
Sergeant 11677 Manchester United | Arthur Beadsworth | 7th (Service) Battalion Leicestershire Regiment 1902-03
The Leicester forward, who made nine league appearances for the Reds after the club’s name was changed to Manchester United, was one of many players signed in the first season. On his debut, he scored the game-winning goal against Arsenal. He joined the Leicestershire regiment after having served in the militia, the territorial army of the day, but passed away in 1917 from his wounds close to Boulogne, France.
34893 Private Thomas Clifford | Royal Scots Fusiliers, 6th/7th (Service) Battalion | Newton Heath, 1896-97
The Ayr-born Scotsman played for several teams on both sides of the border and was a reserve for the Heathens. “Thomas was actually quite old when he joined up so it’s possible he lied about his age,” told Mark Wylie, curator of Manchester United’s museum. When he was murdered on the Somme, he had only been overseas for a few weeks, having spent the majority of his time in the UK. The Memorial to the Missing in Thiepval has 72,000 names, including his.
2289 Private First Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers | Manchester United | Bernard Donaghey 1905–06
An Ireland international who only made three appearances for the Reds, he played for Burnley, Hibernian in Scotland, and the Irish League. He was a Catholic soldier in the British army who served as a reservist prior to the war and entered combat shortly after it started in 1914. He was killed on the first day of the Somme after serving in France and Gallipoli. He shares Clifford’s name on the Thiepval Memorial.
18619 Lance Corporal George Elmore | Manchester United | 15th Battalion (1st Edinburgh) Royal Scots 1902
Elmore joined from Burton United in December 1902 and was given a trial match; however, he was released later that month without playing for the main team. Before relocating north of the border, the forward played for several other clubs in our area, including Altrincham (formerly known as Broadheath), Blackpool, Glossop, Northwich Victoria, and Witton Albion. He served for clubs like Partick Thistle, St. Mirren, and St. Bernard’s in Scotland; the latter was headquartered in Edinburgh, where he enlisted in the Royal Scots military. He is remembered on war memorials at Thiepval, Northwich in Cheshire, and Edinburgh Castle. He was reported missing and thought to have been killed in action on July 1, 1916.
2663 Private First Battalion Manchester Regiment | Newton Heath, 1901–02 | Alfred Griffiths
According to research, Alfred, a goalie, was registered as a Newton Heath player on November 29, 1899. After serving in 1901 during the Anglo-Boer War, he returned to Manchester the following year and was given the opportunity to play for the Reserves against Burnley the Lancashire Combination. He was “severely tested” during the game, according to the Athletic News, and a clean sheet was maintained. It was believed that Griffiths passed away on March 8, 1916.
515549 Private Hugh S. Kerr | Manchester United | 14th (City of London) Battalion (London Scottish) 1904
The most recent addition to the list of players lost in battle is this Scottish forward, who made two appearances for the Reds after joining from Ayr. Mark Wylie: “When we realised he was in a London battalion, we realised it was the London Scottish, which confused us.” We followed the trail once he became a tailor in London, and Ayr verified that he was our player. In a hospital close to Boulogne, France, Kerr passed away from his injuries.
43594 Private Harry Levis, 7th City, 22nd (Service) Battalion Manchester United 1913–14 | Manchester Regiment
Mark Wylie: “He was a reserve player who was registered with the club, therefore his placement here is appropriate even though we haven’t uncovered any match reports indicating he played for us. Only three entries for the name Harry Levis can be found in the 1911 census, two of which are from the North West and one from Salford. Several churches in the Eccles/Salford area honour him after he went missing while serving with the Manchester Regiment. He was a battle casualty, and we’re very sure he’s our player.”
F/1723 Private Oscar H.S. Linkson | Manchester United | 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) 1908–13
The full-back made 59 appearances over his five years with the team, including seven during the 1910–11 season that won the title. Originally from Barnet, he had a few successful seasons with the Reds before moving to Ireland to play for Shelbourne due to injury setbacks. He was killed in the Somme after joining the players’ battalion. The Thiepval Memorial bears his name as well.
24744 Private Patrick McGuire | 2nd City, 17th (Service) Battalion Manchester United | Manchester Regiment 1910–11
He played for both Manchester teams; he played for City’s main team but only for United’s reserves. McGuire was a well-known player in the Manchester area, playing for several teams, notably Hurst, which is now Ashton United, but never really making it at United. He joined one of the Manchester Regiment’s first buddy battalions, making him a comparatively early recruit. He was also killed in the Somme and is remembered at St. Chad’s Church in Cheetham Hill and at Thiepval.
Captain Charles N. Newcombe | King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 7th (Service) Battalion | Manchester United 1913–14
Our players’ lone officer was killed in battle. An amateur with the reserves, he was educated at a private school in Chesterfield. Mark Wylie told us: “He had been desperate to join the army at the outbreak of war and applied for commissions to get in as an officer, eventually getting one with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was shot by a sniper while serving near Armentieres, France, in 1915.”
28819 Private Harry Reynolds | 20th Battalion Manchester Regiment | Manchester United 1907-09
Part of the 20th Manchesters, Reynolds lost his life on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916). Born in Blackley, Manchester, in 1884, he became a noted athlete and signed for United on 10 August 1907 as an amateur player. Records show he played only three times for United’s reserve team, doing so as an inside-forward in Lancashire Combination matches against Oldham Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Burnley in April 1909. He volunteered to serve in the army in 1915 and is buried in Dantzig Alley British Cemetery in northern France.
Private 6041 James Semple | 10th (Service) Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers | Manchester United 1908-09
Another Scot, from Perth, he was a baker before he became a footballer and played for a number of non-league clubs in Scotland before joining United in 1908. He never made the first team, however, and returned north of the border. Mark Wylie: “By 1911, he was back down in England, living in Liverpool as a baker, which explains why he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers rather than the Black Watch in Scotland. He was in a battalion known as the Bury Pals, and was another lost on the Somme.”
John Thornley, Private 244238, 10th Battalion Cheshire Regiment Manchester United in 1905
John was born in 1886 in Hayfield, Cheshire, which is now part of Derbyshire, close to Glossop. His brother was Irvine Thornley, a forward for Manchester City and England. In 1905, he became an amateur member of United and played in one game for the reserve squad, a 4-1 victory over Northern Nomads. He joined the 5th Battalion Cheshire Regiment in 1915, was injured at the Battle of St. Quentin, and was later sent to the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Cheshires in 1917. Wimereux Communal Cemetery, close to Boulogne, is where he is buried after passing away from his wounds on March 31, 1918.
Sergeant Lance 28427 Alexander ‘Sandy’ Turnbull | Manchester United | 8th (Service) Battalion East Surrey Regiment 1906–15
Turnbull, who won two league titles with the Reds and the FA Cup with both Manchester clubs, is the most well-known United player to have died in battle. Despite being banned from the game because of the 1915 match-fixing incident, he joined the Middlesex Regiment in the Football Battalion and became a fan favourite. Although not much is known about his moves during the war, he was sent to the East Surreys when they needed soldiers and was gradually raised to the rank of Lance Sergeant. He fought in Arras, and despite being presumed captured at first, he was reported missing and subsequently presumed dead six months later. Both Arras and Gorse Hill, close to Old Trafford, have memorials bearing his name.
50875 Private 2nd/10th Battalion Manchester Regiment | Thomas H. Wall Manchester United, 1908–10
Thomas, the younger brother of renowned United winger George Wall, played in the same position as his brother during his brief stint with the club. Despite being considered a promising Reds potential, he never made it past the reserve team. Mark Wylie said: “He died at the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium and is commemorated as one of the missing in the nearby Tyne Cot cemetery.”
The Second World War
957763 Gunner Francis B. Carpenter | Manchester United 1939–40 | 61 (The Denbighshire Yeomanry) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery
As a gunner in a medium artillery unit, this reserve-team member served in the territorial force. By the time he was being moved to France, he had barely played for United. He was reported missing after being slain during the Dunkirk withdrawal.
Officer Pilot 117256 George Curless | Manchester United | 625 Squadron, Royal Air Force 1940–1944
Curless was a young reserve team player and a member of the ground crew, serving as an office clerk after graduating from Manchester United Junior Athletic Club. He trained as a pilot in the United States after leaving Orrell to join the RAF volunteer reserve. His plane vanished during a bombing raid of the Kiel Canal in northern Germany as he was flying from RAF Kelstern in Lincolnshire. It was his first mission, and the squadron war diary noted that there was “no contact” from his aircraft.
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