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Old 07-11-2014, 10:05 PM   #1
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Default Remembrance Day: For Club and Country


06/11/2014 - ManUtd.com, Paul Davies
Feature: For club and country


Words like ‘heroic’ and ‘brave’ are so widely used in football these days that’s it’s easy to forget their true meaning. Yet there are some Manchester United players, including from the Newton Heath era, for whom the use of those terms is fully deserved.


Here, with the help of United's museum curator Mark Wylie, we pay tribute to the men who played for our football club and then perished in World War I, the conflict which started 100 years ago this year.


Sergeant 11677 Arthur Beadsworth | 7th (Service) Battalion Leicestershire Regiment*|*Manchester United 1902-03
One of many players signed in the first season after the name change to Manchester United, the forward from Leicester made 9 league appearances for the Reds – scoring the winner against Arsenal on his debut. Having previously served in the militia, the territorial army of its day, he joined the Leicestershire regiment but died of wounds in 1917 near Boulogne in France.

Private 34893 Thomas Clifford | 6th/7th (Service) Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers*|*Newton Heath 1896-97
The Scotsman, from Ayr, played for a number of teams either side of the border and represented the Heathens at reserve level. Mark Wylie, curator for Manchester United's museum, informed us: "Thomas was actually quite old when he joined up so it’s possible he lied about his age. Most of his service was in the UK and he was only abroad for a matter of weeks when he was killed on the Somme." His name is one of the 72,000 listed on the Memorial to the Missing in Thiepval.

Private 2289 Bernard Donaghey | 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers*|*Manchester United 1905-06
An Ireland international who played for the Irish League, Hibernian in Scotland and Burnley but made only three appearances for the Reds. A Catholic serving in the British army, he was a reservist before the war and was in action soon after the outbreak in 1914. He served in Gallipoli and then in France, and was killed on the first day of the Somme. He’s another named on the Thiepval Memorial.

Private 515549 Hugh S. Kerr | 14th (City of London) Battalion (London Scottish) London Regiment*|*Manchester United 1904
This Scottish forward made two Reds appearances after he joined from Ayr, and is the most recently added to the list of players lost in conflict. Mark Wylie: "What confused us was that he was in a London battalion but we then discovered it was the London Scottish. Turns out he became a tailor in London and so we followed the trail and Ayr confirmed he was our player." Kerr died of wounds in a hospital near Boulogne, France.

Private 43594 Harry Levis | 22nd (Service) Battalion (7th City) Manchester Regiment*|*Manchester United 1913-14
Mark Wylie: "We haven’t found any match reports stating he played for us, but he was a reserve player and registered with the club – which justifies his inclusion. The name Harry Levis appears only three times in the 1911 census, two of them from the North West with one of those in Salford. He went missing in action with the Manchester regiment and is commemorated at various churches in the Eccles/Salford area. We’re pretty certain he’s our player and was a war casualty."

Private F/1723 Oscar H.S. Linkson | 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) Middlesex Regiment*|*Manchester United 1908-13
The full-back spent five years at the club, making 59 appearances, including seven in the title-winning season of 1910/11. Hailing from Barnet, he enjoyed a couple of good seasons with the Reds but after being hampered by injuries he moved to Ireland to play for Shelbourne. He joined the footballers’ battalion and was killed on the Somme. His name is also on the*Thiepval memorial.

Private 24744 Patrick McGuire | 17th (Service) Battalion (2nd City) Manchester Regiment*|*Manchester United 1910-11
He played for both Manchester clubs: while only representing the reserves for United, he turned out for City’s first team. Although he never really made it at United, McGuire was a well-known player around the Manchester area – representing a number of clubs including Hurst, now Ashton United. He was relatively early to sign up, joining one of the early Pals battalions of the Manchester Regiment. Another to die on the Somme, he is commemorated in Thiepval and also at St Chad’s Church in Cheetham Hill.

Lieutenant Charles N. Newcombe | 7th (Service) Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry*|*Manchester United 1913-14
The only officer among our players killed in conflict. An amateur with the Reserves, he was educated at a private school in Chesterfield. Mark Wylie: "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."

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, which is the Perth regiment. He joined that battalion, known as the Bury Pals, and was another lost on the Somme.”

Lance Sergeant 28427 Alexander 'Sandy' Turnbull (pictured) | 8th (Service) Battalion East Surrey Regiment | Manchester United 1906-15
The most famous United player to die in conflict, he won the FA Cup with both Manchester clubs and two league titles with the Reds. A crowd favourite, he signed up to the Middlesex regiment, the Footballers’ Battalion, despite being banned from the game due to the match-fixing scandal of 1915. Little is known of his wartime movements, but he was transferred to the East Surreys due to them needing men and steadily promoted up to the rank of Lance Sergeant. He went into action in Arras and after initially being assumed captured, he was listed as missing and then six months later he was assumed killed. His name is on a memorial in Arras and another one at Gorse Hill, near Old Trafford.

Private 50875 Thomas H. Wall | 2nd/10th Battalion Manchester Regiment*|*Manchester United 1908-10
The younger brother of famous United winger George Wall, Thomas was at the club briefly and played in the same position as his sibling. Although he was regarded as a good Reds prospect, he didn't progress beyond reserve-team level. Mark Wylie: "He died at the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium and is commemorated as one of the missing in the nearby Tyne Cot cemetery."
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