City in the First World War
This year marks 100 years since the start of World War 1, and today marks Remembrance Day – the Great War ended on the 11th November 1918, so on that anniversary each year we remember those who died in that conflict and the ones since including the Second World War. Here at Read Man City we’re thinking about some of the City players who were involved in World War 1. A big thanks to Gary James, City historian, who kindly let us use the names he compiled for his piece on the official City website.
One man who died in action was Sandy Turnbull, a person who played for City in winning their first ever title – the FA Cup in 1904 – before he went to war. He left The Blues in 1906 to go join United where he played until 1915, and he died two years in May 1917 later at the age of 32 in Arras. During his time in the blue half of Manchester, he scored 53 goals in 110 league games before he left following the payment scandal of 1905, to go join Manchester United. He played 220 games for The Red Devils, scoring 90 goals in the process; he also won two league titles in the red shirt.
Another player who played a part in City’s 1904 FA Cup triumph but perished in (or in this case, just after) the war was Frank Booth. The winger spent several years at the club from 1902 until 1906 and then again in 1911, and played a big part in the early years of blue success. In his 94 league games in the blue shirt of City, he scored 18 goals from the wing after joining from Glossop. After the payments scandal, he was sold to Bury where he made 58 appearances, before moving to Clyde in Scotland, and finally back to City where he retired. He lived through the war, but died in June 1919 aged 36-37 from an injury he’d been carrying since being released from service in February of that year.
A player who barely featured for City before going on to play for Bury and Derby County was George Brooks; the winger played just three games before leaving Hyde Road. He played up until 1915, at which point he enlisted in the army and eventually died on 8th November 1918 from his injuries, just three days before the end of the war.
Jimmy Conlin also played for City in the years before the war, before being killed in action in June 1917. The winger had several clubs throughout his career including many in Scotland, Bradford City and Birmingham. However he joined City in 1906 for £1000, and proved a success in the blue shirt. He scored 30 goals in 175 games for The Blues before moving to Birmingham in 1911, three years before the outbreak of World War 1. He enlisted with the Highland Light Infantry and died in battle aged 3 in June 1917.
Another man who only played a few games for the Blues was Tommy Farrell, who was still a young player when he was at Hyde Road. He played just three times for City in early 1907, and died aged 29 in July 1916.
Frank Hesham was another who joined the club at a young age and hardly appeared before going on to show his talents elsewhere. Frank played just three games in the blue City shirt, in the late 1890s and very early 1900s. He went on to play for Crewe, Accrington, Stoke, Croydon Common and Oldham Athletic among others. He enlisted for the army in November 1914. He was killed in action in November 1915 and was buried in France.
Manchester-born Patrick Maguire was another blue to die in the Great War; he played for City for three years before enlisting, making 15 appearances for The Blues. He joined during the first few months of the war, but was killed in action during a raid on a village with his battalion in which 225 soldiers were either killed, injured, or went missing. Patrick Maguire was among them.
Midfielder Jack Yuill had a very short spell at City in 1909, playing just three games and scoring once in that time. He served with the Manchester regiment during the war, and was killed in July 1916.
Of course, there’s several City players who lived through the war and went on to carry on playing or with their involvement in football.
Horace Barnes was one of those. He joined the club in 1914 for £2500 from Derby County, having scored 74 goals in 153 league games at the Baseball Ground, but left the club temporarily during wartime. Barnes worked in both ammunition manufacturing (during which he continued to play for City in regional leagues, scoring 73 goals in 73 games) and also in artillery up until the end of the war. He started playing for City again in the 1919-20 season, and went on to play 217 games for City, scoring 120 league goals. He went on to play for Preston and Oldham, and ended his career with 226 goals in 450 league matches.
Unlike Horace Barnes, Billy Henry played most of his games for The Blues prior to the outbreak of war. He joined City in 1911 from Leicester Fosse, and went on to play until 1915. He enlisted in May 1916 and went to serve overseas. He was discharged just days before the armistice, having been declared no longer physically fit for service. However he did return to play for The Blues in 1919 and managed 13 games before leaving in December of that year to return to Scotland and finish his career with St. Bernard’s, a side from Edinburgh.
These players are just a few of many, many people who gave their lives so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. It’s at times like these that we have to respect what those people did and what they gave for us, and not to take that for granted.
Thanks once again to Gary James for letting us use some of the names from his official blog post on Manchester City’s official website. To find out more about what the club did during the First World War, click here. Make sure you also go have a read of “Football and the First World War”, where much of the information about these players from a time when information is scarce was garnered from.