Luton Town Footballer Killed in Action

Arthur Wileman

Tuesday 14th May 1918: The news was received today by Mr. S Arnold of 44 Kenilworth Road that Luton Town footballer Arthur Wileman has been killed in action. Mr. Wileman’s wife had lived at that address for some time both before and after her marriage; she is now at her home in Somerset. No further details have yet been received.

Arthur Wileman came from a footballing family at Newhall, South Derbyshire. He began his career with Newhall Swifts, before he and his brother joined Burton United, where they gained reputations as dangerous forwards. From there they moved to Chelsea, but were not successful there and after two seasons they moved on. Arthur spent a season with Millwall before joining Luton Town in 1912. Although on the small side he was a strong player with great shooting power. In 1913-14 he scored 33 goals for the club, becoming their second highest scorer. He was one of eight men from Luton Town who joined the Footballers’ Battalion in December 1914. Due to an injury to his knee he was not sent to France until 1916, when he transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment. In February last year the Club Secretary received a letter from him from the Front, where he was serving with another Luton player, Arthur Roe. He was promoted to acting sergeant major, and just before Christmas was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry. He turned down the offer of a commission, preferring to remain in the ranks.

Source: Luton News, 16th May 1918

Luton Man to Train American Soldiers

American troops passing Buckingham Palace, 1917

[Imperial War Museum Q30005 reproduced under IWM Non Commercial Licence]

Monday 22nd October 1917: Percy “Punch” Lovell of Luton has been chosen as one of around 100 soldiers who are being sent to the United States to train American soldiers in the methods of warfare used in France. He was well-known in the town before the war as the centre-forward for the Clarence football team. He served for two-and-a-half year in Flanders and France, gaining promotion to the rank of sergeant. Despite being in the thick of the fighting he escaped without a scratch, and for several months has been a machine gun instructor in England. Sadly his parents’ pride in their son’s achievements has been tempered by the news that their other son, Gerald, has been killed in action. Gerald Lovell enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment last November, was drafted to the Front in April, and died when a shell burst, killing him instantly and wounding two others. He leaves a young wife, who lives at 12 Langley Road.

Source: Luton News, 25th October 1917 

Luton Town Footballers at the Front

Arthur Wileman (left) and Arthur Roe (right)

Friday 2nd February 1917: Luton Town footballers Arthur Wileman and Arthur Roe were drafted to France late last year where they are serving with the Royal Sussex Regiment. The Club Secretary has recently received this letter from Corporal Wileman:  

“The conditions out here are very bad. It is too cold to write. We have about six inches of snow, and we are on our 24 days in the line. I shall be very glad when we get out to have a bath – that is if we are lucky enough to get one. I see the Town are winning one or two matches. That was a very good win over Chelsea, and I should have liked to be in at that. We had a football match the other week while we were out of the trenches. ‘A’ Company challenged us, and did not know that Roe and I were footballers, so our chaps took them on. It was up to the neck in slucdg, even worse than the Welsh grounds! Well, we finished, winning by 10 goals to nil. Roe got five and I got five, so the other side began to make inquiries who we were. Now the battalion have challenged our company when we come out again. We must not grumble as long as we keep in good health out here, although it is very, very cold.” [1]

Source: Luton News, 1st February 1917

[1] Arthur Harold Wileman was killed on 28th April 1918 and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial. He was awarded the Military Medal in January 1918. 

The Finest Team in the World

Saturday 29th April 1916: Private W. J. Berry of Wootton, who is serving in France with the 11th Battalion of the Essex Regiment, has send a sporting take on the war to the Bedfordshire Times in an effort to encourage new recruits:

You may think we have no football matches out here, but we have the finest team in the world. If you don’t mind I will tell you our team. 

George Ground is our goalkeeper, and he stops some very hard shots. Then come our backs, Sam Sandbag, who never gives an inch of ground, and Bob Barbwire, a player you can always get entangled with.

Then we have our half-backs, a fine trio; Jack Starlight, a fine illuminating player who enlightens all the spectators; Jack Sniper, a very good shot, who is always popping at goal and seldom fails to score, and Pip Squeak, who puts in some useful work.

Then come the forwards. We have Harry Rifle, a very good player indeed, and Walter Bayonet, a very dangerous chap at close quarters; Joe Whizz-Bang, who comes in with a crash; jack Shrapnel, who is up and down the field in grand style; and Jack Grenade, who does some very clever work in the open.

Now if anyone wishes to see this game he has only to call at the nearest Recruiting Office; and I can assure you there are a few empty dug-outs left. He will see the grand final shortly, Krupps versus Munition Works. I know there used to be some good teams in Bedfordshire. Try and pick a team to compete with this one and send them along. We have special accommodation for class teams.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 28th April 1916

Luton Town Footballer Absent Without Leave

Luton Town Football Club, 1908-9 [Z1306/75/21/5]

Saturday 22nd April 1916: Luton Town footballer Ernie Simms has been arrested for being absent without leave from the 1st Newcastle Field Artillery. Police Sergeant Hunt stated at the Borough Police Court that he had been on duty at the football match at the Town ground on Monday afternoon and saw Simms playing. He had seen the player around the town a good deal, sometimes in plain clothes and sometimes in uniform. When asked for his pass Simms produced one for a London Regiment, but later admitted it was not genuine. On making enquiries the policeman found that Simms had been absent from the 1st Battery of the Royal Field Artillery since 6th November last year, though Simms claimed he had returned since then and had only been absent for a fortnight [1]. He was remanded to await an escort, and P.S. Hunt was awarded ten shillings.

Source: Luton News, 27th April 1916

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[1] During 1915-1916 Ernest Simms was charged three times for being absent without leave when returning to Luton to play football. World War I Luton gives more detail. 

Luton Casuals Football Club

Luton Casuals Football Club [Luton News]

Wednesday 15th March 1916: The Luton Casuals Football Club, which is closely linked to the King Street Congregational Church, is persistently failing to turn up for its fixtures. This is because every member of the team has swapped his black and white striped jersey for khaki. The team list now reads:

Goalkeeper

P. Burnet (King’s Liverpool Regiment) – wounded, in hospital in England

Backs

H. Sharp (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – discharged from Army unfit for further service owing to wounds

Leslie Hart (Middlesex Regiment, Public Schools Battalion) – wounded, in hospital in England

Half-Backs

W. Coggins (3/1st North Midland A.S.C.) – training at Nottingham

F. Webb (Vice-Captain) (9th London Regiment) – “somewhere in France”

P. Darby (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – killed in action in France

S. Burnet (Inns of Court O.T.C.) – recently gazetted

Forwards

George Hart (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – “somewhere in France”

F. Biggs (Despatch Rider, 1/1st North Midland Division) – “somewhere in France”

H. Webb (Captain) (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – “somewhere in France”

S. White (R.A.M.C.) – “somewhere in France”

Alec Webdale (9th London Regiment) – “somewhere in France”

F. Facer (Lieutenant, Army Veterinary Corps) – training

Secretary

A. Mahon (London Rifle Brigade) – “somewhere in France”

Source: Luton News, 16th March 1916

Luton Town Footballer Missing Believed Killed

John ("Jack") Jarvie

Sunday 23rd January 1916: Supporters of Luton Town Football Club will be sad to hear that former Hatters full back Jack Jarvie of the 2nd Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders has been posted as missing. Lieutenant A. Sinclair Thomson writes that Jarvie was one of fourteen men blown up by a mine explosion on January 2nd, but as his body was not found he could only be reported missing. Jarvie joined Luton from Tottenham in 1912 following the tragic death of Sammy Wightman from injuries received during a match against Brighton and Hove Albion; he helped the team gain promotion back to the First Division of the Southern League in 1913-14. At the end of that season he went home to Scotland where he enlisted soon after the beginning of the war.

Source: Luton Times, 14th January 1916

A Biggleswade Footballer Writes Home

Biggleswade Football Club, 1909-10 [X758/2/1/23]

Wednesday 5th January 1916: Private Frank Garner, a former vice-captain of the Biggleswade Football Club now serving with the 9th Seaforths, has written to a friend in the town. He counts himself fortunate to have been out of the firing line over Christmas and hopes that this year will see the end of the war.

“The last day we were [in our billet] we got another taste of the Huns gas. We were in bed when one of our early rising cooks came rushing in the hut and shouted “Gas”. You ought to have seen the scramble for gas helmets, etc. Scrambling for sweets at school treats isn’t in it. Not long after this we had to get extra ammunition and prepare to go into the firing line, but we were not called on, as the Huns attack was checked. On the same night we started back for our rest and had a night at --- and arrived here on Tuesday. We still get our supply of rain, although we do not feel the effect of it so much, we have got used to it, and we only do about one hour’s drill each day. Luck is with us to be resting at Christmas time although the food is only the same as usual. We have a decent barn for a billet and plenty of straw to lie on, and also clothes for covering. We expect to be here for a month to get fit for the coming year, which possibly will be for the finish of the war. I hope so, although I take things calmly and feel content to be alive and in the best of health.”

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 7th January 1916

Football Fund for Luton

Vauxhall Motors Football Team, 1913-14 [Z1306/75/21/7]

Monday 25th October 1915: The Luton News continues to publish appeals for footballs and football outfits to be sent to the Front. Signaller Burley of the Royal Field Artillery asks if “any person in my native town would be so kind as to help the lads in my Battery to pass many a weary hour away, by supplying us with a football", and a group of Luton lads serving with C Squadron of the Beds Yeomanry hope that someone may have a football to spare. J. Hall, the former secretary of Luton Albion F.C. and now with the 3/1st Bedfordshires at Reed Hall Camp, Colchester, appeals for football boots, knickers, and stockings for the Luton boys stationed there who are running a football team and finding that “playing in ordinary attire is not at all comfortable”.

Subscriptions are being collected for a Football Fund set up by Albert Ansell of Havelock Road to help supply Luton men at the Front with the means to play their favourite sport. There is no doubt that the footballs supplied are very much appreciated. Corporal S. Impey of 15 Platoon of the 7th Bedfords says. “We received the ball the other evening and we thank you very much. The boys all agree that the ball is an excellent one, and they desire their appreciation to be known to the good people of Luton for subscribing.” Ansell’s brother Sid, who is with the same platoon, writes: “We are just going to have a game ... We are going to try and put the artillery into shape, with the ball, I mean. The guns will overlook us, so we shall be all right.”

Source: Luton News, 21st October and 28th October 1915

Footballs for the Front

2nd Bn, Beds Regt vs. Depot Bn, Royal Engineers

Army Football Cup Final 1906,  [X550/1/105/1b]

Tuesday 28th September 1915: The Luton News has received a quick response to two requests it published last week asking for footballs to be sent to soldiers at the Front. On Friday morning a well-known local sportsman gave instructions for the purchase of two good balls, to be charged to his account. Another ball was received from Mrs. T. H. Dryden, which was sent to the “The Boys of the 2nd Siege Battery” of the Royal Garrison Artillery. While one of the footballs was being prepared for dispatch to Private W. S. Warren, a Lutonian at the Base Stationery Depot at Rouen, a lady telephoned to say that she had posted one to him in response to his appeal. The football was then sent to Driver W. Payne of the 121st Royal Garrison Artillery who had asked for one a fortnight ago.

Another appeal sent on behalf of “a few of the Local Lads” in the East Anglian Royal Engineers has been now received: “The local lads wish me to write to you to let you see that they often think of the dear old town, and also to let the people of Luton see that we are still cheerful and intend to keep up our spirits as far as we can. That is why I am writing to ask you if you could forward us a football to pass away the spare time after we have finished work. There are several chaps here who were in different teams in Luton.” The fourth football will soon be on its way to Gallipoli for these lads.

The Secretary of the Bedfordshire Football Association has suggested that local footballers could send subscriptions towards the cost of providing footballs for soldiers: “The many requests for footballs from local soldiers serving with the Colours, that have appeared in your paper, have led me to think that a united effort to supply the wants of these soldiers, by the footballers left behind, would be well in season. It is not every individual whose means will allow him to personally send out a ball, but I think there are many footballers who can and would be ready and willing to give a trifle towards such an object. If any gentlemen care to send along subscriptions I shall be quite ready to receive them, and to acknowledge them, with your permission, through the medium of your paper, and to arrange for the balls to be sent out.”

Source: Luton News, 30th September 1915

Luton Town Football Club

Opening of Kenilworth Road football ground, 1905 [Wikimedia]

Tuesday 24th August 1915: The annual general meeting of Luton Town Football Club was held last night at Mr. T. Keens offices in King Street – the usual arrangement of holding the AGM at the Corn Exchange with a public meeting to follow had to be abandoned due to the war. It was felt that last season had gone as well as could be expected in the circumstances. The number of soldiers billeted in the town had saved the club financially and the playing results were satisfactory. Expenses had been higher than the previous season due to their success on the pitch in 1913/14 when they won promotion back to the First Division of the Southern League. This had meant they signed on most of their players and had to pay them over the summer – the penalty of success! Unfortunately the situation for the 1915/16 season was very uncertain. The club had been badly treated by the London clubs of the Southern League and as a result was being left out of competitive football for the forthcoming season. The directors had not yet been able to decide whether or not they should continue to play friendly matches, or whether to let the fixture list slide for the time being.

Source: Luton Times 27 August 1915

Former Kempston Rovers Player Commissioned

Kempston Rovers F.C. 1908-9 [Z50/142/786]

Wednesday 18th August 1915: Frank Crowsley, the son of Mr. James Crowsley of Tempsford Street, Kempston has written from India to say that he has been commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry, making him the first Kempston boy to receive this honour. Before joining the Army he was well known as outside-left for Kempston Rovers F.C. He writes that when he first left home in 1908 he was a lance-corporal and hopeful that he would soon be promoted to corporal. However, a new draft from the 1st Battalion joined his unit in Malta bringing with it a number of more senior lance-corporals; as a result his promotion did not come through until 1910. After three years in Malta he was sent to China where he was posted throughout the Chinese Revolution of 1911-12, though without ever being called upon for a ‘scrap’. He was promoted to Lance-Sergeant shortly before leaving China for India in October 1913, then to Sergeant in February 1914, and last June he heard that he was to be a Second-Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Crowsley has kept up his football, playing regularly for the regimental team. He is stationed at Quetta where there are four cups for soccer - one for company teams, one for double-company teams, one for half-battalion teams and one for battalion teams. He has played in a number of finals but has won only two medals. He has been fortunate with injuries, only suffering one sprained ankle while in Malta. He wonders how the rest of the old Kempston Rovers are faring, and imagines that most must now be in the Forces. Although his station is Quetta he is temporarily in Hyderabad which he finds “fearfully hot”. He says “it was 116 degrees in the shade more than once during last month and the first two weeks of this month, so you can bet that it is not too comfortable. I am writing this now with the perspiration running off me, and a big sheet of blotting paper under my hand so as not to soak the paper, and I am covered with prickly heat … One does not suffer much from that in Quetta, so you can guess that I shall not be sorry to get back there again.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 20th August 1915

Luton Town's Footballers Disperse

Bob Hawkes, Luton Town's first English international player [Wikimedia]

Saturday 22nd May 1915: Since the end of the football season Luton Town’s players have dispersed. As the Football League is to be suspended next season it is not yet known when the club will reassemble.[1] We heard in December how eight players had joined the Footballers’ Battalion but had been released to play for the club until the end of the 1914/5 season. Seven of these continue to train with the battalion but the eighth, Robert William Frith, has been admitted to the infirmary to have two toes amputated.[2] Other players have returned to their previous trades. Mitchell, Potts and Macfarlane are all doing Government work; Mitchell and Potts have remained in Luton, at Kent’s and the Diamond Foundry respectively, and Macfarlane has gone to Tyneside. Robinson and Rollinson have both returned to their old trade at Sheffield. R. Abbott, Chipperfield, Sidney Hoar, Bob Hawkes and Fred Hawkes are all still in Luton.[3] Billy Lawson, the club’s trainer and the source of our information, is doing massage work and would be happy to obtain more.

Source: Luton News 13th May 1915

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[1] According to the club's 1919-20 Handbook only friendly games were played in the first half of the 1915-1916 season. [Source: Luton WW1: Great War Stories]

[2] Frith’s remaining war service included munitions work and a long term posting at the Regimental depot at Aldershot, suggesting that he was left unfit to serve overseas. He also never played football again for Luton. [Source: Luton WW1: Great War Stories]

[3] Hoar subsequently joined the Bedfordshire Regiment. He recovered from being gassed in August 1917 to play again for Luton in 1919. [Source: Luton WW1: Great War Stories]

Luton Town's Season

Luton Town Football Club, 1908-9 [Z1306/75/21/5]

Tuesday 27th April 1915: As the 1914-1915 football season draws to a close we can reflect on Luton Town’s performance. The war has meant that the best any team could hope for this year was simply to carry on. Luton have managed to keep going to the end of the season but only at the cost of several hundred pounds in losses. Only the presence of thousands of troops in the town has prevented this loss being even larger.

Luton’s performance on the pitch has been very up and down. In the Southern League they secured the extraordinary record of winning more points from away games than they did at home. Away from Kenilworth Road they won 19 points out of a possible 38, beating Watford (the champions), Northampton, Brighton, Exeter and Queen’s Park. At home however their record was no better than that of the bottom-placed club, Gillingham; they did not win a single home point between February 13th and April 17th, losing to Crystal Palace, Portsmouth and West Ham United in quick succession, and only managed a total of 15 home points during the season.

In the F.A. Cup Luton were forced by an injustice on the part of the Football Association to take part in some of the early rounds, playing three financially unprofitable games against minor clubs. Their first draw in the main competition sent them to Southampton to face a Saints team on top form and the Hatters were eliminated. Luton did better in the Southern Charity Cup, defeating Watford in the first round and Coventry in the second. After beating Reading in the semi-final they drew the final 0-0 against Plymouth. As it was not possible to arrange a replay the trophy is being jointly held by the two clubs. The seasons top scorer was Ernie Simms, with a total of 22 goals.

Source: Luton News 29th April 1915; Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 4th May 1915

A Scratched Head in the Trenches

Sunday 28th February 1915: Mrs Gertrude Longuet-Higgins has continued to receive regular news from her son John who is serving as a captain in the London Regiment at the Front. Extracts from his letters give a flavour of his life there:

10th February

Weather greatly improved and everyone is beginning to say that it isn’t such a bad life out here after all. Plenty to do, plenty of fresh air, and a certain amount of excitement. Came out of trenches last night again, but must go up again this morning to walk round and show people what has to be done and the order in which things are to be done.

[Later] Have just come back from going round the trenches and had a chat with the captain of an anti-aircraft gun on the way home. It is a most interesting toy and very cleverly concealed. It is rigged up on a motor lorry and they have run this into a ruined cottage with no roof. They have put straw all over the engine and parts of the lorry they do not use when working the gun. They fire a 13lb shell at ranges up to 500 yards. Am feeling very fit after my walk. It is good to be alive in weather like today’s.

As I was going round the trenches this morning one of our officers had a very narrow escape.[1] His cap was just showing over the top of the parapet and Mr German sniper put a bullet right across the top of his cap. It left a mark about 6 inches long across the flat top and in the centre grazed the officer’s head just enough to make it bleed. I am sending the cap home to you to keep and am ordering a new one. Please don’t worry about me in the slightest for I now have not even a headache.

11th February

Just a line to reassure you of my perfect health. I should have said nothing of my being scratched yesterday, unless I had thought you might have some exaggerated tale from some other source. We are going to have a little concert tonight in billets got up by the men, and a team from our regiment is playing football against the neighbouring artillery. We shall get an awful kicking as the artillery have some members of Aston Villa.

16th February

Many thanks for your letter and parcels. All very welcome. Marmalade is a great treat and the other things are just what I wanted. It may be I shall appear in the casualty list because of my scratched head. I don’t think I shall but if I do you will know what it is and please don’t worry.

25 February

We had a very sad day yesterday. Captain Thompson our adjutant was killed. He was showing the Brigadier round trenches at the time and got shot through the head. Though he lived for about ½ hour he was never conscious. I do not know whether Kenneth [his brother] has yet really started and am afraid I am rather late in thinking of him. Please if there is still time let him have anything at all of mine that would be of use to him, new or old boots, gaiters, underclothes, uniform.

[Later] Have just buried Captain Thompson. Beautiful fine sunny afternoon. The General came and three of the Colonels of the Brigade were present. The chaplain read the service and the Colonel placed on the grave an evergreen wreath he made this morning.

Source: Letters of Captain John Longuet-Higgins HG12/10/129-132

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[1] It soon becomes clear that Captain Longuet-Higgins is referring to himself. 

Luton Town Footballers Enlist

Luton Town Football Club, 1908-9 [Z1306/75/21/5]

Wednesday 16th December 1914: Yesterday morning two wing forwards from Luton Town Football Club, Hugh Pierce Roberts and Frank Lindley, attended a meeting of professional footballers at Fulham Town Hall. At the end of the meeting they were among the first to enlist in the new Footballers’ Battalion; so many others followed that extra recruiting officers had to be called in to help.[1] A total of 35 men signed up and marched together to Chelsea Barracks. They were then given ten days’ leave at a rate of 2s 9d per day while on home service.

This morning in the dressing room Roberts and Lindley told their team mates about yesterday’s events. Six more Luton Town players have now gone to London by train to enlist. They are:

• John Dunn (back)
• Robert William Frith (half-back)
• T. T. Wilson (half-back)
• Arthur Harold Wileman (forward)
• Arthur Roe (forward)
• Ernest Simms (forward)

The men were accompanied to London by their trainer Billy Lawson, who already has two sons in the Territorials and would very much have liked to join up himself. When the players are called up they will go for training to Richmond. They will be allowed leave to play in their Club’s fixtures until the end of the season and will continue to receive their Club wages as well as their army pay.[2]

Source: Luton News 17th December 1914

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[1] The Footballers’ Battalion was the 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.
[2] See Luton’s World War I: Great WarStories for more about the involvement of Luton Town players in the Great War.

Walking Wounded

Luton Town Football Team 1908-1909 [Z1306/74/21/5]

Saturday 26th September 1914, Luton: Soldiers wounded at the battle of Mons last month are now recovering at Wrest Park, the mansion of Lord Lucas at Silsoe which is being used as a military hospital. A number of the wounded were taken to see the football match between Luton Reserves and Gillingham Reserves today.  Most had an arm in a sling or a bandaged foot – some had to wear slippers as they could not get their feet into boots. They said that nearly all the wounds had been caused by shrapnel. When asked one what war was like one soldier replied "there is only one word – hell".

Source: Luton News 1/10/1914