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They were farmers, doctors, barristers, schoolmasters, students, businessmen and merchants, everyday people who volunteered to leave their jobs, families and studies and put their lives on hold. They came from all corners of the British Isles, aged between 18 and 50, and when the call to arms came, they answered. They were members of a generation where taking up arms to fight for their King and Country was not just their duty but a matter of honour and moral obligation. They all volunteered to play the ‘Greater Game’.
Among them were some of the best athletes of their generation, international sportsmen, not only footballers but rugby players, Test and First Class cricketers, hockey players and athletes.
They fell in Flanders, France, at sea and around the world, in places with haunting, infamous names such as Gallipoli, Ypres, Loos, the Somme and Passchendaele.
Many have no known graves, killed in action or from wounds received in battle, or from pure bad luck. A few died at their own hands, damaged by the horrors they experienced.
Fallen tells the stories of the lives and deaths of these players. For the first time, their sacrifice is acknowledged.
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Fallen Comrades
Fallen Comrades
For those visiting the club for the first time, the Corinthian Roll of Honour in the clubhouse is a sobering reminder of the sacrifice made by so many over 100 years ago. The mantle lists 22 of our players who fell in ‘the war to end all wars.’ Most were also Casuals players; some had represented England or played for professional clubs.
The number of Casuals who had fallen was never calculated or commemorated. It was not until 2009 that a rough estimate of ten fallen Casuals was suggested. But in recent years, research has revealed another dozen Corinthians and more than 100 Casuals, many of whom appeared for both clubs. Currently, 125* players have been identified and it is highly likely that this number will increase in the future as research reveals more. Corinthians and Casuals lost more players in the Great War than any other association football club, so it is right and proper that we remember and honour those who played for the club in years past and who gave their lives in the service of their country.
*Other fallen have been discovered since the first volume was published. They will be included in Volume Two
They were members of a generation who understood that taking up arms to fight for King and Country was not just their duty but a matter of personal honour and moral obligation. There were no ulterior motives, no hidden agendas. They all truly believed that volunteering in their country’s hour of need was the right thing to do. They hoped they would act honourably, nobly and bravely in the face of danger, but they were all tormented by the fear that they would be found wanting. However, they faced their fate with a determination and acceptance that modern generations would find hard to comprehend.
Most were junior officers, ‘subalterns’, responsible for the soldiers in their charge. They led by example, were the first over the top and the last to retire. Consequently, life expectancy for a junior officer on the battlefield was only six weeks.
Some of those who fell were household names at the time, but most were reasonably unknown outside footballing circles. Like those who wear the CCFC shirt today, they were all unpaid amateurs who loved the game. But football came second to their occupations or studies. Yet when the call came, they immediately volunteered, leaving their jobs, families and studies and putting their lives on hold.
Even though many had long since retired from the game, as young men, they had played for the club. Some made dozens of appearances, others only a handful and some played only once. John Hyland Fosdick never played for the club at all, even though his name appears on the mantle in the clubhouse. He had been invited to tour South America with Corinthians and was halfway across the Atlantic when war was declared. Without having played a game, the whole team immediately returned to England to sign up. John Hyland Fosdick died in July 1915 when he was struck in the head by shrapnel while defending the Hooge Crater. He was 20 years old and still a student at Cambridge.
At the other end of the scale, Thomas Sowerby Rowlandson played 150 games for Corinthian and 20 for Casuals. He made his debut as a 15-year-old schoolboy at Charterhouse, drafted into the team for the injured Casuals goalkeeper. He kept a clean sheet that day. His football career included appearances for professional teams like Sunderland and Newcastle, and he was also selected to represent England. Tom fell, leading his company in an attack on a German trench. He had tied a red handkerchief to a walking stick and held it over his head, so his men could see him and follow. Reaching the trench first, he was hit by a bomb or grenade, and although he was carried from the battlefield, he later died from his wounds. He was 36 years old.
John Hyland Fosdick
Image from FIFA Museum
Aged between 20 and 57, they came from all corners of the British Isles. They fell in Flanders, France, and around the world, in places with haunting, infamous names such as Gallipoli, Ypres, Loos, the Somme and Passchendaele. Many suffered from shell shock or were wounded and hospitalised, always choosing to return to the regiment, the men and their fate.
Most were killed in action or died from wounds. Some died from faulty munitions, accidents or illnesses and three, damaged by the war, took their own lives. Others were listed as missing in action, and twenty-seven have no known graves, their bodies lost to various battlefields. Several were killed by friendly fire, and five sets of brothers who played for the club fell. Around half were married, and over fifty sons and daughters lost their father. A handful were unmarried only sons, their deaths ending their family’s bloodline.
It’s been 110 years since these men answered the call to arms. Their names appear on countless monuments and honour rolls at home and abroad. In Fallen, for the first time, they appear together as our club mates, their sacrifices commemorated, and their stories told. We share a bond with them. They are our fallen comrades, and they shall never be forgotten.
Fallen, Volume One is now available on Amazon.co.uk and Soccer Books contains the biographies of 69 players lost from 1914 to 1916. Fallen: Volume Two will contain the biographies of 55 club players who fell from 1917 to 1918 and after.
The Stories of the fallen soldiers who played for Corinthian and Casuals Football Clubs.
Volume One
Major Arthur Hughes-Onlsow
Captain Rowland Harry Mainwaring Moody
Captain Robert Edward Drake
Captain George Bertram Pollock-Hodsoll
Captain George Arthur Murray Docker
Second Lieutenant Percy Latham Beck
Captain Francis Whitchurch Townend
Captain Cecil Thomas Tuff
Lieutenant Edmund Mortimer
Second Lieutenant Fredrick William Polehampton
Captain George Whiteley Reid
Second Lieutenant Henry Anthony Birrell-Anthony
Lieutenant Wilfrid Stanley Bird
Captain Wilfred John Hutton Curwen
Lieutenant Thomas Edwin Turner
Captain Gordon Belcher
Private Norman Hammill
Major Hugh Norman Ramsay Cowie
Lieutenant Alfred John Haughton
Lieutenant Harry Law
Second Lieutenant Thomas Samuel Gent
Captain Frederic Marriner Aston
Lieutenant John Hyland Fosdick
Second Lieutenant Herbert Walter Harold Goldberg
Second Lieutenant Ronald Turner
Lance Corporal Theodore Humphrey Fowler
Second Lieutenant Hugh Bagnall Gething
Second Lieutenant Maxwell Rabone
Lieutenant Norman John Cox
Second Lieutenant James Elliott Balfour-Melville
Lieutenant Charles Howard Eyre
Captain MC James Henry Aloysius Ryan
Second Lieutenant Cyril Herbert Shipton
Second Lieutenant Lancelot Andrewes Vidal (Vidall)
Captain Geoffery Boisselier Davies
Major Wilfrid Harry Dent
Second Lieutenant Alan Hawtin Tompson
Lieutenant Edward Francis Gillett
Second Lieutenant Leonard Righton Burrows
Second Lieutenant Reginald Henry Callender
Captain Hugh William Brodie
Second Lieutenant Douglas (‘Daniel’) Lambert
Second Lieutenant Frank Noel Tuff
Lieutenant John Dalrymple Champneys
Captain Gordon Pemberton Steer
Captain Francis 'Frank' Bernard Roberts
Second Lieutenant Harold Godfrey Bache
Mr Manliffe Francis Goodbody
Second Lieutenant John Gwrth (Garth) Morgan-Owen
Second Lieutenant George Herbert Fox
Captain Calvert Routledge
Lieutenant Gerald Spring-Rice
Surgeon George Moore Johnson
Second Lieutenant Albert Theodore Vardy
Lieutenant Frank Street
Captain Oswald Eric Wreford-Brown
Second Lieutenant James Whitaker Hunter
Second Lieutenant Frank Reginald Hoggett
Second Lieutenant Gilbert Player
Second Lieutenant Edmund Poole Underwood
Lieutenant Colonel William Ernest Marriott Tyndall
Captain Arthur John Waugh
Lieutenant William James Burt
Major Walter Ley Woollcombe
Staff Surgeon James Keogh Murphy
Temp. Captain Bertram Saxelbye Evers
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Paston Mack
Second Lieutenant Reginald Rogers
Captain Thomas Sowerby Rowlandson
Lieutenant Herbert Douglas Vernon
Lieutenant Denham Walker
Second Lieutenant Reginald Edward Grimsdell
Major Edward Whinney
Second Lieutenant Leonard James Moon
Volume Two
Captain Hans Hendrick Anthony Cooke
Captain Eric Adrian Ellen
Lieutenant George Richard Eric Crawley
Second Lieutenant Percy Frederic Walford
Major Basil Woodd Bell
Captain John Morris Owen
Lieutenant Colonel Harold Thomas Belcher
Lieutenant Ernest John Dodd
Lieutenant Edward Hedley Cuthbertson
Lieutenant Geoffrey Still Hodgkinson
Captain Edward Hall Bartley
Second Lieutenant Gervas Frederic Bullock
Major Cyril Farmer
Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Benton Johnson
Captain Lancelot Townshend Driffield
Lieutenant John Charles Dodworth Tetley
Captain Charles Henry Gimingham
Major Francis James Richardson
Captain Bernard Kedington Rodwell Wilkinson
Captain Gilbert Hume Norris
Captain Ian Mackenzie
Second Lieutenant Leonard Francis Gandar Dower
Lieutenant Colonel Alan Roderick Haig-Brown
Captain Valentine Shearman
Captain Edward Roy Pallett
Major Charles Leyburn Wilkinson
Major Gordon Bluett Winch
Second Lieutenant Hugh Cuthbertson
Second Lieutenant Griffith Vaughan Jones
Captain Egerton Lowndes "Toddy" Wright
Major Cuthbert Everard Brisley
Lieutenant Colonel Claude Frederick Pilkington Parry
Private Christopher Snell Webdale
Lieutenant Arthur Baillie Bentick Palmer
Major Frank Harvey Bowring
Lieutenant Henry Oswald Ashton
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel DSO Philip Prideaux Budge
Captain Philip Pipon Braithwaite
Captain Arthur Jewell North
Lieutenant Vernon Douglas Stuart
Lieutenant Colonel Bernard William Vann
Lieutenant George Angus Murray
Captain Temple Coulthurst
Captain Ernest Guy Robertson
Second Lieutenant George Cawston
Brevet Lieut-Colonel Herbert Walter Green
Captain Thomas Anthony Greatorex
Major Philip Smelter Cadman Cadman
Major Archibal Henry Hogarth
Lieutentant Commander John Raymond Cleave
Surgeon Major Robert McNamara Cowie
Harold Edward Pollock-Hodsoll
Major Godfrey Tuite-Dalton
Major Geoffrey Frank Walton
Captain Llewellyn Rankin Evans
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