Larrett Roebuck - The First Footballer Killed in 1914

02/05/2024  -  4.26

David Tattersfield

Huddersfield Town full-back Larrett Roebuck was the first professional footballer from the English Leagues to be killed in the First World War. This is his story...

Source: Author's Collection

The Early Days

Larrett Roebuck was born at Jump, near Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, on 27 January 1889. By 1901 the Roebuck family had moved to Rotherham and were living in Barker's Yard, off the main High Street, where he shared a cramped home with his parents, an uncle and two younger siblings.

Life was harsh, and the family were probably in dire straits after Larrett's father, Elias, died at the age of 40 in 1902. As the only possible breadwinner, it is almost certain that Larrett left school at the earliest opportunity; he was aged 13 when his father died which would have enabled him to start work underground, quite possibly at one of the many pits in the area. He is noted as a being a 'trammer' which is the term for a young mine worker; possibly he tended the pit ponies, a typical role for lads aged 14 or 15.

Matters took a turn for the worse in 1904 when, in September, Larrett was sentenced to one month's imprisonment by the Rotherham magistrates for stealing a watch. The records state that he had no previous convictions, and they also show that he unaccountably overstated his age as being 17. Had he given his true age (15) he would have been dealt with under a different (and more lenient) system. To put the punishment in context, Larrett's cousin had also been sentenced to 28 days in prison for the heinous crime of stealing "…a growing cabbage".

Pre-War Army Service

After being released on 4 October 1904, it is almost certain that Larrett found himself without a job, and as a result, on 14 November, he travelled to Pontefract and signed up in the York and Lancaster (Y&L) Regiment.

Larrett claimed to be 18 years old, but he was in fact just a few weeks short of his 16th birthday. It was not the only inaccuracy on his enlistment papers: he also declared he had never been in prison.

Pontefract Barracks. Source: Courtesy of pontefractus.co.uk

Over the next seven years, Larrett endured the harsh regime of a pre-war regular serving with the 1st battalion in India between October 1906 and December 1907. It is certain that during this period, Larrett honed his football skills.

Home from Indian Service and onto the Army Reserve

Returning home, Larrett joined the 2nd battalion, stationed at Limerick, and was appointed to Lance Corporal on 28 December 1907. Larrett was married on Saturday, 6 June 1908 to Frances Walker (she was named as "Fanny" on Larrett's army service records), the wedding taking place in Rotherham. The first of their children, John, was born in November that year. Unfortunately, Larrett reverted to the rank of Private in April 1910 for "misconduct".

The 1911 census places the family in a one-room property named as 'Cycle Works' on Deepcut Road, Frimley Green, Farnborough, and they had now been joined by six month-old Violet. Lucy was to be born later that year and Jesse the following year.

In late May 1912, and now stationed in Limerick, Larrett signed a document agreeing to be discharged to the reserve. He was given a "sobriety certificate" which stated he was thoroughly trustworthy and had not been known to be under the influence of liquor.

Larrett's 'sobriety certificate' from his service papers. Source: Courtesy of The National Archives via "Find My Past"

No doubt he returned to South Yorkshire and it is likely he worked for a spell at the Silverwood Colliery where he joined the Colliery football team and began to make a name for himself as a talented full-back.

A Promising Football Career

The Silverwood side had a good reputation, regularly entering the FA Cup qualifying stages from 1910 onwards, and over the years produced several players who went on to make the grade in the Football League. It is quite likely that Larrett played in some of the Colliery team's early FA Cup ties, and so he came to the notice of Huddersfield Town's scouts.

What is certain is that he initially joined Huddersfield on 1 March 1913, and was followed five months later by Harry Linley, another Silverwood player and most likely a friend of Larrett's. During the 1913/14 season Roebuck and half-back Linley were to play together in Huddersfield Town's first team on 15 occasions. Larrett made his debut at left-back on 3 January 1914, with a 3-1 home win over Fulham, and he was to play in the same position in all the club's remaining games, including two FA Cup ties, that season.

The crowd at Larrett’s first Huddersfield Town game. Source: Courtesy of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The Match Against Bradford Park Avenue

During Larrett's run of 19 consecutive league and cup appearances, there was one match at Bradford Park Avenue on 11 April 1914. The starting line-up of the "Town" team for this game was captured by a photographer and distributed as a postcard. Larrett is on the back row, second from the right.

The Huddersfield Team prior to kick-off against Bradford Park Avenue on 11 April 1914. Source: Courtesy of Roger Pashby 

Unfortunately, the caption and the team's kit has caused a degree of confusion. The postcard was misdated, stating it was from the 1914-15 team, when it can be definitely established as being the team which played in the 1913-14 season. Compounding this was the fact that the team were wearing the strip from the 1912-13 season. The kit shown on this image has six of the players (including Larrett) in the previous season's white shirt with blue yoke whilst other players are in a white shirt with blue collar, for example the player (Frank Mann) in the centre of the front row with the ball between his feet. The actual strip for this (1913-14) season was the - now famous - blue and white stripes.

The Huddersfield Town team photo, showing the blue and white stripes which were first worn in the 1913/14 season Source: Courtesy of Roger Pashby. Originally published in a Huddersfield Town publication in 1929, the 'Coming of Age souvenir, 1929-1930'

For the match against Bradford Park Avenue, it is not known why the Huddersfield team were not wearing the then current strip. One explanation is that this was to avoid a colour clash, however as Bradford Park Avenue played in green and white hoops, this was unlikely to be the reason. The only other explanation for the old strip being worn was in order to preserve the "best" kit for a match that was to take place two days later at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Huddersfield lost the match 2-1, and Bradford Park Avenue were to be promoted at the end of the 1913-14 season, behind champions Notts County. Huddersfield finished 13th out of the 20 teams in the Second Division.

End of the Football Season, and to War

Larrett's 19th and last appearance came on 25 April 1914, in a 1-0 victory at Leicester Fosse (renamed Leicester City in 1919). Four days previously he had signed a new contract with Town to commence at an agreed rate of £2 per week. This was to rise to £3 from 1 September 1914, the start of the 1914/15 season. In addition, he was also granted travel expenses in the form of a return rail pass from either Rotherham or Sheffield to Huddersfield.

Larrett's contract to play for Huddersfield Town, dated 21 April 1914, courtesy Christine O'Hara

However, with the war clouds gathering over Europe everything was about to change. When war was declared on 4 August that year there was great debate as to whether to continue with normal League football. In the event the game's authorities decided to carry on, hoping like many others that the conflict would "all be over by Christmas". As a reservist, Larrett, like many men around the country, was quickly mobilised by his regiment.

At the outbreak of war, the 2nd Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, part of the 16 Brigade (6th Division) was still stationed in Limerick. The order for mobilisation arrived at 10pm on 4 August 1914 and ten days later they returned to England to camps at Cambridge and Newmarket. Larrett was almost certainly recalled to Pontefract and, from there, presumably journeyed south by train to join his battalion. On 8 September 1914, the battalion received orders to prepare to leave Tilbury Docks on the SS Minneapolis "for an unknown destination" and, the following day, it disembarked at St Nazaire on the west coast of France.

From St Nazaire the battalion made its way up towards the front line. From surviving records, we know that Larrett was re-appointed to Lance Corporal during this time.

The regimental history [1] records:

The Battalion reached Courcelles in heavy rain early on the morning of September 20th to learn that the Battalions which had been engaged in the Battles of the Marne and Aisne were much weakened and exhausted, and that the 16th Brigade was required to relieve next day the 7th and 9th Brigades to the north-east of Vailly. The relief was carried out late on the night of the 20th/21st, the Battalion taking over the trenches which had up to then been occupied by Battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment and Royal Scots Fusiliers; and almost immediately the enemy opened a heavy shrapnel fire on the portion of trench occupied by "A" Company of the Battalion, causing a loss of three killed, one officer - Lieutenant Lethbridge - and eleven men wounded.

Larrett and his comrades were now faced with the grim reality of war. With both sides digging in, the "race for the sea" had begun as each opposing army moved northwards to try and outflank the other. In miserably wet and foggy conditions the British Expeditionary Force was looking to capture Menin when, on 18 October 1914, Lance-Corporal Roebuck was one of 40 men listed as killed or missing in action near Beaucamps-Ligny following an attack on an enemy position. It was less than six months since he had celebrated Huddersfield Town's win at Leicester Fosse.

The Divisional history [2] gives some details in its narrative:

On the 18th October a reconnaissance in force was ordered, which was brilliantly carried out. The Buffs and the York and Lancasters on the right captured Radinghem without much opposition and advanced across a small plateau, three hundred yards in width, towards the woods in which stands Chateau de Flandres. They here came under a heavy cross-fire of machine guns and shrapnel, and were counter-attacked and driven back. The situation, however, was saved by Major Bayley's company of the York and Lancasters, which had worked around on the left and threatened the flank of the counter-attack, which thereon withdrew. The York and Lancasters suffered considerable casualties in this little action.

More detail is provided in the battalion's war diary [3]:

[By early afternoon] Village [Radinghem] taken without difficulty by 'A' Company. Line held up for short time by shelling of French and our guns. Centre of line on reaching high ground East of Radinghem came under heavy shell fire from southerly direction, but continued the advance with the remainder of the line across the Radinghem - Fromelles Road. Right of line coming under heavy cross fire of machine guns and shrapnel in the open, was forced to return back to the road. At the same time the remaining companies, having got into the woods of Chateau de Flandres tried three times to advance but were each time driven back by cross fire of machine guns, situated at southern boundary of the wood, and shrapnel and rifle fire. They eventually took up positions on the Radinghem - Fromelles Road, in conjunction with the Buffs.

Larrett Roebuck 'Missing'

Back home Larrett's family were officially informed of his 'missing' status but, as time went by, and despite several letters to the War Office asking for information, no further news was heard of his fate. Eventually Larrett's mother Elizabeth, now running the Britannia Inn in Shaftesbury Square, Rotherham, wrote to the local newspaper asking if any readers or soldiers home on leave could help. Her poignant appeal was published on 30 January 1915, shortly after what would have been Larrett's 26th birthday, in the hope that he had perhaps been taken prisoner or lay wounded in some unknown hospital bed. A week later these hopes were dashed when a Mrs G E Vickers contacted the Rotherham Advertiser in response. She forwarded copies of two letters from a Private W Worsman of the East Yorkshire Regiment, the son of a friend of hers, who was currently recovering from wounds in a Rouen hospital. In his first, dated 29 November 1914, Worsman had written to his own mother, saying:

You remember me telling you in my last letter that L Roebuck had got killed. You can now take it as granted from me that the worst has happened to him. I was talking to a chap from Rotherham the other day who is in the York & Lancasters; you will perhaps know him, they call him Callagan. He used to play football for the Little Bridge, and I believe he had a trial with the Town when he first came from India. He told me that L Roebuck got killed a month ago.

Worsman's second letter, dated 30 January 1915, then confirmed the story. He wrote that he had been talking to a soldier from Ickles named G Brierley, who was also recovering from wounds and was a mutual friend of Larrett Roebuck. Brierley had told Worsman that he had actually been beside Larrett when he was killed whilst they were making an attack.

Huddersfield Town AFC had meanwhile been sending Larrett's wife Marie £1 a week ever since he had been called up. With the confirmation of his death the Club's Secretary-Manager, Arthur Fairclough, wrote to her at the family home at 7 Marsh Street, Ickles, Rotherham, on 26th February 1915, stating that due to the Club's weak financial state they would unfortunately now have to cease making the payments. As wartime restrictions began to bite he wrote:

Dear Mrs Roebuck, I regret to say that we are not in a position to continue sending £1 per week to the end of the season. We are ourselves having to appeal to the League for assistance. This season we are losing money every week. My Directors will try to make you a grant of ten shillings a week for the next four weeks after tomorrow. I am forwarding you £2 five shillings [£2.25] from the Players – this money was subscribed for a present for Larry but we think that it will be better to forward this to assist you. We think Larry would wish this if we could communicate with him.

In August 1915, a pension was awarded to Frances of 22s 6d per week (£1.12p, or £113 equivalent value in today's money). This was to be paid until the children were aged 16.

The Pension Record Card showing the entitlement of the pension for Larrett's widow, Frances. Source: The Pension Record Cards archive held by The Western Front Association

Lance-Corporal Larrett Roebuck (8116), 2nd Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, was officially recorded as 'presumed dead' on 18 October 1914. Larrett was the first professional footballer from the English football league to be killed in the Great War.

Postscript

34 men from the 2nd battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment are recorded as having been killed on 18/19 October 1914. Only two of these men have known graves. The 32 missing are commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing. However, the discovery of the remains of 15 men in 2009 led to the identification of eleven of these missing soldiers. Unfortunately, despite significant investigation, including DNA testing, it was found that Larrett was not among those who have been identified and he will, therefore, remain 'missing'.

Larrett's sister, Lucy, married Noah Neal at Rotherham in 1915. Her first child born on 11 April 1916 was named Larrett in honour of her brother.

References

[1] Colonel C H Wylly CB, 'The York and Lancaster Regiment 1758-1919 Volume 1' (London: Frome & London, 1930)
[2] Major General T.O. Marden, 'A Short History of the Sixth Division' (London: Hugh Rees, Ltd., 1920) p8
[3] The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) WO 95/1610: The war diary of the 2/Y&L 1914-1918

Note: This article has its antecedents in another article published by David Tattersfield on the Western Front Association website at: https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/the-first-footballer-killed-in-1914-larrett-roebuck-of-huddersfield-town/

Biography

David Tattersfield can date his interest in the First World War to a specific event – the year was 1990 and he was persuaded to read First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook. So impressed was he that upon finishing the book, he immediately read it again.

The following year, accompanied by his brother, he holidayed in France. This was the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, and although it was late July, the area around Albert was still awash with visitors.

Returning home, little realising the significance of his action, he looked at the war memorial in his local church in Ravensthorpe, near Dewsbury. This small action started a process of research into this memorial which culminated in 2000 in the publication of his book (A Village Goes to War). David undertook a Masters Degree at the University of Birmingham (2004-2006) which resulted in his dissertation 'Divisional Usage in the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front 1916-1918' which analysed the elitism (or otherwise) of British Divisions via a statistical approach to various factors.

David joined The Western Front Association in 1992, has been Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Yorkshire branch of the WFA since 2002 and became a trustee of the WFA in 2009. He is currently Vice-Chairman and Development Officer for the WFA. His wish is to strengthen the association to ensure it can continue its objectives for decades to come.