WARTIME PLAYERS
These are the Forest players who served during the First or Second World Wars.WORLD WAR I
| Player | Service Rank Number |
Regiment Unit |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanley Allan | Army Private | Royal Army Medical Corps | After Stanley Allan played for Forest, he served as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and on the Western Front from May 1918 through to April 1919, after the war. While home on demobilisation leave in May 1919, Allan died of a combination of Spanish flu and pneumonia |
| Joe Bailey | Army F/290 | Norfolk Regiment 2nd Battalion | |
| Jack Bell | |||
| Jackie Belton | Army Private | Leicester Regiment | Jackie Belton made over 320 appearance either side of the First World War. During the war he served as a private in the Leicestershire Regiment and the Labour Corps. He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and was evacuated to Britain |
| Thomas Benfield | Army Sergeant | Leicester Regiment | Sergeant Benfield (52176, Sherwood Foresters) died in Flanders from wounds suffered in WW1 |
| Harold Bulling | Army | The King's (Liverpool Regiment) | |
| Thomas Clifford | Army Private 34893 | Royal Scots Fusiliers 6/7th Battalion | Thomas Clifford is a former Motherwell player who went on the 1905 South American tour with Forest in place of Barnstable who couldn't go due to work commitments. Clifford served as a private in the Royal Scots Fusiliers during the First World War and was killed on the Somme on 19 January 1917. |
| Tim Coleman | Army Private F/904 | Middlesex Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) | John 'Tim' Coleman signed from Fulham in 1914 and, while serving in the Army during WWI, made 37 appearances for Forest. |
| Fred Condrey | Army Lance Corporal | Royal Welch Fusiliers | After playing 9 games for us prior to the First World War, Fred Condrey served as a lance corporal in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during the First World War. In August 1915, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal "for great bravery and devotion to duty on the 16th-18th May 1915, at Festubert, when acting as stretcher-bearer. While bringing in wounded under a heavy fire he was himself wounded, and although he could no longer carry in men he continued to go out and dress the wounded under fire until exhausted." Condrey's brother Charles also served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and was killed at Festubert on 16 May 1915 |
| John Derrick | Army Private | Leicester Regiment | |
| Walter Dudley | Army | Royal Garrison Artillery | |
| Robert Firth | Army Sergeant 41703 | Royal Field Artillery XXIV Brigade; 6th Divisional Artillery Column RFA | |
| Tommy Fiske | Army | Born William Fiske, but known as Tommy, he signed from Blackpool for a large fee in the summer of 1914. However his arrival date of August 1st coincided with his being called up to the army (along with Robert Firth and Jack Bell) at the start of World War 1. He made just 5 appearances for Forest, presumably while on leave during Christmas and New Year of 1914/15, and was subsequently killed in action on May 27th 1918 during the Battle of Aisne. His obituary included these lines: With his platoon surrounded, (Fiske) rolled up his shirt sleeves and went over the top. No identifiable part of the goalkeeper's body has ever been found | |
| Tom Forman | Army Lance Bombardier 84529 | Royal Garrison Artillery 191st Siege Battery RGA | |
| Thomas Gibson | Company Sergeant Major | Middlesex Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) | Thomas Gibson was a Scottish professional footballer who made over 180 appearances as a full back in the Football League for orest and also captained us. He also played in the Scottish League for Heart of Midlothian and Morton. He served as a company sergeant major in the 1st Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment during the First World War and held the rank of warrant officer class II. He was partially buried by a shell explosion on the Somme and developed shell shock. |
| Arthur Green | Army | British Armed Forces | |
| Albert Holmes | Army Private F/708 | Middlesex Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) | |
| John Horrocks | Army Gunner 28506 | Royal Field Artillery | |
| Harold Iremonger | Army Private | Middlesex Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) | James, Harry and Albert Iremonger were brothers. |
| Fred Lessons | Army Lance Corporal 23563 | Northamptonshire Regiment 1st Battalion | Fred Lessons played for us for three season before being sold to Northampton where he had a further eight seasons before being killed in action in World War 1 |
| Harold Lockett | Air Force Acting Corporal 52031 | No. 1 School of Special Flying | |
| Johnnie Lockton | Army | British Armed Forces | Johnnie Lockton was primarily a cricket player, playing for Surrey from 1919-26 but prior to the First World War he made 20 appearances for Forest. |
| Joe Mercer | Army Sergeant F/10 | Middlesex Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st Football) | Joe Mercer was the father of the more famous Joe Mercer Jr who played for Everton and Arsenal before managing several clubs (and England). Joe Mercer Sr fought in WWI where he received respiratory problems from a gas attack. He died from complications in 1927, aged 36. |
| Morgan Morgan-Owen | Army Major | Essex Regiment 1/4th Battalion | Morgan Morgan-Owen enlisted in the Essex Regiment in 1905 and served as a major with the regiment during the First World War, seeing action at Gallipoli, Langemarck, Cambrai and the German spring offensive. He also had two periods attached to the Rifle Brigade, the second as a temporary lieutenant colonel commanding the 10th (Service) Battalion. He was awarded the DSO in August 1918 for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On the occasion of the enemy attack, when his battalion was in reserve, he moved it up to resist the attack and held on to the position for two days, though the troops on his flank were pressed back. His steadfast determination to hold his ground against repeated attacks and under heavy fire largely contributed to restoring and keeping in hand the critical situation which had arisen". He was wounded and gassed during the war and an injury to his arm resulted in the end of his sporting career |
| Edwin Neve | Bombardier | Royal Garrison Artillery | In May 1916, after making 35 wartime appearances for Forest, Edwin Neve was conscripted into the Royal Garrison Artillery as a bombardier and served on the Western Front and in the Army of Occupation. He died of heart problems in 1920, as a result of being gassed during the war |
| Tom Niblo | Army Bombardier | Royal Garrison Artillery | |
| Joseph Orme | Army Private | Football Battalion | |
| Billy Palmer | Army Gunner 188607 | Royal Garrison Artillery | |
| Bobby Parker | |||
| Alf Quantrill | Army Private 75703 | ||
| Sam Timmins | Army Gunner 99568 | Royal Garrison Artillery No. 4 Depot RGA; 1st (Reserve) Battery RGA; 229th Siege Battery RGA | After making over one hundred appearances for Forest and then West Brom, Sam Timmins served as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery of the British Army during the First World War and saw action on the Italian Front |
| Enoch West | Army Corporal 346812 | Royal Army Service Corps 615 MT Coy ASC | Enoch West played for 5 seasons in the early 1900's and scored an amazing 104 goals in 185 appearances. During that time he also became the first Forest player to be sent off! His red card against Derby on Mar 13, 1909 was the first in our history! More trouble came his way after being transferred to Manchester United when he was involved in the Match Fixing scandal of 1915 (read more here) and banned for life! All the others players involved were subsequently allowed to play again (mainly due to wartime efforts) but West maintained his innocence and remained officially banned until 1945 (when he was 59 years old!) |