Let the living answer the roll call of the dead:
Walter Tull of Spurs and Northampton Town KIA 1918;
And now the names of the Robins:
Billy Brewer KIA 1914
Jim Chalmers KIA 1915
Ted Murphy died of head wounds 1916
Billy Kirby KIA 1917
Albert Milton KIA 1917
Arthur Beadsworth KIA 1917
Freddy Wheatcroft KIA1917
Names from another century come back to haunt us:
Walter, Billy, Jim, Ted, Billy, Albert, Arthur, Freddy,
Names once shouted over a football pitch,
‘Give it to Walter’,
‘Over here, Freddie,
‘Shoot, Billy’;
The imperatives of a football team
Replaced by new orders in khaki, with
Night patrols, barbed wire and machine guns;
Muddied football boots forgotten
In the trench foot fields of Flanders;
The clamour from the ground and stands
No match for whizz bangs, mortars and howitzers;
The fogs of a November match,
Innocent memories in a gas attack:
‘Over the top tomorrow, Arthur’,
‘Keep your head down, Albert’,
‘Stay quiet. Don’t shoot, Billy’,
‘Don’t worry, Fred. We’ll get you on this stretcher’,
‘Where’s Jim?’
You may have known each other,
Played with or against each other,
Trained together,
Boarded ships and trains together,
Relieved each other in the trenches,
And who knows?
Some of the Swindon players who survived the war,
May have searched for your body, Walter,
Before and after your last breath and memories,
Memories of Spurs and Northampton,
And childhood,
And a grandmother who had been a slave,
And you, an officer now,
Revered and loved by his men,
Searching for you out there in no man’s land,
As you breathe your last breath,
In whatever corner of a foreign field,
Which will always be an England,
Where the wind rushes.
The following Swindon players survived the Great War,
And who knows?
They may have searched for Walter’s body:
Bertie Arman died 1972
Tommy Bolland died 1967
Bertie Denyer died 15.3.69 (League Cup Final day at Wembley)
Charlie Giles died 1953
Jack Lee died 1951
Matty Lochead died 1964
George Maunders died 1935
Dave Rogers died 1975
Bert Warman died 1955
Tober Weston died 1966
Hello Stuart,
I am the grandson of Bertie Denyer who joined the 23rd Battalion (First Sportmans) Royal Fusiliers .I believe he was wounded in France and evacuated back to England. On recovery he was posted to Edinburgh Castle and played for Hearts in the 1916-17 season and became the top scorer for them .Many of the Hearts players had enlisted but suffered heavy losses and I believe there is a memorial to them at the stadium.
He went to Dublin for a short time and then to Lagos, Nigeria where he was a PT instructor. After the War he returned to Swindon Town.
I am not sure when your request was published in the newspaper as I have just been sent a cutting by a friend who lives in Swindon.
Best Wishes,
Paul Denyer
.