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The Battle of the Somme

A recruiting meeting was organised by the FA and the War Office at Fulham Town Hall, Harwood Road, almost five months into World War One, with a view to raising a battalion which would specifically comprise of footballers, club officials and supporters – the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (1st Football) which was to become more commonly known as the Footballers’ Battalion.

Initially only the foyer and small hall was made available for the meeting on Tuesday 15th December 1914. However, so many people attended that the doors for the main hall were opened to let the large crowd in.

Included in the first group that signed up into the 17th Middlesex was Fred ‘Spider’ Parker the wing half and captain of Clapton Orient Football Club, Frank Buckley of Bradford City and Archie Needham of Brighton and Hove Albion. Spider was soon followed by nine of his Orient team mates including ‘keeper Jimmy Hugall and ace striker Richard McFadden.

Further recruiting meetings were held around the country with a view to establishing the Footballers’ Battalion. In the meantime, Clapton Orient’s chairman, Captain Henry Wells-Holland wasted little time in encouraging his staff to join the initial ten O’s players that had signed up at Fulham Town Hall.

The O’s were the first English football club to join up en-masse with a total of forty-one players, staff and supporters joining up to serve King and Country.

Meanwhile, whilst the plans for military involvement were being put in place, Clapton Orient, along with the rest of the football family carried on until the end of the 1914/15 season with the O’s last game being at home to Leicester Fosse on 24th April 1915.

In front of a packed house of over 20,000 spectators, not only did the Orient win the game 2-0, but straight after the match the ten players who had joined up at the recruiting meeting at Fulham Town Hall got into uniform and marched around the pitch with other members of the Footballers’ Battalion, in a farewell parade before going off to their training camp in preparation for their time in France.

The 17th Middlesex subsequently established itself in northern France with the rest of the British Army with plans for a major offensive to break through the German line that stretched from the North Sea right down to the Swiss border.

Three major battles were to take place on the Western Front as it was to be known – the Battle of Verdun which resulted in a combined estimated figure of 700,000 dead, the Battle of the Somme with more than an estimated 1 million casualties and the Battle of Passchendaele with an estimated casualty figure of 600,000. The Footballers’ Battalion were to be heavily involved in the Battle of the Somme which commenced at 7.30am on 1st July 1916 – like so many other units, they were to suffer heavy casualties during this battle.

The Clapton Orient contingent, like their comrades from other clubs, were really in the thick of it during the battle. Although they were not involved in the opening weeks or so, they saw heavy action during the fighting in Delville Wood, or ‘Devils Wood’ as it was to be known.

The O’s were to lose three of their players during the Battle of the Somme – Private William Jonas, a fine centre-forward who was killed in Delville Wood, Private George Scott, a man mountain of a defender who died of his wounds in a German military hospital in Le Cateau, and finally ace goal scorer Richard McFadden who was mortally wounded near Serre.

McFadden was a hero, both in his civil life and during his military service. Before the war it was known that he had saved a man from a burning building and then, whilst on a training run along the River Lea near to Orient’s ground in east London, he saved two young boys from drowning by jumping in to rescue them.

This was followed two weeks later when McFadden was making his way through Clapton Park, he heard the screams of a women shouting that her house was on fire and her infant daughter was trapped inside. Without hesitation he rushed into the smoke-filled building and rescued the little tot – sadly she had sustained severe burns and passed away two weeks later. However, his selfless bravery was recognised when the mayor of Hackney, councillor William Hammer awarded him a special medal for his brave actions. McFadden’s life-saving exploits continued in northern France when he would go out into no-man’s land to rescue wounded comrades. These brave deeds led him to be awarded the Military Medal for his bravery in the field and was subsequently in line for a commission as a warrant officer before he lost his life.

William Jonas was a skilful centre-forward who linked up well with his best friend Richard McFadden. Jonas received a large number of letters from the female supporters at the O’s, up to fifty a week and things got so bad he had to put a letter in the Clapton Orient programme to say that whilst he was flattered by the attention shown towards him by the ladies of Clapton, but could the letters please stop as he was a happily married man. McFadden witnessed the death of his pal and sent the following letter back to the Orient giving his eye-witness account.

I, Richard McFadden sadly report the death of my friend and O’s colleague William Jonas on the morning of 27th July, age 26. Both Willie and I were trapped in a trench near the front in Somme, France. Willie turned to me and said “Goodbye Mac, Best of luck, special love to my sweetheart Mary Jane and best regards to the lads at Orient.” Before I could reply to him he was up and over. No sooner had he jumped up out of the trench, my best friend of nearly twenty years was killed before my eyes. Words cannot express my feelings at this time.

Yours,

Company Serjeant Major Richard McFadden.

Some would say that the Orient were fortunate to only lose three of its number out of the forty-one that joined up, and indeed there were other clubs that did lose more players.

However, many of the Orient players that saw action sustained serious wounds, including the O’s ‘keeper Jimmy Hugall who was wounded three times – including an injury to his eye, and yet after the war he was able to resume his professional football career.

The O's Somme Memorial Fund

The O’s Somme Memorial Fund (OSMF) was launched by Steve Jenkins and Peter Kitchen in August 2009 specifically with a view to having a memorial on the Somme to honour the service and sacrifice of the players, staff and supporters of Clapton Orient Football Club.

This was achieved when the O’s Somme Memorial was unveiled in the village of Flers on 10 July 2011 – the very first memorial to commemorate an English football club on the Somme.

The OSMF has continued to actively promote the O’s WW1 story and in recent years, in addition to Steve Jenkins who is Chairman and Peter Kitchen the Patron, Malcolm McCarthy MBE has joined the committee as Secretary and Treasurer and Alex Hup as battlefield guide, to further develop and promote the organisation’s ongoing work.

In 2016 and 2018, the OSMF co-produced a stage play ‘The Greater Game’ in association with writer Michael Head, held at the Southwark and Waterloo East Playhouses respectively to packed audiences. Both productions had the backing of all the football authorities and governing bodies, as well as the PFA and they were also supported by the Royal British Legion.

In recent years the OSMF has forged a close friendship with the McCrae’s Battalion Trust as well as Hearts of Midlothian FC and a number of other Scottish clubs who served in the Great War.

The OSMF was extremely proud when on 24 October, 2021, a memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum – which is the very first at this iconic location to commemorate a football club, and is based on the one that the OSMF proudly unveiled in Flers ten years beforehand.

The OSMF will actively continue to commemorate and honour the service and sacrifice made by Clapton Orient, along with other clubs who served ensuring they will always be remembered.