Ben Butler (footballer)

Ben Butler
Personal information
Full name Albert Victor Butler[1]
Place of birth Reading, England
Date of death (1916-05-13)13 May 1916 (aged 29)[2]
Place of death Bruay-la-Buissière, France
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Position(s) Centre half
Youth career
–1908 Woolwich Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1908–1912 Reading
1912–1913 Hartlepools United 25 (1)
1913–1916 Queens Park Rangers 0 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Albert Victor Butler (died 13 May 1916), known as Ben Butler, was an English professional footballer who played as a centre half in the Southern League for Reading.[3]

Personal life

Butler supplemented his football income by working as an engine cleaner for the South East Railway Company.[3] During the First World War, he served as a corporal in the 1st Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.[4] On 3 May 1916, Butler was wounded in the right leg by a shell during urban combat in Liévin, France.[5] The leg was subsequently amputated and he died as a result 10 days later at No.22 Casualty Clearing Station in Bruay-la-Buissière.[3] Butler left a widow, Kate and two sons and was buried in Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension.[1][2][4] Butler's will, in which he left everything to Kate, survives and is in the archives of Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.[4]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Hartlepools United 1912–13[6] North Eastern League 25 1 1 0 — 26 1
Queens Park Rangers 1913–14[7] Southern League First Division 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
1914–15[8] Southern League First Division 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
Total 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
Career total 25 1 1 0 2 0 28 1
  1. ^ a b Appearance in London Challenge Cup

Honours

Reading

References

  1. ^ a b "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Royals Remember Ben". Reading FC | Home of the Royals!. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Riddoch, Andrew; Kemp, John; Holmes, Richard (20 November 2008). When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War (1st ed.). Sparkford: Haynes Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 9781844256563.
  4. ^ a b c Lee, Matt (29 August 2013). "World War I soldier wills digitised for online archive". BBC Online. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Visiting the Western Front: 2" (PDF). pp. 4–5. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Albert Butler". In The Mad Crowd. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Seasonal Stats – Files – 1913–14". QPRnet. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Seasonal Stats – Files – 1914–15". QPRnet. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
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