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Tommy Benfield

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Tommy Benfield
Personal information
Full name Thomas Charles Benfield[1]
Date of birth 1889
Place of birth Leicester, England
Date of death 19 September 1918 (aged 29)[2]
Place of death Somme, France
Height 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1.74 m)[3]
Position(s) Outside right, inside forward, half back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
c. 1905 Leicester Old Boys
Leicestershire Regiment
0000–1910 Leicester Nomads
1910–1914 Leicester Fosse 106 (23)
1914–1918 Derby County 38 (5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Charles Benfield (1889 – 19 September 1918) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Leicester Fosse and Derby County as a forward.[1]

Career

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An outside right and inside forward, Benfield played for local Leicester clubs before Second Division Leicester Fosse bought him out of the Army for £25 in July 1910.[1][4][5] Over the course of the following four seasons he made 111 appearances, scored 23 goals and was notable for scoring the first goal scored at Arsenal Stadium on 6 September 1913.[4][6]

Benfield moved to local newly relegated Second Division rivals Derby County in June 1914 and had an excellent 1914–15 season, scoring 15 goals (including a brace in a 6–0 away win over Leicester Fosse on 28 December 1914) and helping the Rams to immediate promotion back to the First Division.[7][8][9] The suspension of competitive football at the end of the 1914–15 season brought Benfield's professional career to an end, but he remained with the club and played his final wartime match on 16 March 1918.[10][11] He also guested for Nottingham Forest and Grimsby Town during the war.[5]

Personal life

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Prior to becoming a professional footballer, Benfield served in the Sherwood Foresters between 1905 and 1910.[5] As of 1914, he was living in Leicester with his wife Elsie.[10] After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Benfield enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment and was serving as a sergeant when he was shot by a sniper in the area of Équancourt and Heudicourt, Somme on 11 September 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive.[10] He died of his wounds following an operation on 19 September, just under two months before the Armistice.[5] Benfield was buried in Varennes Military Cemetery.[2] As of November 2012, Ben Swift, Benfield's great-grand-nephew, was an employee of Leicester City.[11]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Leicester Fosse 1910–11[4] Second Division 16 3 1 0 17 3
1911–12[4] Second Division 34 6 3 0 37 6
1912–13[4] Second Division 20 3 1 0 21 3
1913–14[4] Second Division 36 11 0 0 36 11
Total 106 23 5 0 111 23
Derby County 1914–15[7] Second Division 38 15 1 0 39 15
Career total 144 38 6 0 150 38

Honours

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Derby County

References

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  1. ^ a b c Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 24. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. ^ a b "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. ^ "The coming of the big ball: the Second Division: Leicester Fosse". Athletic News. Manchester. 18 August 1913. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Tommy Benfield | Leicester City career stats". FoxesTalk. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d "Benfield, Thomas Charles". Royal Leicestershire Regiment. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Hello to Highbury". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "Thomas Charles Benfield". 11v11.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Leicester Fosse v Derby County, 28 December 1914". 11v11.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Derby County League Table 1914-1915". Statto.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  10. ^ a b c "Leicester Fosse And The First World War: Part 15". Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  11. ^ a b "TWIH: Fosse Players In WW1". Retrieved 23 November 2017.
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