Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Larrett Roebuck [1] | ||
Date of birth | 27 January 1889 | ||
Place of birth | Jump, England | ||
Date of death | 18 October 1914[2] | (aged 25)||
Place of death | near Beaucamps-Ligny, France [3] | ||
Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) [4] | ||
Position(s) | Left back | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
–1913 | Silverwood Colliery | ||
1913–1914 | Huddersfield Town | 17 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Larrett Roebuck (27 January 1889 – 18 October 1914) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Huddersfield Town as a left back. [5] He was the first Football League player to be killed in the First World War. [3]
As a boy, Roebuck worked as a trammer at Silverwood Colliery and after being sentenced to one month's imprisonment for stealing a watch in 1904, he enlisted in the territorial section of the York and Lancaster Regiment. [3] [6] Over the next seven years, he was stationed in India and Ireland and was promoted to lance corporal, but was demoted back to private in 1910 for "misconduct". [3] He married in 1908 and had four children. [3] [6] Roebuck was discharged into the reserves in 1912 and likely returned to work as a miner prior to becoming a professional footballer in 1913. [3] After Britain's entry into the First World War in August 1914, he was mobilised by the York and Lancaster Regiment and arrived on the Western Front in September 1914. [6] On 18 October 1914, Roebuck was recorded as " presumed dead" after an attack near Beaucamps-Ligny during the Race to the Sea. [3] His death was confirmed by two comrades in January 1915. [3] Roebuck is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing. [2]
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Huddersfield Town | 1913–14 [7] | Second Division | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
Career total | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 |