Almost as soon as ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ had been sent out to our eager subscribers new information came to light about William Gibb Clarke. We would have loved to include it in the book but … too late. It’s what historians know by the technical term ‘sod’s law’.
Willie’s football career started in Scotland in 1895 and continued in England with Bristol Rovers (1900/01), Aston Villa (1901/02 to 1904/05), Bradford City (1905/06 to 1908/09) and Lincoln City (1909/10 to 1910/11), before he finished his career with non-league Croydon Common in 1911. He was the first black player at Bristol, Bradford and Aston Villa but not at Lincoln where John Walker preceded him.
Born in 1878, Willie was 33 in 1911. Football was nothing like as well paid in those days as it is now and there were few opportunities for players to set aside money for their post-football life and so they had to find a different line of work. The evidence suggests that Willie became an upholsterer – that’s the occupation shown on his 1914 marriage certificate.
But one thing looms very large in the second decade of the 20th Century and that, of course, is what we now know as the First World War. When war broke out, Willie was 36. There was no conscription when the War started, so young men like Willie were under no obligation to enlist. Many chose to sign up anyway and had a variety of motives for doing so. Patriotism would have been high up the list for many men, a yearning for adventure away from mundane lives in a factory or down a mine would have influenced others and, money, may have motivated some – the Army paid relatively well. At the time, the popular belief was that it would be ‘over by Christmas’ (but which Christmas?). If they had known what we know now how many would have enlisted anyway? A rhetorical question, we can never know the answer of course.
When we researched ‘Pioneers’ we suspected that Willie may have served in some capacity during the War but Clarke is, let’s face it, a common name and it was difficult to establish whether he did.
But then a descendent of Willie’s made contact on 10th September to say that a cousin had two medals from the First World War that he had inherited, they turned out to be Willie’s medals from the War.
The service records of many First World War soldiers were destroyed when a German bomb struck the building where the files were kept during the Second World War. Around two thirds of the records were either destroyed by fire or irreparably damaged by the water used to extinguish the flames. Whether a soldier’s records have survived is pretty much down to pot luck – Walter Tull’s records survive, those of Willie Clarke do not. But the cards recording what medals soldiers were entitled to were stored in a different place, most survive and they contain useful information. This is Willie’s medal card:
This tells us that Willie was among the first to enlist, 11th August 1914. He joined the Middlesex Regiment and was given the service number L/11025. It is tempting to think that he served in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment alongside Walter Tull but that unit wasn’t formed until December 1914 and Walter didn’t enlist until 21st of that month. Possibly they did serve together but in the absence of Willie’s service records it is almost impossible to prove that they did.
We know that Willie was straight into the action because the record shows that he was entitled to receive the 1914 Star, a medal awarded to those who saw active service in France or Belgium between 5 August and 22 November 1914. Willie could have been involved in the Battle of Mons (from 23rd August 1914), the Battle of the Marne (6th – 12th September 1914), and/or the First Battle of Ypres (19th October to 22nd November), or any one of many smaller confrontations. Willie was lucky to survive, many didn’t, after the War one estimate put British losses from 14 October to 30 November alone at 58,155.
Willie later transferred to the Royal Engineers where he was a sapper. Further research might yield more information about Willie’s war record but we already know that he received the full complement of British Medal, Victory medal and 1914 Star. Willie survived the War, dying in 1949 at the age of seventy.
1914 Star 
British Medal 
Victory Medal
As well as being a football pioneer William Gibb Clarke was clearly also a very brave man.
