Wilfred Bartrop

Wilf Bartrop (22 November 1887 – 7 November 1918) was a professional footballer, who played as a Forward for several English sides prior to the First World War. He was killed in action, days before the end of the war.

Wilf Bartrop
Personal information
Full name Wilfred Bartrop
Date of birth (1887-11-22)22 November 1887
Place of birth Worksop, England
Date of death 7 November 1918(1918-11-07) (aged 30)
Place of death Escaut, Belgium
Position(s) Outside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1908–1909 Worksop ? (?)
1909–1914 Barnsley 160 (15)
1914–1915 Liverpool 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

He started his career at home side Worksop before transferring to Barnsley on 21 June 1909.[1] He played in both FA Cup finals that Barnsley reached in 1910 and 1912.[2][3] In the 1910 FA Cup, Bartrop scored a 'wonder goal' in a 1–0 quarter-final win over Queen's Park Rangers. In the final, Barnsley lost the replay 2–0 to Newcastle, after a 1–1 draw in the first tie. The 1912 cup final went again to a replay but Barnsley won, defeating West Bromwich Albion 1–0 in extra time, after a 0–0 draw in the first encounter.[4] Many newspapers, including the Manchester Guardian, praised his play in the replay.[5]

At the end of the 1913–14 season he transferred to Liverpool who he played a total of 3 games for before his career was interrupted by the First World War.[1]

A biography of Wilfred Bartrop, entitled 'Swifter than the Arrow', was published in December 2008.[6]

Honours

Barnsley

His FA Cup winners medal was sold in 2008 for £14400 – more than twice its estimate price.[7] [8]

Military service

He joined the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner in a Trench Mortar Battery.[4] He was serving in Belgium when his unit came under heavy artillery fire at the river Escaut on 7 November 1918. Bartrop was severely wounded in the legs and chest by an airburst and died of wounds seconds later. His death took place 4 days before the end of the war.[9]

The opening display in an exhibition on football and the Great War at the National Football Museum, Manchester, UK (2014 to 2015) focuses on Wilfred Bartrop.[10] The display includes photographs, archive film footage and memorabilia including Bartrop's FA Cup winner's medal.

References
  1. "Wilf Bartrop Player Profile". LFC History.net. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  2. "fa-cupfinals.co.uk". fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  3. "fa-cupfinals.co.uk". fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  4. "Wilfred Bartrop – Barnsley, Liverpool and the War". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  5. "Barnsley's Victory". Manchester Guardian. 25 April 1912. p. 4.
  6. "Swifter than the Arrow: Wilfred Bartrop, football and war". Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  7. "Sale 15968, Sporting Memorabilia, 27 Feb 2008 CHESTER". Bonhams. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  8. "Reds' FA Cup winner's medal expected to fetch £6,000". Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  9. "Casualty Details: Bartrop, Wilfred". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  10. "The Greater Game: Football & The First World War". National Football Museum. Retrieved 8 March 2015.


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