| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Albert Victor Butler[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Reading, England | ||
| Date of death | 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
| 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[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1914–15[8] | Southern League First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 1 | ||
- 1 2 Appearance in London Challenge Cup
Honours
Reading
- Southern League Second Division: 1910–11[3]
References
- 1 2 "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Royals Remember Ben". Reading FC | Home of the Royals!. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 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.
- 1 2 3 Lee, Matt (29 August 2013). "World War I soldier wills digitised for online archive". BBC Online. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ↑ "Visiting the Western Front: 2" (PDF). pp. 4–5. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
- ↑ "Albert Butler". In The Mad Crowd. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
- ↑ "Seasonal Stats – Files – 1913–14". QPRnet. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
- ↑ "Seasonal Stats – Files – 1914–15". QPRnet. Retrieved 27 November 2017.