Cecil Christmas

Cecil Christmas
Personal information
Full name Edwin Cecil Russell Christmas
Date of birth (1886-01-13)13 January 1886
Place of birth Southampton, England
Date of death 7 October 1916(1916-10-07) (aged 30)
Place of death Somme, France
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1912 Southampton 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Edwin Cecil Russell Christmas (13 January 1886 – 7 October 1916)[1] was an English amateur footballer who played twice for Southampton in 1912.

Playing career

Born in Southampton in early 1886, he joined Southampton as an amateur in 1908 and made several appearances for the reserve team, but his business career prevented him devoting much time to football. In 1910 he left football to devote himself full-time to his business interests but was persuaded to return to The Dell by reserve team manager George Carter the following year. In March 1912, following the dismissal of first choice centre forward Henry Hamilton for a serious breach of club discipline, Christmas was drafted into the first team. Despite his "pace and dribbling skills"[2] he was not a success and he returned to the reserves.

Following serious injury, at the end of the 1911–12 season he "gave up trying to make the grade"[3] and ended his football career.

After football

During the First World War he enlisted in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, reaching the rank of Second Lieutenant. He died in France on 7 October 1916 aged 30, of wounds received in action in the Battle of the Somme, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. ↑ Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  3. ↑ Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints - A complete record. Breedon Books. p. 237. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  4. ↑ "Casualty Details: Christmas, Edwin Cecil Russell". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
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