Albert Milton MM (1885 – 11 October 1917) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

as a full back. He fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was killed at Passchendaele while serving with the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

in October 1917.

Club career

Albert began his career at South Kirkby before joining neighbours

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

for £50. After just one season at Oakwell Albert was sold by Barnsley to

in April 1908 for the then maximum transfer fee of £350, Albert made his debut on 9 September 1908 in a 3–0 win against Middlesbrough at

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and r ...

. Though Albert played for The Black Cats from 1908 to 1914, he never won a League Championship, as in the 1912–13 season he was injured and missed the majority of the title claim, as well as the

1913 FA Cup Final The 1913 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and Sunderland on 19 April 1913 at London's Crystal Palace. Playing as the home side, Aston Villa won 1–0 on a goal by Tommy Barber on a crossed ball from Charlie Wallace. Wallace had ear ...

defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Overall for Sunderland, he made 123 league appearances without a goal. In March 1914 Albert was given a benefit game by the Black Cats before he joined Swindon Town in May of the same year. Despite the transfer fee paid by Swindon being "a very large one" after just twelve months he left the club to return to the Sunderland area with the onset of war.

Personal life

After retiring from football Milton returned to Sunderland, where he obtained work with MacColl and Pollock's Engine Works, where he remained for 18 months before moving on to manage the Colliery Tavern, in Monkwearmouth. Alongside work Milton assisted local football teams, including Sunderland Rovers, as a coach. Albert was the brother of

Ernest Milton Ernest Milton (7 August 1897 – 2 September 1984) was an English footballer who played as a left or right back for Sheffield United in The Football League. Born in Kimberworth near Rotherham, he also had a spell for Kilnhurst Town as well a ...

and Alf Milton, both professional footballers. Another brother, Allan, was also a promising footballer who played for the family's local team Kimberworth Wesleyans.

Military career and death

On the onset of the

, Milton worked in a

munitions factory Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other we ...

supplying shells to the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. In 1917, Milton was conscripted into the

, and was sent to the

Passchendaele salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. ...

. Bombardier Milton was killed on 11 October 1917, the day before the First Battle of Passchendaele.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milton, Albert 1885 births 1917 deaths English men's footballers South Kirkby Colliery F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Footballers from Sheffield British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery soldiers British military personnel killed in World War I Recipients of the Military Medal Men's association football fullbacks