Henry Roberts (1 September 1907 – October 1984) was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international

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 at

inside-right Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for Barrow,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, Lincoln City,

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, and Spalding United. He was capped by England despite never playing top-flight football and scored in his one and only international game, in a 4–1 win over

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 16 May 1931.

Early and personal life

Henry Roberts was born in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

on 1 September 1907. He was the twelfth of thirteen children to Richard and Isabella; his father was a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

on the shipyards.

Club career

Roberts represented Lancashire Schools and played junior football with Barrow Wireworks. He joined Barrow as a professional during Christmas 1925. On 1 July 1926, he signed with

. On 11 August 1928, he joined Lincoln City. He was Lincoln's top-scorer in the 1929–30 season with 21 goals. He played on the losing side of the

Lincolnshire Senior Cup The Lincolnshire Senior County Cup is a football (soccer) competition for senior football clubs in Lincolnshire organised by the Lincolnshire FA. The competition can be traced back to the formation of the Lincolnshire FA at a meeting held at th ...

final in 1929 and 1930. He was signed by

for a £100 fee on 20 June 1930. He was a first team regular at

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

from December 1930, and managed a tally of 11 goals in 26 games as the "Valiants" finished a club record high of fifth in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in the 1930–31 season. He scored in both fixtures against

, and was signed to the "Lions" on 30 April 1931. Millwall finished ninth and seventh in the Second Division in 1931–32 and 1932–33, before suffering relegation with a 21st-place finish in 1933–34. They then finished 12th in the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

in 1934–35. Roberts scored 25 goals in 115 league appearances at

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it ...

. He was placed on the transfer list, and when the League Management Committee met on 28 June 1935, they decided that the 'fee asked for' was to be reduced. He signed with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on 1 October 1935. He moved on to

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

side

in November 1935. He scored 29 goals for the "Posh" in 90 league and cup appearances, including a hat-trick in an 8–2 victory over Denaby United at London Road on 19 April 1938. He signed for Spalding United in the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

on 17 August 1938.

International career

Roberts was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

in a friendly with

at the

Oscar Bossaert Stadium The Edmond Machtens Stadium (french: Stade Edmond Machtens, nl, Edmond Machtensstadion) is a football stadium located in the municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels, Belgium. The stadium has a capacity of 12,266. It was the home of Bel ...

on 16 May 1931, which England won 4–1. He scored one of the goals, whilst

Eric Houghton William Eric Houghton (29 June 1910 – 1 May 1996) was an English footballer and manager. Eric Houghton was born in Billingborough, Lincolnshire and educated at Donington Grammar School. He signed for Aston Villa as a seventeen-year-old an ...

and

Harry Burgess Harry Burgess may refer to: * Harry Burgess (footballer) (1904–1957), footballer for England, Stockport County, Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea *Harry Burgess (governor) {{Infobox officeholder , image=Harry Burgess.jpg , caption= Burgess as a W ...

(2) bagged the other three. He was signed to Millwall at the time after having recently signed from Port Vale.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Lincoln City *

runner-up: 1929, 1930

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Harry Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness Footballers from Cumbria English footballers England international footballers Association football forwards Barrow A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Spalding United F.C. players English Football League players Midland Football League players 1907 births 1984 deaths