John Dutton Benton (5 October 1875 – 8 July 1926) 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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

Football career

Benton represented the Irish League on three occasions while he was a

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

player. He then travelled to South Africa where he assisted

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

Police, on his return to England he joined Stoke. Benton made his League debut against

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 ...

. When

Leigh Richmond Roose Leigh Richmond "Dick" Roose, Military Medal, MM, (27 November 1877 – 7 October 1916) was a Welsh international association football, footballer who kept goal for a number of professional clubs in the English Football League, Football League b ...

joined the club in 1905, Benton re-joined Glentoran. He came back to Stoke in 1908 and played five more times before retiring in 1910 through injury. Benton remained with Stoke and became club trainer up until 1918.

Army career

From 1893 to 1904 Benton was enlisted in the army in the 4th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment. He served as a corporal in Belfast (Northern Ireland) and in the South Africa in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. He was discharged in 1904 having been promoted to the rank of Sergeant of Police. His parents were Joseph Benton (1843–1920, a cooper by trade) and Sarah Ann Dutton (1853–1922), both of Staffordshire.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benton, Jack 1875 births 1926 deaths Footballers from Newcastle-under-Lyme English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Stoke City F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players