Joseph Bulcock (April 1879 – 20 April 1918) was an English professional

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 ...

, best remembered for his five years as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in the Southern League with

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, for whom he made over 140 appearances. Earlier in his career, he 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

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

and for a number of

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

clubs. He represented the Southern League XI and the

Football Association XI Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Personal life

Bulcock was the youngest of three brothers. After professional football was suspended at the end of the 1914–15 season due to the ongoing

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 ...

, he lived in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

and worked as a plumber's mate. Bulcock enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in the

Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

in December 1915 and was sent to the

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in September 1917. He was wounded at the Fourth Battle of Ypres and died of wounds to the head at 36th

Casualty Clearing Station In the British Army and other Commonwealth militaries, a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) is a military medical facility behind the front lines that is used to treat wounded soldiers. A CCS would usually be located just beyond the range of enemy ...

in Watten, France on 20 April 1918. Bulcock was buried in Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military Cemetery,

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Honours

Colne *

Lancashire Junior Cup The Lancashire Football Association Challenge Trophy is an English football competition for senior non-league clubs who are members of the Lancashire County Football Association. The trophy was first played for in 1885, when it was known as the ...

: 1905–06

References

1879 births 1918 deaths Military personnel from Lancashire Footballers from Burnley English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks British Army personnel of World War I Welch Regiment soldiers British military personnel killed in World War I Brynn Central F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Bacup Borough F.C. players Trawden Forest F.C. players Bury F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Southern Football League representative players Southern Football League players {{England-footy-defender-1870s-stub