John Range Cartmell (28 August 1890 – 23 February 1979) was a 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 ...

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

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and Gillingham as an

outside left 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 ...

. He later became trainer at Brentford and served nearly 30 years in the role. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in May 2015.

Playing career

, Cartmell began his career with spells at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, Mardy and

Abertillery Abertillery (; cy, Abertyleri) is a town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area. ...

, before the outbreak of 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 ...

in 1914 saw the suspension of competitive football the following year. Cartmell guested for Heart of Midlothian during the war and made 23 appearances, scoring two goals. After the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

, Cartmell joined Southern League First Division club

in 1919. He made 30 appearances during the Bees' first season of league football in 1920–21, before leaving at the end of the campaign. Cartmell ended his career with Southern League club

Boscombe Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth, England. Historically in Hampshire, but today in Dorset, it is located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne. Originally a sparsely inhabited area of heathland, from around 1865 B ...

and made a brief return to the Football League with Gillingham during the 1923–24 season.

Trainer career

After his retirement from football in 1924, Cartmell remained at Gillingham as assistant to trainer Bob Kane. Cartmell returned to Brentford in 1926, when he followed Kane, manager Harry Curtis and a number of Gillingham players to

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

. He progressed to become the club's lead trainer and remained with the Bees until the mid-1950s. Cartmell was rewarded for his long service with a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against Hayes in April 1955. He became trainer of

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

club Hayes in the mid-1950s.

Personal life

Cartmell served in the

Sportsmen's Battalions The Sportsman's Battalions, also known as the 23rd (Service) Battalion and 24th (Service) Battalion (2nd Sportsman's), Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) were among the Pals battalions formed by the British Army in the early stages of the Fi ...

of the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

during the First World War.

Career statistics

Honours

Heart of Midlothian *

Rosebery Charity Cup The Rosebery Charity Cup was a football competition organised for senior clubs from the East of Scotland. History The tournament was organised by and named for an early patron of Scottish football Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery and ...

: 1916–17 Individual * Brentford Hall of Fame

References

1890 births English footballers People from Blackpool Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Mardy A.F.C. players Association football outside forwards Abertillery Town F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. wartime guest players AFC Bournemouth players Gillingham F.C. players 1979 deaths Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. players British Army personnel of World War I Royal Fusiliers soldiers Military personnel from Lancashire {{England-footy-forward-1890s-stub