John Edward Leighton (26 March 1865 – 15 April 1944) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and the Corinthians in the 1880s and made one appearance for

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 ...

in 1886.

Football career

Leighton was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and after playing schoolboy and junior football in the town, he joined

in 1884. He joined Forest prior to the advent of

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 ...

and was thus restricted to friendly and cup matches. Leighton scored a goal in the 4–1 victory over local rivals, Notts Olympic in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in November 1885; the following year he scored twice against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

in the

, repeating this in November 1887 against Mellors Ltd. His England call-up came on 13 March 1886 when, along with his Nottingham Forest teammate

Tinsley Lindley Dr. Tinsley Lindley OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear football ...

, he was one of eight new caps selected to play against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Ballynafeigh Park The Ulster Cricket Ground in Ballynafeigh Park was a sports venue in Ballynafeigh, Belfast. Opened in 1879, it was the home ground of both Ulster Cricket Club and Ulster F.C. During the 1880s, it also hosted several Irish Cup finals and Ireland i ...

, Belfast. England "totally dominated" the match as

Benjamin Spilsbury Benjamin Ward Spilsbury (1 August 1864 – 15 August 1938) was an English international footballer. Early life He was born at Findern, Derbyshire, son of the Reverend Benjamin Ward. Spilsbury was an all-round athlete at Rossall School and la ...

scored four goals in a 6–1 victory. Leighton also played for the Corinthians between 1885 and 1889, during which time he made seven appearances.

Life outside football

By profession, Leighton was a wholesale

stationer Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...

and paper merchant in Nottingham. He was a supporter of Nottingham Forest and watched most of their matches at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

at all levels; he collapsed and died at the City Ground on 15 April 1944, aged 79.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, John 1865 births Footballers from Nottingham 1944 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Nottingham Forest F.C. players Corinthian F.C. players England men's international footballers