Thomas Johnson Britten (6 March 1858 – 24 October 1910) was an 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 ...

. Though born and raised in rural

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

in England, his birth was registered in the nearest town

Presteigne Presteigne (; cy, Llanandras: the church of St. Andrew) is a town and community in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales on the south bank of the River Lugg. Formerly the county town of the historic county of Radnorshire, the town has, in common with sev ...

across the Welsh border and he was deemed eligible to play for the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

,The English players in 1870s Scottish football
Andy Mitchell, Scottish Sport History, 12 April 2021 which he did twice in 1878 and 1880. He made his debut on 23 March 1878 against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and played his second and last match on 27 March 1880 against the same opposition. Britten had other links to Scotland as he worked in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

for several years, playing for the local club

Parkgrove Parkgrove is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Approximately 4 miles north-west of Edinburgh city centre. The suburb is located between the neighbouring areas of Clermiston, Barnton and Davidson's Mains Davidson's Mains is a ...

and for a Glasgow select in an inter-city challenge match. His profession as a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

took him around Britain, and he appeared for several other regional representative teams (which convened fairly regularly in that era). In 1880 he was playing club football in Wales for Presteigne, and in 1887 he was with

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

club

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. He declined the offer of another Wales

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

at least twice in the 1880s,Saturday, 26 February 1887 England 4 Wales 0
England Football Online and due to his birthplace he was also invited to play 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 ...

but remained on the reserve list and never made an appearance.Saturday, 5 April 1879 England 5 Scotland 4
England Football Online He later emigrated to South Africa where he was a noted figure in the field of mining machinery.Britten, Mr Thomas Johnson (mining engineering)
S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science

References

1858 births Welsh footballers English footballers Wales international footballers Sportspeople from Herefordshire 1910 deaths Association football forwards Parkgrove F.C. players Crusaders F.C. (London) players British emigrants to South Africa {{Wales-footy-forward-stub

See also

References