Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Corporal

Army Number : 12078

Unit : 1st Bn, 2nd Bn

Biography :

Enlisted at Coalville. Served in 1st Bn in the Boer War and in 2nd Battalion during World War One. Killed in action at Neuve Chapelle on 13.3.1915. He is commemorated on Le Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Some of the above information from a private source.

Further Info: Updated file from "Of Fossils & Foxes" (2010 edition), re Sheffield's football career: Sheffield, John Davenport b. Coalville, Leics, July qtr 1879; d. Neuve Chapelle, France, 13th March
1915

Career: 1897 Coalville Albion; Apr 1900 Whitwick White Cross; Aug 1900 Coalville Town; Coalville Wednesday; Oct 1902 Burton United; cs 1903 Coalville Town; am July 1904 FOSSE; Aug 1905 Loughborough Corinthians; 1905 Ibstock Albion; cs 1906 Coalville Excelsior; cs 1908 Ibstock Albion;
Coalville Wednesday; cs 1910 Coalville Town; cs 1912 Coalville Swifts. Fosse debut v Liverpool (A) 1.10.1904 As his list of clubs in the North Leicestershire area testifies, amateur outside-right Jack who apprenticed as an architect and surveyor he clearly didn't fancy taking his football talents far from home (his father William ran the Railway Hotel, Coalville, and was President of Coalville Town FC). Yet he also managed to fit a spell of far-flung Boer War service into the above chronology (as a corporal in the Leicester Volunteer Battalion, in South Africa in 1901 and 1902). He totalled a dozen Second Division outings for the Brewers in front of Harry Ashby (and his goal earned them a Cup replay against Manchester United), but was effectively debarred from much extending his experience at that level with Fosse by the consistency of Jamie Durrant. Jack took runners-up medals from the County Cup Finals of 1904 (with Coalville Town) and 1905 (with Fosse reserves), and represented Leicestershire against Lancashire in January 1904 and February 1905. Curiously, in the season before he signed for Fosse, he divided his Saturdays between appearances for Coalville Town and Coalville Rugby Club, starring for the latter as a speedy three-quarter. Tragically, Jack's second stint in his country's colours ‒ as a Leicestershire Regiment corporal ‒ heralded his death from a head wound in the WW1 trenches. LFFC
Apps: FL 2.

CWGC:

SHEFFIELD, JOHN DAVENPORT
Rank: Corporal
Service No: 12078
Date of Death: 13/03/1915
Regiment/Service: Leicestershire Regiment 2nd Bn.
Panel Reference Panel 11.
Memorial LE TOURET MEMORIAL

Date of Birth : 1879

Place of Birth : Coalville, Leicestershire

Date of Death : 13.3.1915

Place of Death : Neuve Chapelle, France

Period of Service : 1900-15

Conflicts : Boer War, WWI

Places Served : South Africa, France