Sidney Wheelhouse

Sidney Wheelhouse

Wheelhouse in 1907
Personal information
Date of birth	September 1888
Place of birth	Darlington, England[1]
Date of death	19 September 1916 (aged 27–28)
Place of death	near Beaumont-Hamel, France
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1905	Bishop Auckland
1906–1907	Shildon Athletic
1907–1915	Grimsby Town	234	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sidney Wheelhouse (September 1888 – 19 September 1916) was an English professional football right back, best remembered for his eight years in the Football League with Grimsby Town.^[1]

A right back, Wheelhouse began his career with Northern League clubs Bishop Auckland and Shildon Athletic before moving to the Football League to sign for Second Division club Grimsby Town in 1907.^[2] He was a regular with the Mariners for the next eight seasons and went on to captain the club, before leaving at the end of 1914–15.^[2] He returned to Blundell Park in 1916 to play in a wartime charity match.^[2]

He fought with the 17th (Service) Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) (more popularly known as the 1st Football Battalion) during the First World War and rose to the rank of lance corporal.^[2] He saw action at Delville Wood and Guillemont in July and August 1916.^[2]

On 18 September, Wheelhouse was part of a working party which was mined while sheltering from a mortar attack and within 24 hours, he and every member of the party was dead.^[2] He is buried in Couin British Cemetery.^[3]