An Evening Dedicated to Remembering the Fallen of Everton FC

Rob Sawyer

The November 2026 talk and social event organised by Everton FC Heritage Society had as its theme, The Fallen of Everton FC. The special guest for the night was author and broadcaster Spencer Vignes, who wrote Lost in France, the acclaimed biography of legendary goalkeeper Leigh Richmond Roose.

After a brief update on Heritage Society news, members Mike Royden, Tony Wainwright and Rob Sawyer kicked off proceedings with a panel discussion on work carried out to research and commemorate those associated with Everton FC, and its namesake club in Chile, who had died whilst in service. Aside from Mike and Tony’s extensive research, credit was given to those who have been instrumental in these endeavours, including Dr David France, John Shearon, Paul Wharton, Billy Smith, Peter Jones and the late John Rowlands.

**Rob Sawyer – our presenter for the evening**

**Tony Wainwright, our Liverpool Pals and WW1 expert**

Mike Royden, Historian, **WW1 expert**, **and vice-chair of EFCHS**

The strands of work have included a booklet on The Fallen of the two Everton clubs by Mike Royden and Peter Jones (available as a PDF download on the Heritage Society’s website above), the installation of the memorial plaques at Goodison Park and in Viña del Mar, a host of articles on the Heritage Society website and in the Everton matchday programme, plus a series of documentary films on Donald Sloan, Tom Gracie, Leigh Roose and David Bruce Murray (the latter film due for release by 11 November). Images were shown on screen of the annual Remembrance service, held next to the Dixie Dean statue each Armistice Day (Society members Paul Kelly and Rev. Henry Corbett are key to its organisation and delivery).

**Ian Snodin laying the wreath on behalf of Everton Football Club**

Mike Royden – War Memorial Research and Update

**Viewing the original Memorial plaque on screen alongside Dr David France**

**Working through the final lists of names**

The research in this subject area is continuous. Mike gave an update on the additional plaques for the Goodison memorial that will list eighteen rather than the original seven names. It is the hope of the Society that a memorial will be added at Hill Dickinson Stadium at some future point.

Battlefields of the Western Front

Paying respects to the Fallen of Everton FC and filming for future biographies

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Rob Sawyer – Bobby Parker and Grave Restoration

Rob, meanwhile, described the recent Bobby Parker grave restoration project, which was supported through a crowdfunding campaign. Parker was injured whilst on active service in the Middle East in 1916, having scored thirty-five goals when the Toffees won the league in 1915.

Rob has also written a much more detailed biography here;

The Life and Times of Bobby Parker

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Tony Wainwright – The Liverpool Pals

**The Liverpool Pals website, curated by Tony Wainwright** *(click to access)*

Next, Tony gave insights into the four Liverpool Pals regiments, formed by volunteers soon after the outbreak of the First World War. The men of 17th, 18th and 19th Battalions of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment were amongst the first to go to war and the last to come home. Tony, who has received the British Empire Medal for advocacy for commemorating the Liverpool Pals, curates the associated website. He explained to the audience how he receives regular, touching messages from the families of those who served. He also spoke movingly of Frank Boundy, a 17th Battalion member killed in action at the Somme in 1916. Boundy, who won the Military Cross, had been a founding member of the Chilean Everton FC prior to the conflict. Tony also reflected on the installation in 2014 of the memorial friezes at Lime Street Station, created by Dixie Dean statue sculptor Tom Murphy. These serve as a permanent tribute to the Pals regiments who paid such a heavy price for their bravery.

**The citation for bravery published in the London Gazette**

**The grave of Frank Boundy has been visited many times by Tony Wainwright, and by Mike Royden who paid respects in June 2025**

**The Liverpool Pals memorial friezes, Lime Street Station**

**Tony Wainwright being presented with his BEM**

Spencer Vignes

After an opportunity to chat and refill glasses, Spencer Vignes was welcomed to the stage. Once the Brighton and Hove Albion supporter had recovered from the shock of being described by Rob as a Crystal Palace follower (a Freudian slip! – Ed.), Spencer gave a rip-roaring account of the amazing thirty-eight years that Leigh Roose had on this earth. He explained how his biography of Roose came out of a subsequently debunked story that Roose had been involved in the fabled 1914 Christmas Day truce kick-abouts on the Western Front. The true life story that emerged was far more extraordinary.

**Leigh Roose playing for Stoke in 1904**

In conversation with Mike and Rob, the author touched on various elements of Roose’s incredible life, which took him from being taught by HG Wells in the Welsh village of Holt, via studies in Aberystwyth, to become one of the greatest, and certainly most flamboyant, goalkeepers of the era. Whilst maintaining his amateur player status (on very generous expenses), he transcended football through his striking personality and man-about-town antics. His brief yet eventful seven months with the Toffees (1904/05) saw him come agonisingly close to delivering a league and cup double, but he left empty-handed.

The Everton players’ retained list, written by William Cuff in the Board Minutes, 25 April 1905, shows Roose at the top right. However, Roose had other ideas. Days later, he secretly agreed to return to Stoke City, but strung the Everton Board along for weeks, before confirming his departure in mid August. Fortunately, Everton still had Billy Scott on the books, who would continue to give the club good service until 1912, making 289 league and cup appearances and play twenty-five times for Ireland.
(*Board Minutes: The Everton Collection, Stats: Everton Results*)

Lastly, Roose’s war was focussed on, from joining the YMCA – working alongside the Royal Army Medical Corps – to seeing the horrors of the Gallipoli Campaign. Spencer concluded that witnessing this hell on earth changed the former goalkeeper. He subsequently enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers and gallantly fought on the Western Front, being awarded the Military Medal for demonstrating great bravery under fire.

**Note the incorrect spelling of his name in the London Gazette**

Then there was the mystery of what became of him, which inspired the biography’s title. His family had tried in vain to get to the truth of their missing loved one. It transpired that a simple spelling error on service records had masked the truth of his death during an advance on 7 October 1917. Thanks to the efforts of Spencer and others, Rouse has been corrected to Roose on the Thiepval memorial. This segment of the night was bookended by extracts from Mike and Lewis Royden’s film about Roose, ‘This Prince of Goalkeepers.’

**The amended panel with the correct spelling of his name on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme**

A fascinating discussion ended with Spencer talking about his latest book, Postcards from Santiago, which recounts the life story of Chile born and Yorkshire raised football star of the 1940s and 1950s, George Robledo. The striker’s 1952 FA Cup Final-winning goal inspired an eleven-year-old John Lennon to draw a picture which would subsequently adorn the cover of his Walls and Bridges LP. In another Everton/Merseyside link, Robledo, who had returned to the country of his birth in the 1950s, lived out his final years in Vina Del Mar, home of the Chilean Everton FC.

Postcards from Santiago

John Lennon’s 1974 Walls and Bridges album cover, featuring his painting made while he was at Dovedale Primary School. It depicts George Robledo scoring the only goal of the 1952 Cup Final for Newcastle against Arsenal. Jackie Milburn (No.9) is in the foreground.

**No question as to which part of the action Lennon was painting**

Discover more about Spencer Vignes and his publications here.

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Colin Harvey – Special preview screening of our exclusive new interview

The evening concluded with a first screening of an exclusive interview given to the Heritage Society by arguably the greatest living Evertonian. Colin Harvey was filmed at his home, initially to talk about the latest recipient of the Dixie Dean Memorial Award, Johnny Morrissey. This morphed into a wide-ranging and entertaining chat with Ken Rogers, Mike Royden and Lewis Royden about his years in football.

**Filmed and edited by Lewis Royden for *The Everton Heritage Show* (click to access)**

The success of these events depends on many hours of preparation (take a bow Mike and Lewis) and the quality of the guests. It was wonderful to have Spencer Vignes with us, we hope to see him again soon. Of course, evenings like these would be nothing without a fantastic audience; thanks to those who chose to forego the Guy Fawkes Night firework displays and join us in the relative peace of the Denbigh Castle pub function room. This leads us to end by thanking the staff of this wonderful venue for their continued hospitality.