The 1916-17 English football season was Aston Villa's 2nd season of wartime football in England during the First World War. In August 1916, former player, Billy Gerrish was killed in action. In February 1915, six months into the First World War, Gerrish had enlisted in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. He was severely wounded in both legs by a shell blast at Delville Wood on 8 August 1916 and died later that day. Gerrish has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Walter Kimberley was captured by the Germans at Maubeuge during the First Battle of the Marne and spent two years as a prisoner of war in camps at Döberitz, Dyrotz and Cottbus. Beginning with a six-month stay in hospital with laryngitis and bronchitis, Kimberley's health declined during his internment and he was repatriated to Britain in August 1916 with pulmonary tuberculosis. He was immediately discharged from the army and fell into severe ill heath, permanently losing his voice and dying at home in Aston on 22 April 1917. Kimberley was buried in Witton Cemetery, Birmingham. He was married and had two children, one of whom died in infancy.
Between 1915 and 1919 the Football League and FA Cup were suspended and in their place regional league competitions were set up; appearances in these tournaments do not count in players' official records. Many footballers signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead.
There were three regional leagues; the South-West Combination played in 1915–16 was discontinued. Each league, except the London Combination, was split into a principal tournament, consisting of a single league, and then a subsidiary tournament of four groups.
Jack Windmill saw active service in World War I in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He rose to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major and gained the Military Cross and the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. In May 1917, nearly three years after the outbreak of the First World War, Jimmy Stephenson enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery and saw action on the Western Front and later served as part of the British Army of the Rhine.
Tommy Jackson served with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers during World War IJackson Tommy Image 1 Aston Villa 1921, Vintage Footballers. Retrieved 1 January 2022. Sam Hardy served as an ordinary seaman in the Royal Navy during the First World War. In May 1917, nearly three years since the outbreak of the First World War, Jimmy Stephenson enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery and saw action on the Western Front and later served as part of the British Army of the Rhine.
Aston Trench was the front line before Villa Trench in the rear in the North Western trench formation at the Battle of Bazentin Ridge.
See also List of Aston Villa F.C. records and statistics References
External links Aston Villa official website
Aston Villa football club match record: 1917