Hanwell FC & The Great War
On 4th of August 1914 the United Kingdom officially entered into World War One. At this point the original Hanwell Football Club had ceased operations just two years prior. However, a few of their former members enlisted to take part in ‘The Great War’. Whilst records for every former player on the front line are undoubtably incomplete, we have accounts of three ex-Hanwell members who were sadly lost in action.
William Henry Phippen before the war was a member of the territorial army. At the outbreak he enlisted with the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force. The force was mobilised and landed in Le Harve on 11th August 1914, joining up with the 19th Brigade under the lead of Major General L.G Drummond. Phippen fought at The Battle of Mons in Belgium which saw the British fail to hold the line against German forces and led to a retreat back over the French border. To help others retreat to safety the 1st Middlesex Battalion was involved in fighting a ‘rear guard action’ in the commune of Le Chateau-Cambresis on 24th August. This was also the British Army’s first battle in France since the start of The Great War. Eyewitness reports suggested Henry Phippen and many members of the Middlesex Regiment were left wounded in a church and taken prisoner by German forces, with the church being loaded with prisoners from various enemy camps before being shelled. Whilst a handful survived, sadly Phippen was one of many found dead in the chapel and was one of earliest British casualties in France. His name is commemorated at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre, a memorial to over 3,700 British & Irish soldiers with no known graves.
Abijah ‘Barger’ Cornwell before joining Hanwell might have been considered a sporting adversary after playing for Southall between the 1890s to 1911, including scoring in their 3-0 Middlesex Senior Cup final victory over Hanwell in 1908. On the pitch he was described as someone who could take hard knocks without having to deploy underhanded methods, and a true gentleman of the game. As well as being a talented footballer he played cricket for Norwood Green. Whilst at Southall he joined the territorial army and then was deployed to France as part of the 8th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. On 24th May 1915 Cornwell was wounded in action in the Belgian town of Ypres, suffering a broken back as well and was rushed to hospital in Boulonge-sur-Mer in France. Unfortunately, he passed away a couple of days later.
The hospital matron wrote the following to Cornwell's wife describing his final few hours: “Your poor husband passed away this morning. I am so grieved to have to write such sad, sad news. His last words were all of you and the children. I was to give you his fondest love and tell you what a dear loving wife you had been to him and how much he longed to see you again. He said, "Give her all of my love and the dear children and tell them to be good children and to look after their Mam." He told me you had lost your youngest, the baby, and he said, "She'll soon have her Daddy with her now." He seemed to look forward to seeing his baby again; it took some of the bitterness away of having to go. He died quite early in the morning and was conscious until a short time before he died”. His final resting place is in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, home to 5,577 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 224 from the Second World War.
The final story is that of goalkeeper Arthur Copus. Copus joined Hanwell in 1905 after the club moved from the London League to the Great Western Suburban League. A consistent feature in the squad with long time club secretary Donald Moir describing him as “the greatest Hanwell keeper to grace the sticks”. During his spell in Hanwell he was also called up to play for Middlesex in 1908 and helped the club finish runners-up in the previously mentioned 1908 Middlesex Senior Cup. In 1911 he would leave Hanwell due to work commitments in Buckinghamshire, joining fellow Great Western Suburban League side Wycombe Wanderers. He would play for Wycombe for just two seasons before hanging up his boots. However, during that spell he would help the ‘Chairboys’ lift the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup in 1913, his final appearance in football. At the outbreak of the war he joined the Royal Fusiliers however was dismissed after he ‘broke down’ in training. Determined to join the frontline, Copus enlisted with the Middlesex Regiment. His determination would be demonstrated once again in 1916 after being wounded in France but making a recovery and subsequently returning to the war. In May 1917 he was reportedly killed by a shell, prompting the following obituary from Donald Moir: “what an epitaph, played for Hanwell, played for Middlesex, gave his life for England”. However, all was not as it seemed as Copus was apparently captured as a prisoner of war with Copus’s mother stating at the time he was in hospital but has received no letters from anyone, and the Red Cross Society returning her parcels as they can’t be received. Copus’s fate during the war remains as a mystery to this day with him presumed missing in action.
The Great War was officially declared as over following the signing of the Armatice Agreement on 11th November 1918. In the world of football a handful of clubs were formed by demobbed servicemen over the next few years including Mansfield Town, Berkhamsted Town (pre-cursor to Berkhamsted FC), Great Wakering Rovers and of course Hanwell Town Football Club.
Written by Zach Hampshire
