1900 - 1994

Silverwood Mine

Hollings Lane

Thrybergh

Local Sport

[ Thrybergh Site ]

Facts, Stories and Features

LARRETT ROEBUCK

This page kindly submitted on behalf of Huddersfield Town F. C. who are preparing a centenary celebration in 2008. The Publication Committee are seeking information on past players of the club for inclusion in a tribute. The stories below are part of a section on those players lost in the First World War. One of whom began his career at Silverwood.

We now have two players from Thrybergh listed with Huddersfield and it is thought that there may be others from the area who also played with Huddersfield. Information sought  on the players includes Birth, Place of Birth, Death, place of Death, Parents, and any relevant information regarding their football careers.

If you have any information regarding the above please contact Alan Hodgson AJH@aaooo.wanadoo.co.uk
To visit Huddersfield Towns great website click on logo above

Larrett Roebuck

By Alan Hodgson

Born in Jump (circa 1889) and signed from Silverwood Colliery FC in March 1913, Larrett made his Town debut at left back on January 3rd 1914 in a 3-1 home win over Fulham in the old Second Division.  He was to play in the same position in all the club’s remaining fixtures that season, his 17th and last appearance being on April 25th in a 1-0 victory at Leicester Fosse. 

 After war was declared on August 4th he joined the York & Lancaster Regiment, 2nd Battalion, rather than the locally raised Y&L 13th and 14th Battalions that were to be nicknamed ‘The Barnsley Pals’.  This suggests he was already a member of the Y&L’s Territorial section and thus had previous military experience, albeit part-time.  His rank of Lance Corporal, rather than Private, offers this theory further credence.
At the outbreak of war the 2nd Battalion, part of the British Army’s 16th Brigade, were stationed in Limerick, Southern Ireland.  The order for mobilization arrived at Divisional HQ at 10pm on August 4th and ten days later they left Ireland for camps at Cambridge and Newmarket.  Larrett presumably joined the Battalion after it arrived back in England. 

On September 8th they received further orders to prepare to leave Tilbury Docks for “an unknown destination” on the SS Minneapolis and the following day disembarked at St. Nazaire on the west coast of France.  From there they gradually made their way up to the Front Line. 

Regimental history records:
The Battalion reached Courcelles in heavy rain early on the morning of September 20th to learn that the Battalions which had been engaged in the Battles of the Marne and Aisne were much weakened and exhausted, and that the 16th Brigade was required to relieve next day the 7th and 9th Brigades to the north-east of Vailly.  The relief was carried out late on the night of the 20th /21st, the Battalion taking over the trenches which had up to then been occupied by Battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment and Royal Scots Fusiliers; and almost immediately the enemy opened a heavy shrapnel fire on the portion of trench occupied by “A” Company of the Battalion, causing a loss of three killed, one officer - Lieutenant Lethbridge - and eleven men wounded
Larrett and his comrades were now faced with the grim reality of war and within four weeks he too was to sadly lose his life.  With both Armies digging in, the so-called ‘race for the coast’ began as each side moved slowly northwards to try and outflank the other.  In miserably wet and foggy weather the British Expeditionary Force were between Bethune and Ypres and looking to capture Menin when, on October 18th 1914, Lance Corporal Roebuck was killed in action. It was the eve of the First Battle of Ypres, and less than six months since he had celebrated Town’s win at Leicester little knowing it would be his final game for the club.

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Sidney James

By Alan Hodgson

Born in Sheffield (circa 1891) Sidney was signed from local club Bird-in-the-Hand FC in November 1913.  After making a scoring debut at centre-forward in a 1-2 home defeat by Leicester Fosse on December 20^th 1913, he led the line in a further eight Second Division games that season along with two FA Cup ties.  His only other goal came on New Year’s Day 1914 in a 1-2 defeat at Barnsley.  The following season he made just three more appearances, this time as a half back, with his last coming on April 6^th 1915 in a 5-3 home victory over Bristol City. 

With hostilities having now been raging for over 18 months, the Football League decided to suspend normal competition for the duration of the Great War.
Sidney was soon to enlist in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 9^th Battalion, eventually being promoted to Lance Corporal.  The 9^th KOYLI was involved in almost continuous fighting from 1915 up to the final advance in 1918 when its commanding officer, Lt. Col. Greenwood, was awarded the Victoria Cross. 

In the Spring of 1917 however the 9^th KOYLI found itself entrenched in terrible conditions, awaiting relief from the 10^th Green Howards, south-east of Henin-sur-Cojeul.  In front of them stood the German Army’s almost impregnable Hindenburg Line defensive system.  A breakthrough was required and Allied Command hoped what was to become known as the Second Battle of Arras would help achieve this. 
Arras was in fact to be a diversionary attack to draw German reserve away from the Allies’ main offensive further north.  After a five-day-long bombardment of the enemy lines along a 14-mile front the attack began on April 9^th 1917 in bitterly cold, blizzard-strewn weather.  At some point during the day Lance Corporal Sidney James, aged 26, was to become one of 150,000 Allied casualties in a battle that would continue well into May.  At its end some six miles of the northern sector of the Hindenburg Line had been captured, along with thousands of prisoners, whilst German casualties numbered over 100,000.   The end of the War had also edged a little closer and Huddersfield Town FC had lost their second young player.

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Many thanks to Alan for the above stories, if anyone has any information on the two players above please contact Alan at

AJH@aaooo.wanadoo.co.uk