Donald Coles

Donald Stratton Coles (29 July 1879 – 13 December 1941) was an English professional footballer who played as a right back in the Football League for Leicester Fosse.[1] He also played in the Southern League for Brighton & Hove Albion and St Leonards United.

Donald Coles
Personal information
Full name Donald Stratton Coles[1]
Date of birth (1879-07-29)29 July 1879[1]
Place of birth Plymouth, England
Date of death 13 December 1941(1941-12-13) (aged 62)[2]
Place of death Hove,[2] England
Position(s) Right back
Youth career
Ardingly College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Burgess Hill
Brighton Athletic
1900–1901 Brighton & Hove Rangers
1901–1902 Brighton & Hove Albion 13 (2)
1902 Leicester Fosse 1 (0)
1902–1904 Brighton & Hove Albion 5 (0)
1905–1906 St Leonards United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Life and career

Coles was born in Plymouth in 1879,[1] the son of Robert Stratton Coles, a dental surgeon, and his wife Katherine Jane née Willmot.[3][4] When his father took up practice in London, he sent Coles to be educated at Ardingly College in Sussex. He remained in the area after leaving school, and played amateur football for clubs including Burgess Hill, Brighton Athletic, Brighton & Hove Rangers, and Southern League Second Division club Brighton & Hove Albion.[5] He had a brief spell with Leicester Fosse at the start of the 1902–03 season, during which he made one unsuccessful appearance in the Football League Second Division in a 5–0 defeat away to Chesterfield. Returning to Brighton & Hove Albion in December 1902,[6] he turned professional, and made a further five appearances as his team were promoted to the First Division of the Southern League. He never played at the higher level, left the club in 1904, and ended his football career with St Leonards United, also of the Southern League Second Division.[5]

The 1911 census records him living in a boarding house in Hove and working as an insurance agent.[7] During the First World War he served as a private in the Royal Army Service Corps.[8] He married Lilian Mash in 1930.[9] The 1939 Register finds the couple living in Addison Road, Hove, with Coles working as a representative for a wine firm and as a commission agent.[10] He was still resident at that address when he died two years later at the age of 62.[2]

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. "Wills and probate 1858–1996". UK Probate Service. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  3. "Donald E. Coles". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. RG11/2191 78 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  4. "Robert Stratton Coles". England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538–1912 – via FamilySearch.
  5. Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
  6. "Donald Coles". FoxesTalk. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  7. "Donald Coles". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. RG14/5142 263 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  8. "Donald Stratton Coles". UK, Silver War Badge Records, 1914–1920. M2/229189 – via Ancestry Library Edition.
  9. "Donald S Coles". England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837–2005. Retrieved 1 June 2020 – via FamilySearch.
  10. "Donald S Coles". 1939 Register. RG 101/2511B EJFJ – via Ancestry Library Edition.
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