Wilfred Harry Minter

1898 - 1984  (86 years)

• Name	Wilfred Harry Minter
  Birth	11 Feb 1898	St Albans, Herfordshire   [1]
  Christening	13 Mar 1898	Sandridge, Hertfordshire   [2]
  Gender	Male
  _UID	1D382A11D5554A0D9152F7AA469E1556E491
  Death	29 Dec 1984	St Albans, Herfordshire   [3, 4]
  Notes	Joined the RFA on 8 October 1915, a clerk of 30 Culver Road, St Albans. Gunner, Service no. 911165. Served in India 1916 - 19. Nex of kin father Harry Thomas Minter, same address. Demobed on 31 May 1919. Played football for St Albans City between 1920 and 1932 - see www.sactc.co.uk/history.php. A list of all the matches Billy played in can be obtained from the St Albans City historian David Tavener at clarencepark@hotmail.com Billy played for Hampstead Town in 1932. The Hendon and Finchley Times of 1 April 1932 (found by James Earley) carried a report on the match between Hampstead and Enfield. Hampstead won 5 - 1, with Minter scoring three times. David Tavener and Peter Taylor have discovered that between March and May 1932, Billy played in 11 games for Hampstead Town, scoring a total of 9 goals. 1939 Register: at 80 Lancaster Road, St Albans M.B., Hertfordshire Minter, Wilfred H born 11 Feb 1898, married, grocery assistant; air raid warden Minter, Eleanor E born 8 Jul 1908, married, home duties MAHOOD, Ethel E born 14 Jul 1901, married, home duties --- 1 closed record --- London Gazette 5 Feb 1985 gives address at time of death as 179 Beech Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, Storekeeper (Retired). Probate Oxford 5 Feb 1985 £58,401. This address was the clue to discovering that Wifred had married in 1922 - when his wife died in 1973 she was at 179 Beech Road. The reason I hadn't picked up the marriage prreviously is that the BMD index entry shows 'Alfred H'. Wilfred's place in FA Cup history is recorded in several websites and in the following piece from the Daily Mail of 25 November 1980, supplied by Cliff Minter: Billy Minter who made FA Cup history 58 years ago when he scored seven goals in a tie and finished on the losing side. Minter, now in his late 70s and a frequent spectator at the Isthmian League club's Clarence Park ground, set his record for St Albans in a cup replay against Dulwich Hamlet in 1922. Minter scored seven but Dulwich won 8 - 7. Cliff also reports that Wilfred (Billy) played in amateur internationals: 1922/3 against Ireland at Preston on 11 Nov 1922. England won 3 - 0. 1922/3 against Wales at Middlesbrough on 27 Jan 1923. Drawn 4 - 4. 1925/6 against Wales at Wrexham on 20 Mar 1926. England won 2 - 1. On 14 March 2017 the Herts Advertiser ran a story headlined "A campaign has been launched to give a record breaking St Albans City goal-scorer a headstone over his unmarked grave." The story includes the following: "David [St Albans City FC historian, David Tavener] and another historian, Peter Taylor, have set up a fundraising page to try and secure £2,700 to buy a gravestone for Billy, who was buried in 1984 at 86 years old in London Road cemetery. They are also trying to trace the owner of the land, Bryan Chapman, in order to ask his permission for the memorial - he bought the plot just 10 days after Billy's death. As he was born in 1929, it is unclear if Bryan is still alive and the land may have transferred to the two people who used to live with him in Welwyn Garden City, William and Cathie Chapman. David described Billy as a legend: "He's a well-known figure in football circles and it will bring all the people in his life and in the city somewhere to go and see him, if you like to do that sort of thing." He said the project was righting a wrong." Since the Herts Advertiser article appeared I've been in touch with David Tavener, who provided some corrections to Billy's story and the pictures which accompany it. November 2017: Following the erection of the headstone in November 2017, David Tavener wrote "The plot was owned by Bryan Chapman who passed away in the summer, ownership then passed to his son Bill. Bill granted permission for the headstone and told me that the great man was known as Wilf within the family (Billy to the rest of us)". The establishment of the headstone was reported in the St Albans & Harpenden Review on 7 November 2017 and in The Herts Advertiser on 9 November 2017.
  Person ID	I1246	Ickham, Kent
  Last Modified	21 Jan 2021

  
  

  Father	Harry Thomas Minter,   b. Bef 23 Feb 1873, Penge, Surrey d. 20 Sep 1942, Redbourn, Herfordshire (Age ~ 69 years)
  Mother	Emily Edith DARVILLE,   b. Abt 1871, Hendon, Middlesex d. Sep 1955, St Albans, Herfordshire (Age ~ 84 years)
  Marriage	19 Apr 1897	Wealdstone Parish Church, Middlesex   [5, 6]
  	Married by banns. Harry Thomas Minter, 24, bachelor, grocer of High Street, Stanmore, father Henry Minter, grocer. Emily Edith Darville, 26, spinster of 5 Wealstone Villas, Wealdstone, father James Darville, haybinder. Both signed full names. Witnesses James Darvilel, Herbert William Minter, H Darville, Mabel Louisa Minter, Agnes Lottie Darville.
  Family ID	F190	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Eleanor Esther RUDLIN,   b. 9 Jul 1898, Hendon RD d. 29 Aug 1973, St Albans, Herfordshire (Age 75 years)
  Marriage	7 Aug 1922	St. Michael's Church, St Albans, Herfordshire   [7, 8]
  Family ID	F848	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	21 Jan 2021

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Wilfred Harry (Billy) Minter 1898 - 1984 This article appeared on Saturday 11 March 2017 in the programme for the match between St Albans City FC and Ebbsfleet United FC at Clarence Park, St Albans.
  		Wilfred Harry (Billy) Minter 1898 - 1984 Billy at Clarence Park during the 1922-23 season when St Albans City were members of the Athenian League.
  		Wilfred Harry (Billy) Minter 1898 - 1984 Billy as an England Amateur international. He won 3 international caps.
  		Wilfred Harry (Billy) Minter 1898 - 1984 Billy at home in Beech Road where he lived when he passed away on 29 December 1984.
  		Wilfred H (Billy) Minter The notice that appeared in the De Havilland staff magazine when Billy retired in 1964.

  
  

  Documents

  Wilfred Harry (Billy) Minter 1898 - 1984 Marriage banns read at St. Michael's Church, St Albans, Herfordshire in July 1922

  
  

  Headstones

  Wilfred Harry "Billy" Minter 1898 - 1984 Wilfred “Billy” Minter played for St Albans City Football Club and the Herts County XI - he was a record-breaking scorer with 356 goals in 362 games for SAFC and 57 in 37 matches for Herts. SAFC historians and campaigners, David Tavener and Peter Taylor, raised money to fund a memorial on his unmarked 1984 St Albans London Road grave. Following the erection of the headstone in November 2017, David Tavener wrote "The plot was owned by Bryan Chapman who passed away in the summer, ownership then passed to his son Bill. Bill granted permission for the headstone and told me that the great man was known as Wilf within the family (Billy to the rest of us)". The establishment of the headstone was reported in the St Albans & Harpenden Review on 7 November 2017 and in The Herts Advertiser on 9 November 2017.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] BMD index (Reliability: 3). Q1 1898 St Albans 3a/636 [S229] England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, ancestry.com, July 2014 and later. [S3] BMD index (Reliability: 3). Dec 1984 St Albans 10/591. Date from London Gazette 5 Feb 1985. [S236] https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk, October 2015. [S3] BMD index (Reliability: 3). Q2 1897 Hendon 3a/343. [S108] London Metropolitan Archive at Ancestry.co.uk, October 2009 and later. [S3] BMD index, Q3 1922 Willesden 3a/665. (Reliability: 3). [S296] David Tavener, January 2021.