fundraising for a DRFC memorial in hyde park cemetery

In conjunction with the club we are raising funds to erect a memorial to the early Doncaster Rovers players buried  in Hyde Park Cemetery and to provide suitable recognition for club founder and first captain Albert Jenkins.  We will also develop an online guide to all DRFC-related graves.

There are two ways you can donate to our fund:

DONATE  VIA OUR GOFUNDME PAGE:

• https://www.gofundme.com/f/DRFC-hyde-park-cemetery

DONATE VIA THE DRFC/CLUB DONCASTER TICKET OFFICE (Note: This is only possible if you are registered on the Club Doncaster ticket database):

• https://tickets.clubdoncaster.co.uk/en-GB/donations/irwt%20cic%20memorial%20crowdfunder

Background

Alongside the project to develop Doncaster Rovers Football Museum, IRWT have been working with Friends of Hyde Park Cemetery to identify the final resting places of many of the club’s earliest players. These include club founder Albert Jenkins and John Mitchell, later of Newton Heath / Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers (for whom he played on the opening day of the Football League, in which the first ever league goal was scored). Unfortunately many of the graves are unmarked and their exact locations are not visible to the public.

Most of the first-known line-up of 1879 has now been located in Hyde Park Cemetery, a short distance from the Club Doncaster Sports Village.

Following extensive research by a team of volunteers, we believe we can confirm at least six of the 1879 team who played at Rawmarsh on 3 October 1879 (the first match as 'Doncaster Rovers', the second match overall) are buried in Hyde Park Cemetery. A further three are thought to be probably buried there. Another player is known to have died in Doncaster but has not been located (so he too is a possible for Hyde Park Cemetery). The final member of the XI is buried in Liverpool:

Doncaster Rovers XI v Rawmarsh (A) 3 October 1879

• William Walker (Goalkeeper) is a possible in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• Albert Jenkins (Right Full Back) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• John Mitchell (Left Full Back) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• Thomas Clark  (Right Half Back) is a possible in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• William Salmon(Left Half Back) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• William Chadwick (Outside Right) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• William Bedford (Inside Right) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• Arthur Roper (Centre Forward) is confirmed in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• John Boyle Gosling (Centre Forward) died in Doncaster but has not yet been located.
• William Simpson (Inside Left) is a possible in Hyde Park Cemetery.
• William Titterington (Outside Left) is confirmed buried in Anfield Cemetery in Liverpool.

Other Rovers players and staff in Hyde Park Cemetery

Many other Rovers players and staff are 'confirmed' (subject to final independent verification) in Hyde Park Cemetery including:

• Tom Abdy
• Albert Attree
• Walter Attree
• Fred Bilsland
• James Bilsland
• Tom Boothman
• George Chester
• John Day
• Jack Eggett
• Charles Fleetwood
• Jack Fowler
• Len Goodson
• Walter Langton
• James Musson (trainer)
• Walter Overson
• Bob Pinkerton
• John Poppleton
• Arthur Pyle
• Fred Pearce (trainer)
• Walter Reynolds
• Patrick Stirling (Jr.) (former Mayor of Doncaster)

We are determined to create a permanent memorial at Hyde Park Cemetery which will honour, remember and celebrate these key figures in the early years of DRFC. 

The target is £10,000. With that amount we aim to:

• Erect a single central DRFC memorial within the cemetery grounds which acknowledges the founding 11 and all subsequent players and staff. 
• Provide suitable recognition for club founder Albert Jenkins
• Mark the locations of all the cemetery's DRFC-related graves and create an online guide for visitors. 

We are currently researching all the Rovers players of the 1879-1916 period and have already found several more in Hyde Park Cemetery and other locations around the region.

To have a permanent memorial to all the former Rovers players buried at Hyde Park Cemetery would be a fitting way of recognising the part those individuals played in the formation and history of our club. We have also located and been in touch with some living descendants. We aim to find more locations of early players and find out more about their lives and their part in DRFC history.

We wanted to build a museum which could display and celebrate 150 years of DRFC history by the time we reach that anniversary in September 2029. So we had to start the project by finding the final resting place of Albert Jenkins. Then we’ve gradually found almost all his teammates. They’re mostly in Doncaster’s historic cemetery between the stadium and the city centre, among 56,000 other graves. 

You can also help an earlier fundraising campaign at Hyde Park Cemetery  in memory of Rovers player Len Goodson.