Bernard Battles (13 January 1875 – 9 February 1905) was a Scottish footballer, whose clubs included Heart of Midlothian,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, Dundee and Kilmarnock before his death aged 30. Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Litster / Scottish Football Historian magazine, October 2012

Career

Club

Battles was born in

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its indu ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

, he moved to

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbur ...

when still a boy and played his early football with

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of ...

and

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...

, before joining Hearts in 1894, winning the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

title the following year and then moving on to

. He made his Celtic debut in the 2–1 away league win over Dundee on 10 August 1895 and won a League championship badge plus the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

in his maiden campaign. Late in the 1895–96 season, after Celtic had won the championship, he left on loan for English club

, where he played in two league fixtures and three 'test' matches (effectively promotion/relegation playoffs) for them. Back at Celtic, he was suspended by the club in November 1896 and did not feature again during 1896–97, after he – plus Peter Meechan and John Divers – refused to take the field for a game due to being insulted by the presence of a journalist who had been highly critical of the team in their previous match (a loss to

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in the Glasgow Cup final).Uniquely Celtic - The Soul and the Spirit
(Chapter: "John the First"), Frank Rafter; Grosvenor House Publishing, 2015; Battles joined Dundee in April 1897 and would make 19 total appearances with 2 goals during the 1897–98 season, then played another League match for Liverpool in March 1898. He rejoined Celtic the following October, shortly after John Divers also returned; despite the pair's past indiscretion, the team's results had noticeably worsened in their absence. He remained in Glasgow for the next six years, with no further League titles but four consecutive appearances in

Scottish Cup Final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the w ...

s, winning the first two in

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a ...

and

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), ...

, and losing the others in

1901 Events January * January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Min ...

(to former employers Hearts) and

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...

International

He impressed Scottish selectors with his consistent performances and in 1901 he started all three Home International matches, his only full

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. Battles had already played for the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

in 1899 and was selected again in 1902, and also turned out for the Glasgow Association against

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

in the same year.

Death

After leaving Celtic he subsequently moved to KilmarnockKilmarnock player Battles, ?
FitbaStats before his death from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on 9 February 1905, at the age of 30, two weeks after falling ill following a match on 21 January. A reported 40,000 people lined the route to

Dalbeth Braidfauld is a small area of Glasgow, Scotland which is in the East End of the city slightly north of the River Clyde and south of the Tollcross area.

cemetery in Glasgow's East End on the day of Battles' funeral. The monies taken from the stand at the 1905 Scotland v

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

match at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

were donated by host club Celtic to the grieving Battles family in tribute to their former player. Battles died before the birth of his son,

Barney Battles Jr. Bernard "Barney" Joseph Battles (12 October 1905 – 15 November 1979) was a Scottish footballer whose name is synonymous with Heart of Midlothian. A dual-internationalist, he represented both Scotland and the United States at full internationa ...

, who was named in his memory and would also go on to be a Scottish international, playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battles Sr., Barney 1875 births 1905 deaths Celtic F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish men's footballers Deaths from pneumonia in Scotland Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Bathgate F.C. players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Midlothian People from Springburn Footballers from Glasgow Dundee F.C. players