Charles Clunas (13 February 1894 – 8 February 1916) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played in the

Scottish 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 sout ...

for Clyde as a forward.

Personal life

Clunas' younger brother

William William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

was also a footballer. Clunas was educated at Johnstone High School. In October 1914, two months after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, he enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the 23rd (Service) Battalion of the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

in the Central Hotel in

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 ...

. Clunas was serving as an appointed

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually eq ...

when he was killed by a

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used du ...

Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming village situated west of La Bassée, east of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D166 and ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

on 8 February 1916. He was buried in Guards' Cemetery,

Windy Corner, Cuinchy Windy Corner was a road junction near the village of Cuinchy in the First World War. It was in the section of the line held by the British army and there was a battalion headquarters there. Burials took place there and there is now a cemetery mai ...

Career statistics

References

Scottish men's footballers 1916 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I 1894 births Royal Fusiliers soldiers Clyde F.C. players Footballers from Johnstone Scottish Football League players Men's association football forwards Men's association football inside forwards Men's association football wing halves Deaths by hand grenade Burials at Windy Corner, Cuinchy Military personnel from Renfrewshire {{Scotland-footy-forward-1890s-stub