Charles Shelton (22 January 1864 – 18 September 1955) was an England international

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 as a

left half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. His brother Alf also played football for England.

Career

Born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, Shelton played for Notts Rangers and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

, and earned one cap for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1888. Charles Shelton signed for Notts County in 1887. Made his Club debut in December 1887. Charles Shelton, playing at centre–half, made his League debut on 22 September 1888 at

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

, the then home of Stoke. Notts County were defeated by the home team 3–0. Shelton scored his debut, and only League goal on 10 November 1888 at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is als ...

. The visitors were

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals ...

and Charles Shelton scored Notts County' second equaliser in a match that ended 3–3. Charles Shelton appeared in 15 of the 22 League matches that Notts County played in season 1888–89. Charles Shelton, playing at centre–half (15 appearances) played in a Notts County defence that kept one clean–sheet and restricted the opposition to one–League–goal–in–a–match on four separate occasions. In 1889 Charles Shelton left Notts County and signed for Burton Wanderers. In 1890 Shelton returned to Notts County but only made four League appearances in season 1890–91. In 1891 he returned to Burton Wanderers. He was back at Notts County for season 1891–92 but only appeared once. A somewhat misleading article in the local press in 1899 quoted

Alf Shelton Alfred Shelton (11 September 1865 – 24 July 1923) was an English international footballer, who played as a left half. His brother Charles was also a professional footballer. Born in Nottingham, Shelton played for Notts Rangers, Notts County ...

as referring to his brother Charlie 'Of blessed memory." Happily Charlie lived to the ripe old age of 87, so Alf must have been recalling his brothers' footballing skills, not his demise. Certainly Charlie was an outstanding footballer, a robust half–back with infectious enthusiasm, possessing sufficient stamina to carry him through the most gruelling match. His elder brother, Harry Shelton helped

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the 1870s and became a referee in the early part of the 20th century. At the end of his career Charles Shelton had made 24 appearances (20 League and four FA Cup) for Notts County and scored one goal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, Charlie 1864 births 1955 deaths English men's footballers England men's international footballers Notts Rangers F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Burton Wanderers F.C. players Men's association football wing halves Footballers from Nottingham