Cyril Lawrence (12 June 1920 – 14 April 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a winger. He played in the English football league for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Lawrence enlisted in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

and was posted to the ''King George V''-class battleship as a gunner. He saw service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic and Pacific, in the pursuit and destruction of the German battleship ''Bismarck'', on

Arctic convoys The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

to supply the Soviets, and at the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

and the final surrender of the Japanese home islands. He married his wife Clara in 1944, while on shore leave. After the war, he returned to his football career, transferring from Blackpool to Rochdale where he played between 1947 and 1950, before joining Wrexham for two years. He retired from his football career 1952. In 2017, aged 97, Lawrence visited

Spotland Stadium Spotland Stadium, known as the Crown Oil Arena for sponsorship reasons, in the Spotland area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is home to Rochdale A.F.C. and Rochdale Hornets R.F.L.C. and has a capacity of 10,249. History Spotland was original ...

, the home of Rochdale.Former Dale Player Cyril Lawrence Visits The Crown Oil Arena
/ref> He died on 14 April 2020, aged 99, at Royal Bolton Hospital in

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River I ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...

, after contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

disease during the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

References

1920 births 2020 deaths Men's association football wingers Blackpool F.C. wartime guest players English Football League players English men's footballers Rochdale A.F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England Footballers from Salford Military personnel from Salford Royal Navy personnel of World War II Royal Navy sailors {{England-footy-midfielder-1920s-stub