Reginald Stephen Anderson (13 September 1916 – 24 February 1942) was an English 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 le ...

. After beginning his career with amateur side

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

, he joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in 1938 and made two appearances in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. He also represented England at

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

level, scoring a hat-trick on his debut in 1938.

Early life

Anderson was born in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

in 1916 to William Thomas Anderson and Ellen Leete Anderson (née Strickland). He grew up in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, attending

Wilson's School Wilson's School is a state boys' grammar school with academy status in the London Borough of Sutton, England. It was founded as Wilson's Grammar School in Camberwell in 1615, making it one of the country's oldest state schools. The school mov ...

. He later became a teacher.

Career

After playing football for his local school, he joined

at the age of eighteen in 1934. Two years later, he made his debut for the club's first team and quickly established himself in the squad, winning the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

final 2–0 against Leyton in 1937. His form for Dulwich led to him being called up to the England national amateur football team, scoring a hat-trick in his first match during an 8–2 victory over Wales playing alongside Dulwich teammate William Parr. He made two further appearances for the side in the following year, both in matches against Scotland, without scoring. His performances for the England amateur side attracted attention from several

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

clubs and he eventually joined

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

side

. He made his professional debut on 15 April 1939 in a match against Notts County. Two days later, he played in the reverse fixture against County, scoring once during a 4–1 victory for Cardiff. Following the outbreak of World War II, the

was suspended and Anderson was briefly retained as an amateur with Cardiff before rejoining Dulwich.

World War II

Anderson enlisted with the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

, being assigned to 106 squadron as a Sergeant Observer. On the night of 23 February 1942, the Handley Page Hampden bomber aircraft that Anderson was serving on was one of 23 aircraft that took part in a minelaying "gardening" operation over "Eglatine" (the

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

approaches) departing from

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and hom ...

. The flight was his fifth mission on active duty. Anderson's aircraft was shot down over the Heligoland Bight by flak from either anti-aircraft batteries or a

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

flak ship ''Vorpostenboot'' (plural ''Vorpostenboote''), also referred to as VP-Boats, flakships or outpost boats, were German patrol boats which served during both World Wars. They were used around coastal areas and in coastal operations, and were tasked w ...

and all four crew members were killed when the plane crashed into dunes at Sylt. His remains were buried in Kiel War Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Reg 1942 deaths English men's footballers Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football forwards England men's amateur international footballers Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II 1916 births Footballers from the London Borough of Southwark People from Peckham Military personnel from the London Borough of Southwark