Leyton Orient World War 1 Brisbane Road, London Essex England

World War 1

The 1914–15 season was the last football season before the League was suspended due to the outbreak of the First World War. 41 members of the Clapton Orient team and staff joined up into the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (the Footballers' Battalion) the highest of any football team in the country and the first to join up en masse.At the final game of the season – Clapton Orient vs Leicester Fosse, 20,000 people came out to support the team. A farewell parade was also hosted, but not before the O's had won 2–0. The British Film Institute hold a brief recording of this historic match and parade in their archives.

During the Battle of the Somme, three players gave their lives for King and Country: Richard McFadden, George Scott and William Jonas. Though they were the only Orient staff to have died during the First World War, many others sustained wounds, some more than once and were not able to resume their football careers after the war. Prior to the First World War, Os striker Richard McFadden had saved the life of a boy who was drowning in the River Lea as well as rescuing a man from a burning building. History was made on Saturday 30 April 1921 when the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward Vlll, visited Millfields Road to see the O's play Notts County. The Orient won 3 – 0 and this was the first time a member of royalty had attended a Football League match. The royal visit was to show gratitude for Clapton Orient's patriotic example during the Great War and there is now a plaque erected on the site of the Millfields Road Stadium to commemorate this historic event

The story of the club's major involvement in the First World War has been told in a 2005 book entitled "They Took The Lead", by Stephen Jenkins (the deputy chairman of Leyton Orient Supporters' Club). In July 2006 Steve Jenkins, assisted by Les Bailey, took a party of 150 Leyton Orient supporters and members of the Leyton and Manor Park Royal British Legion over to the Somme region of northern France, to visit the World War I war graves and in particular to pay their respects at the resting places of Richard McFadden, William Jonas and George Scott. This was the first official visit to the Os war graves for 90 years. The trip was so successful that a second visit to the Somme took place the weekend of 12/13 July 2008, this time 183 Os supporters and members of the RBL made the historic pilgrimage. Media interest is growing concerning this amazing and proud period of the Orient's history. Chris Slegg, a BBC London reporter travelled with the party and footage of the Somme trip was shown on every local news bulletin throughout the day on the Monday following the trip.

It is hoped that a documentary or film will one day be made on Clapton Orient's proud service during the Great War. In August 2009 Steve Jenkins, along with fellow Os supporter Theresa Burns and Orient legend Peter Kitchen launched the 'Os Somme Memorial Fund' with the objective of erecting a permanent memorial in northern France in honour of the Clapton Orient side that answered the call of King and Country.