Eric Stephenson
{{short description|English footballer}}
{{About|the footballer|the comics publisher|Eric Stephenson (publisher)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Eric Stephenson
| image =
| caption =
| fullname = Joseph Eric Stephenson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|9|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = Bexleyheath, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1944|9|8|1914|9|17|df=y}}
| death_place = British Burma
| height =
| position = Inside left
| youthyears1 = 1933–1935
| youthclubs1 = Leeds United
| years1 = 1935–1941
| clubs1 = Leeds United
| caps1 = 111
| goals1 = 21
| years2 = 1939–1941
| clubs2 = → Leeds United (war)
| caps2 = 32
| goals2 = 7
| totalcaps = 143
| totalgoals = 28
| nationalyears1 = 1938
| nationalteam1 = England
| nationalcaps1 = 2
| nationalgoals1 = 0
}}
Joseph Eric Stephenson (17 September 1914 – 8 September 1944){{cite web |title=England players: Eric Stephenson |url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrsBios/PlayersS/BioStephensonJE.html |website=englandfootballonline |accessdate=10 July 2018}} was an English footballer who played as an inside left at both professional and international levels.
Career
Born in Bexleyheath, he attended Tom Hood School in Leytonstone, from where in 1930 he represented London Schoolboys in their annual match against Glasgow Schoolboys at Hampden Park. Stephenson signed for Leeds United in 1933, turned professional in 1934, and made his first-team debut in 1935.{{cite web|url=http://www.ozwhitelufc.net.au/players_profiles/S/StephensonJE.php |title=Player profile – Stephenson: Joseph Eric (Eric) |website=ozwhitelufc.net.au |publisher=Tony Hill (Oz White) |access-date=1 October 2023}}
Stephenson also earned two international caps for England in 1938.{{Englandstats|ref=y|access-date=15 November 2010}}
War service
He left Leeds in 1941 to serve in the Second World War. On 4 April 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Indian Army.{{London Gazette |issue= 35528 |date= 17 April 1942 |page= 1707 |supp= }} He would go on to become a major in the Gurkha Rifles. He died in active service in British Burma in September 1944 and is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar.{{cite web |title=Major Stephenson, Joseph Eric |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2087926/stephenson,-joseph-eric/ |publisher=CWGC |accessdate=10 July 2018}} His younger brother Ernest had died in action August 1943, at the age of 27.{{cite web|url=http://www.stjohnsroundhay.co.uk/soldierlist.html |title=Soldiers of St John's |accessdate=15 November 2010 |publisher=St John's Church, Roundhay |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728110007/http://www.stjohnsroundhay.co.uk/soldierlist.html |archivedate=28 July 2011 }}{{cite web |title=Private Stephenson, Ernest Frank |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2438915/stephenson,-ernest-frank/ |publisher=CWGC |accessdate=10 July 2018}}
File:Stained glass memorial window.jpg
A memorial stained glass window can be found in Lidgett Park Methodist Church in Roundhay, which he attended. It was produced by Clockie of Belfast and installed in 1948.{{Cite web |title=DMBI: A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland |url=https://dmbi.online/index.php?do=app.entry&id=3902 |access-date=14 April 2024 |website=dmbi.online}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Eric}}
Category:English men's footballers
Category:England men's international footballers
Category:Leeds United F.C. players
Category:English Football League players
Category:Indian Army personnel killed in World War II
Category:Royal Gurkha Rifles officers
Category:Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley
Category:People from Bexleyheath