Tom Butler

Butler in a Port Vale squad photo in 1923
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Butler
Place of birth	Darlaston, England
Date of death	(1923-11-11)11 November 1923
Place of death	Hackney, England
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[1]
Position(s)	Inside-left
Youth career
	Willenhall
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1921–1922	Walsall	28	(12)
1922	Darlaston
1922–1923	Port Vale	32	(11)
Total		60	(23)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Butler (died 11 November 1923) was an English footballer who played as an inside-left. He played 60 league games in the English Football League, scoring 23 goals. He played for non-League Willenhall, before spending the 1921–22 season at Walsall. He joined Port Vale via Darlaston in December 1922. He broke his arm in a game on 3 November 1923 and died eight days later from a subsequent tetanus infection.

Butler started his career at Birmingham & District League side Willenhall before joining Walsall in 1921.^[2] He played 28 Third Division North games for the "Saddlers" in 1921–22, scoring 12 goals. He then returned to semi-professional football with Darlaston.

He had a one-month trial at Second Division Port Vale in December 1922, and manager Joe Schofield signed him permanently for £100 the following month. Butler was a huge success in the 1922–23 season, becoming top scorer with nine goals in 26 games. At the end of the season, he played in a defeat to local rivals Stoke in the North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup. He started 1923–24 by scoring in a defeat to Stoke at The Old Recreation Ground. However, after scoring in a 1–1 draw with Clapton Orient on 3 November, he suffered a compound fracture of the left arm; he died from tetanus (also called lockjaw) eight days later in Hackney Hospital after complications had set in.^[3] The club paid his widow the rest of his wages. Other clubs donated money to provide his widow with a £700 benefit fund.^[4]

Source:^[5]