Place of birth Bradford, England Name Danny Boxshall 19??-19?? Alston Works | Playing position Place of death Shipley, England Role Footballer | |
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Date of birth (1920-04-02)2 April 1920 Date of death 5 November 2009(2009-11-05) (aged 89) Died November 5, 2009, Shipley, United Kingdom | ||
Daniel "Danny" Boxshall (2 April 1920 – 5 November 2009) was an English footballer who played as a winger. He made over 140 Football League appearances in the years after the Second World War.
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Career
Danny Boxshall played locally in the Bradford Amateur League for Alston Works, Wilsden and Salem Athletic in Yorkshire. Boxshall also represented the British Army of the Rhine. Boxshall joined Queens Park Rangers in January 1946. Bob Hewison signed Boxshall for £2,575 in May 1948 from QPR for Bristol City. Boxshall left Bristol City and joined Bournemouth in July 1950. Boxshall left Bournemouth and joined Rochdale in July 1952. Boxshall later played in the Southern League for Chelmsford City.
After retiring from football Danny Boxshall was an Insurance Agent for Prudential in Chelmsford for 25 years before retiring in April 1981. He then moved back to Shipkley in Yorkshire.
Danny Boxshall is unique in that he was signed as a professional without having been seen by any of the Queens Park Rangers club officials. He was signed and played in a New Year’s Day match on the recommendation of having won the Military Medal. Boxshall was learning how to make pianos, but when he was near the end of the course, Union officials said it was not fair that he should have two jobs. Football became his means of livelihood.
Pre Football Career
Earlier, in late March 1945, Acting Sergeant Danny Boxshall of the 53rd Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, won the Military Medal while in charge of a Bren gun crew in north-west Germany. Boxshall was commanding the lead reconnaissance car after his troop had been ordered to seize a bridge over the River Berkel in the town of Vreden. As he approached the bridge, his car was engaged by the enemy, but Boxshall simply ordered his driver to accelerate towards the Germans. The vehicle sped towards the bridge, Boxshall firing his Bren gun, and the remaining defenders threw down their arms and surrendered without destroying the valuable crossing point. The recommendation spoke of his ‘boldness and dash…without any consideration for his personal safety’.