Date of death 4Q 1952, aged 85 Years Team | Name Walter Langton Role Footballer | |
Date of birth (1867-02-06)6 February 1867 Place of birth Alfreton, Derbyshire, England Place of death Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire Playing position Died 1952, Doncaster, United Kingdom | ||
Walter "Warhorse" Langton (6 February 1867−1952) was an English footballer who played as a left back and centre forward for 18 seasons with Doncaster Rovers, holding the record for being their longest serving player.
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Hailing from Greenhill Lane near Alfreton, Derbyshire, he was the son of Fanny and Samuel Langton. He followed his father, working as a coalminer. After some time playing for Mexborough, he moved to play for Doncaster Rovers in 1887 at around the age of 19 where, being an amateur, he worked as a slotting machinist at the GWR railworks. Langton started off in the left back position, moving to centre forward in the 1890−91 season, then latterly returning to left back.
He scored at least 55 goals in his career at Doncaster - in his early days many goals weren't accredited to a player in the records. The first recorded goals were a brace on 9 February 1889 in a 2−2 draw against Newark. In his next season Langton scored at least 14 out of the 34 matches that the team played, including 5 against Newark in an 8−0 victory on 1 February 1890. In 1890−91 it was 11 goals out of the 19 games Rovers played.
On 5 November 1898, he scored against Huddersfield in the Yorkshire League in the still standing joint record 14−0 Doncaster win.
Langton was the only recorded scorer of penalties for Rovers up till 1898. The first one recorded was in a 3−3 draw against Sheffield Strollers in front of a crowd of 6,000 in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Challenge Cup on 18 February 1893 at the Olive Grove, Sheffield. In all he is listed as having scored 8 goals from the spot.
After the 1904−05 season with Doncaster, Langton retired from playing the game.
Personal life
He was married to Lilian in 4Q 1880 in Doncaster, and had 4 children though none survived past 20 years. He died in Doncaster in 4Q 1952.