1916–17 Brentford F.C. season
season of football team
During the 1916–17 English football season, Brentford competed in the London Combination, due to the cessation of competitive football for the duration of the First World War. Restricted by league rules mandating that all players must be members of the armed forces or munitions workers, Brentford finished third-from-bottom, having been forced to field over 50 guest players.
Season summary
Straddling the middle period the First World War, the London Combination introduced a new rule that for the 1916–17 season, stating all players must be members of the armed forces or munitions workers, which meant Brentford secretary-manager Fred Halliday (himself a worker at the Ministry of Munitions) had trouble securing players to play. Full back Dusty Rhodes, half back Alf Amos and forwards Patsy Hendren and Henry White would be the only pre-war Bees players to appear in more than half of the matches during the season. Albert Chester joined the club from Millwall in December 1916 and also appeared in over half the matches. Due to a wrist injury suffered by Ted Price, Bradford Park Avenue's Frank Drabble was the main goalkeeper during the season, while Croydon Common's William Bushell was also a regular in the half back line.
Brentford had a torrid season, winning just 9 of the 40 matches. Defeats by three, four, five and six goal margins were a regular occurrence, contributing to a total of 99 goals conceded during the campaign. 16 goals were conceded in four matches versus Luton Town. The highlights were a 7–0 victory over Portsmouth at Griffin Park on 30 December 1916 and Henry White's performances, who top-scored for the third-consecutive season with 20 goals from 35 matches.
“1916–17 Brentford F.C. season” enters the record as season of football team. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Brentford, season and football can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“1916–17 Brentford F.C. season” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Brentford, season and football provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28448829. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1916.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1916–17 Brentford F.C. season”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1916–17 Brentford F.C. season primary sources, 1916–17 Brentford F.C. season archive and Brentford research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1916–17 Brentford F.C. season”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1916–17 Brentford F.C. season” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.