April 22, 1917
The death has taken place under particularly sad circumstances of Lance-Corporal Walter Kimberley, of the Coldstream Guards, who for several seasons played with Coventry City F.C. and resided in this town. He died at his home in Clifton Road, Aston, yesterday afternoon.
Kimberley, who was an army reservist, went to France soon after the outbreak of war, and in the severe fighting which preceded the battle of the Marne he was taken prisoner and sent into Germany, where he remained many months.
He was actually included in a party of exchanged prisoners of war, and on reaching Birmingham Kimberley was a physical wreck as the result of the hardship he had undergone in Germany, having contracted consumption.
Kimberley signed on for Coventry City at the commencement of the season 1912-13 and was chosen in most of the matches that season in the defence. He joined the club as a back, but played principally in the half-back division, and remained with the club during the following season. Then he helped Walsall in the Birmingham League and was identified with that club when war broke out.
One match he did very well in whilst with the City was the replayed English Cup-tie against Manchester United on January 16, 1914, at Highfield Road. Kimberley was one of the recipients of parcels from the Coventry Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Fund during the whole of the time he was a prisoner of war. He wrote numerous letters in high appreciation of the gifts which the citizens were sending and of the service the committee were rendering to the prisoners.
(Source: Coventry Evening Telegraph: April 23, 1917)
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