Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

LETHBRIDGE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

Date

1912

Materials

GOLD, BRASS

No. Pieces

1

Length

5.7

Width

2.8

Description

GOLD MEDAL WITH BRASS RING AT TOP; FRONT OF MEDAL DEPICTS SHIELD OF TWO WOMEN STANDING BESIDE A CIRCLE IN CENTER, WITH CIRCLE PAINTED TO SHOW THREE FIGURES PLAYING SOCCER; SHIELD HAS BANNER BELOW CIRCLE IN CENTER WITH EMBOSSED TEXT “LETHBRIDGE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION”; SHIELD DEPICTS SOCCER BALL BELOW BANNER; SHIELD HAS CIRCLE AROUND EDGES. BACK OF MEDAL HAS ENGRAVED TEXT “LETHBRIDGE FOOTBALL LEAGUE” ABOVE BRONZE CIRCLE IN CENTER WITH ENGRAVED TEXT “OVERSEAS FC, WINNERS 1912, W. BRENNAN”. MEDAL HAS ENGRAVED TEXT AT LOWER EDGE “V&S, 9 375 64 N”. MEDAL HAS MINOR TARNISHING AROUND BRONZE CIRCLE ON BACK; OVERALL EXCELLENT CONDITION.

Subjects

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

SPORTS

COMMEMORATIVE

ASSOCIATIONS

History

MICHAEL WILLIAM BRENNAN WAS LISTED AS PLAYING FOR THE LETHBRIDGE OVERSEAS SOCCER TEAM IN 1912, ACCORDING TO LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES. THE HERALD ARTICLES ON BRENNAN ALSO ANNOUNCED WHEN HE ENLISTED IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN 1914, AND WHEN HE WAS DECLARED MISSING AND DEAD IN 1916 AND 1917. ACCORDING TO LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, BRENNAN ENLISTED IN 1914 IN ENGLAND WITH THE DUKE OF CORNWALL’S LIGHT INFANTRY. BRENNAN WAS DECLARED MISSING IN 1916, AND IN 1917 WAS ANNOUNCED AS OFFICIALLY DEAD. ACCORDING TO RESEARCH FOR THE LETHBRIDGE CENOTAPH PROJECT, AND RECORDS FROM THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL FOR FALLEN SOLDIERS IN SOMME, FRANCE [ACCESSED ONLINE THROUGH THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION, HTTPS://WWW.CWGC.ORG/FIND-WAR-DEAD/CASUALTY/2000486/BRENNAN,-MICHAEL-WILLIAM/], BRENNAN’S BODY WAS NEVER RECOVERED, AND BRENNAN HAD ENLISTED UNDER THE NAME “WILLIAM WILLIAMS”. BRITISH MILITARY RECORDS FOR WILLIAM WILLIAMS, WITH THE SAME REGIMENTAL NUMBER AS INDICATED ON THE MEMORIAL AND CENOTAPH FOR MICHAEL WILLIAM BRENNAN, LIST WILLIAMS AS BEING BORN IN ASTON, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND. WILLIAMS ENLISTED AT WARWICK, ENGLAND, AND SERVED IN FRANCE UNTIL HE WENT MISSING ON JULY 23, 1916 IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS. BRENNAN’S WIDOW, AMELIA BRENNAN, LIVED IN LETHBRIDGE AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH AND REMARRIED THOMAS MARLOW. AMELIA AND THOMAS RESIDED IN LETHBRIDGE WITH THEIR DAUGHTERS. ON MARCH 28, 2019, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED CAROL AND BRETT CLIFTON REGARDING THEIR DONATION OF VARIOUS LETHBRIDGE AND MILITARY MEMORABILIA. THE OBJECTS WERE COLLECTED BY CAROL’S LATE HUSBAND, CHRIS CLIFTON, AND DONATED IN HIS MEMORY. ON CHRIS CLIFTON’S ACQUISITIONS OF THE OBJECTS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “[CHRIS SEARCHED ON] AUCTION WEB…HE WAS A VERY EARLY USER. THESE THINGS COST MONEY. CHRIS AND I WERE ALWAYS LIKE, ‘OH WELL, ONE DAY WE’LL DONATE THEM AND IT’LL BE OUR GIFT TO CHARITY...’” “MUCH OF THE REST [OF THE COLLECTION] WAS FOUND BY CHRIS ON EBAY…IT COULD BE THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT [AND CHRIS WOULD SAY], ‘HEY, BRETT, GUESS WHAT’S ON EBAY?’” “IT WAS NICE TO OWN IT AND WE TRIED TO CARE FOR IT, AND OF COURSE HE’D RESEARCH IT. I REMEMBER, THE SOCCER MEDAL IN PARTICULAR, HE WAS, AGAIN PROBABLY LATE AT NIGHT, BECAUSE HE SAW IT ABOUT 3 MINUTES AFTER IT CAME ON EBAY AND HE’S LIKE 'I JUST BOUGHT IT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW WHAT, I COULD AFFORD IT AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO FIND ANOTHER AND I DIDN’T WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO BUY IT' AND HE SAYS 'PLUS IT’S GOLD SO YOU’LL LIKE IT ‘CAUSE IT’S GOLD.' I’M LIKE, 'WELL, I’M NOT REALLY GOING TO…WEAR IT.'” “HE DIDN’T THINK TWICE. IF [AN ITEM] WAS THERE AND HE COULD AFFORD IT, HE GOT IT...IT WAS LIKE HE FELT LIKE HE WAS SAVING IT. I SUPPOSE, AS A MUSEUM, YOU CAN’T NECESSARILY JUST BUY WITH THAT ABANDON BECAUSE YOU HAVE PEOPLE YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO. WELL, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO ANYONE...IF HE FELT IT BELONGED IN LETHBRIDGE HE BOUGHT IT...[HE WAS] BRINGING IT HOME.” ON THEIR MOTIVES FOR DONATING THE COLLECTIONS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “THE FIRST REASON THAT WE DECIDED TO DONATE AT THIS TIME…IS THAT WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A NICE WAY TO HONOUR [CHRIS] TO MAKE SURE THAT THE COLLECTION ALWAYS STAYED IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND THAT IT’S AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS. [THE DONATION] WOULD BE SOMETHING IN HIS MEMORY THAT WOULD KEEP HIS MEMORY ALIVE.” ON HER HUSBAND’S INTEREST IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA HISTORY, CAROL CLIFTON ELABORATED, “CHRIS PASSED AWAY…[HE] REALLY MADE US INTERESTED IN HISTORY. FOR HIM IT WAS ALL ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY, SO ANYTHING THAT HE COLLECTED HAD A LETHBRIDGE OR SOUTHERN ALBERTA CONNECTION OR HE DIDN’T COLLECT IT. HE LIKED TO RESEARCH THEM.” “[CHRIS] WAS VERY PROUD TO HAVE BEEN RAISED MORMON FROM A MORMON FAMILY THAT HAD DEEP PIONEER ROOTS INTO UTAH, AND WERE ORIGINALS TO UTAH AND ORIGINALS TO SOUTHERN ALBERTA. ALONG WITH THAT MORMONS…REALLY ENCOURAGE HISTORY IN TERMS OF COLLECTING THEIR ARTIFACTS OR RELIGIOUS ARTIFACTS, AND GENEALOGY. [CHRIS DID] ALL OF HIS OWN GENEALOGY AND HE WOULD DO GENEALOGY FOR ANYONE HE KNEW. WE JUST LITERALLY HAVE REAMS OF PERSONAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY IN THAT FORM. IT GREW FROM THERE. [CHRIS] WAS A COLLECTOR AT HEART, HE BEGAN COIN COLLECTING AND DID A LOT OF WORK FOUNDING A NUMISMATICS SOCIETY IN TOWN AND BELONGED TO SEVERAL, AND DISPLAYED ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.” “IN TERMS OF THE MILITARY ITEMS, I WOULD SAY [HIS INTEREST BEGAN] WITH HIS DAD BEING FROM THE CALGARY TANK REGIMENT IN DIEPPE AND A PRISONER OF WAR. HIS DAD’S MOTHER HAD SAVED A BUNCH OF ITEMS AND BEFORE CHRIS’ DAD PASSED AWAY, HE GAVE EVERYTHING TO CHRIS…THAT KIND OF FOSTERED [HIS INTEREST IN MILITARY COLLECTIONS] AND THEN IT JUST GREW INTO INTERESTING LOCAL THINGS.” “CHRIS LOVED SOUTHERN ALBERTA, AND NO MATTER WHAT, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE LEFT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. HE LOVED TO TRAVEL BUT HE NEVER WOULD HAVE MOVED. HE LIVED IN MAGRATH AND LETHBRIDGE HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HAD NO INTEREST IN ANY OTHER PLACE BUT HERE.” ON CHRIS’ RESEARCH EFFORTS, CAROL CLIFTON RECALLED, “CHRIS WAS METICULOUS. ANYTHING CHRIS DID, HE DID IT TEN TIMES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WOULD. HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP…WHEN [HIS SON] BRETT DID THE CENOTAPH WORK, CHRIS WOULD HELP HIM IDENTIFY [THE NAMES] AND IT WOULD BE A DEAD END AFTER ANOTHER DEAD END, AND THE NEXT THING YOU KNEW WAS CHRIS HAD FOUND A RELATIVE IN ENGLAND WHO WAS A GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER’S NEIGHBOR. HE WOULD LITERALLY SPEND YEARS RESEARCHING ONE THING. IT WAS JUST HIS PERSONALITY AND HIS LEVEL OF INTEREST AND HE DIDN’T STOP THERE, HE WOULD DO IT FOR ANYONE…HE WAS A VERY GIVING PERSON AND HE WAS SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD AT THAT TYPE OF RESEARCH.” “[CHRIS] AND BRETT TOGETHER WOULD DO [THE RESEARCH] AND I WOULD DO IT OUT OF INTEREST…I DON’T KNOW OF ANYONE WHO DID IT TO THE LEVEL HE DID. HE WOULD BE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FOLLOWING A LEAD IN EUROPE ON SOMEONE HE DIDN’T KNOW FOR SOMEONE HE BARELY KNEW…[CHRIS WAS] TOTALLY SELF-TAUGHT…OF COURSE WITH THE INTERNET IT BECAME MUCH EASIER FOR EVERYONE TO [SEARCH]. THE GENEALOGY HE DID BEFORE WAS PRE-INTERNET SO THAT INVOLVED A LOT OF ARCHIVAL THINGS…HE BEGAN RESEARCH WORK VERY EARLY IN THE INTERNET AND WE GOT OUR FIRST COMPUTER IN 1995, AND HE PRETTY MUCH DID RESEARCH FROM THEN ON. HE WAS INTERESTING IN THAT NO MATTER WHAT RESEARCH HE DID HE DIDN’T WANT CREDIT FOR IT. HE DIDN’T WANT TO BELONG TO THINGS…IN ADDITION, HE DIDN’T LIKE TO DO THE WRITING, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WRITE, BUT HE WAS THE BEST PROOF READER BECAUSE HE WAS SO METICULOUS, AND HE WOULD PROOF READ FOR ANYONE. [IF] SOMEBODY WROTE AN ARTICLE HE WOULD BE A PROOF READER OR A FACT CHECKER. IT WAS JUST HIS NATURE…[HE WAS] STUBBORN, AND COMPETITIVE, AND INTERESTED, AND METICULOUS, AND IF HE DID IT IT’S CORRECT. IF THERE’S A MISTAKE IN IT HE SURE DIDN’T KNOW IT. HE WOULD HAVE NEVER PUT ANYTHING DOWN HE WASN’T PRETTY DARN SURE OF.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20190007001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20190007003

Acquisition Date

2019-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail