Robert was a Welsh footballer who played as a half back and forward for Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Middlesbrough and Chelsea in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Chelsea was his last club but was not able to break into the 1st team.
He was capped by Wales 9 times, scoring 2 goals.
He married Margaret Jane Kirkconnell in Guisborough on 4 January 1904. They had four children.
After retiring from playing football after a short spell with Chelsea he subsequently moved back to Edinburgh, becoming a steward in the Merchant Navy.
Robert was presumed dead in October 1917 after his ship, the SS Britannia, disappeared without trace, sunk by a U-boat in the English Channel with the loss of all 22 crew.
He is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial which is run by the CWGC to commemorate civilian merchant sailors and fishermen who were killed as a result of enemy action and have no known grave.
His brother Thomas Henry Atherton was also a professional footballer. Born on 8.1.1879, he is shown to have died in Exeter in 1954 aged 75 years
Robert was a Welsh footballer who played as a half back and forward for Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Middlesbrough and Chelsea in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Chelsea was his last club but was not able to break into the 1st team.
He was capped by Wales 9 times, scoring 2 goals.
He married Margaret Jane Kirkconnell in Guisborough on 4 January 1904. They had four children.
After retiring from playing football after a short spell with Chelsea he subsequently moved back to Edinburgh, becoming a steward in the Merchant Navy.
Robert was presumed dead in October 1917 after his ship, the SS Britannia, disappeared without trace, sunk by a U-boat in the English Channel with the loss of all 22 crew.
He is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial which is run by the CWGC to commemorate civilian merchant sailors and fishermen who were killed as a result of enemy action and have no known grave.
His brother Thomas Henry Atherton was also a professional footballer. Born on 8.1.1879, he is shown to have died in Exeter in 1954 aged 75 years
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