{"id":53848,"date":"2025-03-27T15:10:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T15:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=53848"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:08:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:08:02","slug":"sheffield-wednesdays-first-club-captain-at-hillsborough-to-receive-a-new-headstone-after-fundraiser-doubles-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/sheffield-wednesdays-first-club-captain-at-hillsborough-to-receive-a-new-headstone-after-fundraiser-doubles-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield Wednesday&#8217;s first club captain at Hillsborough to receive a new headstone after fundraiser doubles expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ambrose Langley GoFundMe Campaign for new Headstone (Sheffield Wednesday)\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-bjK93eMr8Q?start=1&#038;feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/a-new-headstone-for-ambrose-langley-of-swfc\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/a-new-headstone-for-ambrose-langley-of-swfc\">commission for a new headstone for Ambrose Langley<\/a>, Sheffield Wednesday\u2019s first captain at Hillsborough, has raised more than \u00a35,300.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Langley\u2019s headstone had fallen and been removed from Burngreave Cemetery \u2013 the resting place of several notable Sheffield footballers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clive Nicholson, the great grandnephew of Fred Spiksley (Ex-Sheffield Wednesday forward) and Tom Crawshaw, a relative of Tommy Crawshaw (Ex-Sheffield Wednesday centre-half) had begun the project to fund a \u201cnew, fitting memorial for this great man\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have raised more than double the typical amount for a Victorian-era footballer\u2019s headstone through several initiatives, including cigarette cards \u2013 which sold out in under 24 hours, raising \u00a3200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, they hope to develop a mapped trail through Burngreave cemetery with Langley\u2019s headstone serving as the trail\u2019s centrepiece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ex-Sheffield United goalkeeper William \u2018Fatty\u2019 Foulkes, also buried in Burngreave Cemetery, has one of the most visited graves in the UK. Mr. Nicholson hopes for the trail to bring recognition to Langley&#8217;s legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Nicholson also created a Special Hardback Collector\u2019s Edition of \u201cThe Olive Grove Scrapbook\u201d, which sold out in 36 hours, with the \u00a31,000 in proceeds going to Langley\u2019s headstone fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Nicholson said the money raised highlights the enduring legacy Langley holds as a \u201cwell known legend\u201d and that \u201cthe 125th anniversary of Hillsborough is the perfect time to honour Langley\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Langley played for Wednesday for over a decade and captained the club during their first season at Hillsborough. Under his leadership, Wednesday went from being a relegated team the previous season, to winning the Second Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Nicholson said: &#8220;Ambrose was one of the biggest, strongest defenders in England at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Langley\u2019s fourth season as captain, Wednesday became English Champions for the first time. Just 4 years later, Wednesday won the FA Cup, with Langley being a key player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Nicholson said his great grand uncle, Fred Spiksley and Ambrose Langley were \u201cclose friends because they encountered each other so much in their young careers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Nicholson said: \u201cFred was desperate for Ambrose to play in the final\u201d, but that due to a knee injury he almost didn\u2019t. Wednesday went on to win the 1896 FA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 with both Spiksley and Langley being key players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Horncastle was Langley\u2019s birthplace, to commemorate this and raise money for the headstone, Mr. Nicholson did a talk about Langley to Horncastle History and Heritage Society. This raised a further \u00a360 for the headstone, which will feature a Horncastle-styled carving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A commission for a new headstone for Ambrose Langley, Sheffield Wednesday\u2019s first captain at Hillsborough, has raised more than \u00a35,300. Langley\u2019s headstone had fallen and been removed from Burngreave Cemetery \u2013 the resting place of several notable Sheffield footballers. Clive Nicholson, the great grandnephew of Fred Spiksley (Ex-Sheffield Wednesday forward) and Tom Crawshaw, a relative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":54202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[191,5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charity","category-news","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53848"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55468,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53848\/revisions\/55468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}