Shields, Ralph
Birth Date
11th September 1891
Birthplace
Kelloe, Durham
Occupation
Forward
Biographical Text
Having served in the First World War, and with experience at Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town, Ralph Shields featured for Exeter City during the second half of the 1920/21 season before departing for Brentford. Emigrating to Australia in 1927 he joined the Australian military at an advanced age and died as a prisoner of war in Borneo in 1944.
A one-time Durham miner, Ralph had been on the books at Newcastle United during the 1913/14 season but didn’t make the league team before moving to Huddersfield Town in 1914 where he was to score 21 times in 45 league starts either side of the war. Enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War, he was later part of the Huddersfield squad that won promotion in 1919/20 before joining Exeter City in December 1920 as part of the deal that took William Wright in the opposite direction (the fee for Wright was believed to be £3,000 whilst Shields reportedly cost £500).
Recently married, and now living in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, Ralph made his Exeter first-team debut on Christmas Day 1920 at Plymouth Argyle. Also playing in the FA Cup at Watford in January 1921, he embarked on a run of seventeen league games in the centre-forward position (scoring on four occasions) but was often absent from the line-up towards the end of the season. With the Grecians finishing 19th during the club's first season in the Football League, his stay at St James' Park proved to be relatively brief as he moved on to Brentford prior to the 1921/22 season before dropping out of the professional ranks to sign firstly for Sittingbourne and then Blyth Spartans in 1926.
After little more than a year back in the North-East, Ralph and his family emigrated to Concord in New South Wales in 1927. Falsifying his age to remain eligible for military service, he enlisted with the Australian Army Service Corps in World War II and died at the hands of the Japanese in the Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp in North Borneo on 21 November 1944.
Ralph Shields is rembered on a plaque unveiled at St James' Park in August 2017. See also his entry in the Killed in Action section of this archive.
A one-time Durham miner, Ralph had been on the books at Newcastle United during the 1913/14 season but didn’t make the league team before moving to Huddersfield Town in 1914 where he was to score 21 times in 45 league starts either side of the war. Enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War, he was later part of the Huddersfield squad that won promotion in 1919/20 before joining Exeter City in December 1920 as part of the deal that took William Wright in the opposite direction (the fee for Wright was believed to be £3,000 whilst Shields reportedly cost £500).
Recently married, and now living in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, Ralph made his Exeter first-team debut on Christmas Day 1920 at Plymouth Argyle. Also playing in the FA Cup at Watford in January 1921, he embarked on a run of seventeen league games in the centre-forward position (scoring on four occasions) but was often absent from the line-up towards the end of the season. With the Grecians finishing 19th during the club's first season in the Football League, his stay at St James' Park proved to be relatively brief as he moved on to Brentford prior to the 1921/22 season before dropping out of the professional ranks to sign firstly for Sittingbourne and then Blyth Spartans in 1926.
After little more than a year back in the North-East, Ralph and his family emigrated to Concord in New South Wales in 1927. Falsifying his age to remain eligible for military service, he enlisted with the Australian Army Service Corps in World War II and died at the hands of the Japanese in the Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp in North Borneo on 21 November 1944.
Ralph Shields is rembered on a plaque unveiled at St James' Park in August 2017. See also his entry in the Killed in Action section of this archive.
Appearances
League 19, FA Cup 1 (20)
Goals
League 4
Collection
Files
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