Military Cross awarded to WWI hero who went on to play for Spurs snapped up by club
A Military Cross that was awarded in 1918 to an infantry officer who went on to play for Tottenham Hotspur has been snapped up at auction by the Premier League club.
The medal awarded to Captain James Ross of the North Staffordshire Regiment, who served on the Western Front, was sold to the club at auction for £1,900.
After leaving the Army, Capt Ross went on to play professionally for Spurs in the early 1920s.
Captain Ross was born in Midlothian in 1895 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War, serving on the Western Front from May 1915.
In March 1918, he became a Second Lieutenant in the North Staffordshire Regiment.
He was awarded the Military Cross for his brave actions during the Battle of the Sambre in France - a major Allied offensive in November 1918 which ended with a decisive British victory.
During the fighting, his company was held up and the commander wounded.
Capt Ross assumed command and continued to lead the advance, capturing two German field guns and soldiers.
He was 23 years old at the time.
"He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry during the final push to victory, whilst serving on attachment with the 10th Battalion, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment," said Christopher Mellor-Hill, head of client liaison at auction house Noonans.
After the war, Capt Ross became a professional footballer, playing for Fife club Raith Rovers before joining Tottenham Hotspur.
"[Capt] Ross subsequently signed professional forms with the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, then playing in the top division of English football... [he] made seven appearances for them as a defender in the 1922-23 and 1923-24 seasons," said Mr Mellor-Hill.
Capt Ross went on to serve in in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) during the Second World War, earning his captaincy in 1942.
He died in 1962.
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