Medals to be sold (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Medals to be sold

GOLD medals won by a trail-blazing footballer from Downton, who won 11 England caps while starring for Swindon Town in the early 1900s, are expected to fetch £5,000 when they come up for auction next week.

The medals - due to go under the hammer at Bonhams, in Chester, on Wednesday - were won by Harold Fleming, who became an England international while playing for Swindon, then a non-league club, between 1909 and 1914.

Mr Fleming was born in Downton on April 30, 1887, the year Wiltshire and the rest of the country was festooned in patriotic bunting to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.

In his book, An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who, author Douglas Lamming says: "Harold Fleming played inside- right and his greatness was the biggest factor in Swindon Town's pre-World War I FA Cup runs. A brilliant player, splendid in dribbling and shooting and, moreover, extremely consistent."

Mr Fleming helped Swindon win the 1910-1911 Southern League championship, and the 15-carat gold medal he won for that feat is tipped to fetch up to £800 at Bonhams.

He again helped Swindon win the Southern League title in 1913-1914, and that 15-carat gold medal is expected to fetch a similar sum.

One of the most fascinating items in Mr Fleming's collection is a memento from one of Swindon's earliest forays - possibly the earliest - into European football.

For in May 1910 Swindon traipsed all the way to France - and that was before air travel - to play in a tournament against... Barnsley.

This match, the Dubonnet Cup, played in Paris, saw Swindon beat Barnsley 2-1 in the final.

Mr Fleming scored both Swindon goals and his medal is still in its original case.

The following year, Swindon took on Manchester United, in what turned out to be the highest-scoring Charity Shield match of all time. Swindon lost 8-4 and some of the money raised by the game eventually went to relatives of the Titanic tragedy of 1912.

Harold Fleming's 1911 Charity Shield medal is tipped to fetch another £800.

Away from football, Mr Fleming was a local preacher, which meant he would never play on Christmas Days and Good Fridays.

He eventually retired from football in 1924, at the age of 37.

But his contribution to Wiltshire sport was not yet over, for he played Minor Counties cricket for Wiltshire and opened a football boot factory in Swindon.

He died on August 23,1955, at the age of 68.