Professional Footballer

This is William Owen Seiler (Silor), the husband of my second great aunt Louisa Laura Wanger.

His grandfather, Gustave Alvin Heinrich Seiler, had come to England from Prussia in 1848. The England Alien Arrivals list says that came from Germany via Antwerp on the Soho. It uses the word Germany and says Gustave is a candidate in theology.

William was born on 8 June 1885, in Bow, East London to parents Charles Seiler and Elizabeth Catherine Husbands. He had one sister, Eliza Sarah, and one brother, Charles Henry, who sadly died at aged 11 in 1894. 

The 1891 England Census lists his father as a factory worker and by the 1901 England Census the man is now listed as a general labourer in a chemical works. This could possibly have been the same place as in 1891. William is listed as a grocer's errand boy

In 1902 William's father dies at the age of only 35. We can only speculate as to the cause of death, but illness as a result of working in the chemical works could be a contributing factor.

The 1911 England Census shows Elizabeth as head of the household, living with her daughter and niece; both girls are listed as machinists, blouses. As yet I have been unable to find a date of death of her.

To return to William. He married Louisa Laura Wanger on 30 May 1910 at St Paul, Old Ford in the East End. The marriage records list William as a professional footballer with Louisa a waitress. The couple appear to have had only one child, a daughter called Ivy Irene Edith born in Croydon in 1911.

An internet search on William has found a wealth of information about his footballing career. I have summarised what I have found and include some links after.

William was 5ft 6 in., weighed 10st 6lb and played Inside Forward.

He began playing football for junior clubs Eton Mission and Sultan and then went on to join the Southern League Leyton in 1907. He played one season with the club during which time he scored 4 times and made 23 appearances. 

In May 1908 he moved to Norwich City, where he scored 7 times and made 27 appearances, including a hat-trick in April 1909 against his former club Leyton.

 In May 1909 he joined West Ham United where he was less successful, with only 6 first team appearances in March and April 1910 without scoring. 

At the close of the 1910 season William moved to Croydon Common. He scored 3 times in 14 Southern League and FA cup appearances. 

In the summer of 1911 he moved to Chatham. He was in the 3-0 defeat in the Kent Senior Cup Final against Catford Southend at Maidstone in April 1912.

In December 1913 he joined Margate where he saw out the end of his career. William died on 1 July 1965 in Chatham, in Kent. Louisa died 4 years later.

Looking at this information and the result of searches on Ancestry, it appears that William avoided fighting in World War I.

https://www.vintagefootballers.com/product/silor-william-image-1-norwich-1908/ - this site lets you put William's image onto any number of products.


http://theyflysohigh.co.uk/autographs-syd-king-2/4560573086 - this site has information about his time at West Ham as well as an image of his signature