Britton was a wing-half known for his pinpoint crossing. Although he scored only three times in his 242 appearances for Everton between 1930 and ‘38, he provided plenty of assists for the club’s record goalscorer, Dixie Dean.
The medals have been consigned by the former player’s family to Hawleys and will offered at its sale at Beverley Racecourse on November 20.
John Hawley, who runs the auction firm, had an interesting personal connection to Britton. In his youth, Hawley was a trainee at Hull City and Britton was his first manager.
“We always called him Mr Britton,” said Hawley, “and we youngsters always stood up when he and chairman entered the room.”
“I got to know him better later on,” he added, although the consignment of the medals “came out of the blue” rather than being directly down to this link.
Hawley had a notable football career himself with spells at Leeds, Sunderland Arsenal and Bradford City following his time at Hull. He began his career in the trade when working in his father’s antique shop in Beverley in 1966 and returned to the business full-time after retiring from football in 1986.
1933 FA Cup Medal
The 10-lot consignment from the Cliff Britton collection includes his FA Cup winner’s medal from 1933. Everton beat Manchester City 3-0 in the final that year, with Britton heavily involved in two of the goals.
In front of almost 93,000 fans at Wembley, the Toffeemen’s Jimmy Stein opened the scoring after City goalkeeper Len Langford dropped a Britton cross under pressure from Dean. In the second half, Langford failed to hold another Britton cross, allowing Dean to head home a second goal. Ten minutes from full-time, Everton wrapped up their victory when inside-right James Dunn scored from a corner.
As well as the FA Cup medal, the auction will offer two Charity Shield medals awarded to Britton from 1931, when Everton beat Newcastle, and 1933, where they lost to Arsenal. They will be sold as a single lot with a £1000-2000 estimate.
Another lot relates to Britton’s international career. From 1934-37 he won nine England caps including for a game against Scotland in 1936. A 9ct gold medal from the match is estimated at £300-500.
Also at the auction is the medal awarded to Britton as manager of Hull when his team won the 1965/66 Third Division championship. It was six years before auctioneer Hawley would later make his debut for The Tigers.
The 1965/66 Third Division championship medal awarded to Cliff Britton who was manager of Hull City at the time.
