Cyril Lawrence ‑ an English professional footballer who played as a Winger ‑ died after contracting the COVID-19 virus on 14 April 2020, aged 99.
Lawrence played in the English football league for Blackpool, Rochdale and Wrexham. In 2017, aged 97, Lawrence visited Spotland Stadium, the home of Rochdale.
During World War II, Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Navy and was posted to the King George V-class battleship as a gunner. He saw service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic and Pacific, most notably the pursuit and destruction of the German battleship Bismarck, as well as arctic convoys to supply the Soviets, the Battle of Okinawa and the final surrender of the Japanese home islands.
He married his wife Clara in 1944, while on shore leave. After the war, he returned to his football career, transferring from Blackpool to Rochdale between 1947–1950, before joining Wrexham for two years. He retired from his football career 1952.
He died after contracting the COVID-19 virus on 14 April 2020, aged 99, at Royal Bolton Hospital in Farnworth, Greater Manchester, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.