Robert Mills-Roberts

Robert Herbert Mills-Roberts (1862 to 1935) was a Welsh association football goalkeeper who combined sport with a career in medicine. He was born at Ffestiniog on 5 August 1862 and educated at Friars School in Bangor and University College, Aberystwyth. As a student he played both association and rugby football, and he emerged as a first rate goalkeeper while studying at St Thomas's Hospital in London. He won the first of eight caps for Wales in 1885 and was persuaded out of retirement to make a last appearance for his country in 1892. Invited in 1887 to play as an amateur for Preston North End in their FA Cup ties, he belonged to the Preston sides that were FA Cup finalists in 1888 and winners in 1889, the 1888-89 team that won the Cup without conceding a goal and became known as The Invincibles. He also played for Barnes, Casuals and Birmingham St George's, and made seven appearances for the Corinthians amateur club between 1884 and 1888. He qualified as a doctor in July 1887, worked as house surgeon at Birmingham General Hospital, later held a post at the hospital of the Dinorwic Slate Quarry, served with the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, and died in Bournemouth on 27 November 1935.