Jock Salter was the son of a Welshman who was born in the north-east, but raised in Southampton. The day after his 16th birthday, his country declared war on Germany and had need of him in uniform. He promptly answered the call and was deployed in the Army Service Corps at the Remount Depot in Swaythling. His assignment was to train unbroken mules for use as gun-carriages.

When he delivered some of the trained mules to France, however, Jock, still only 16, was sent into action with the 8th Somerset Light Infantry. He was soon invalided home, suffering the effects of mustard gas.

He recovered sufficiently to play local football; to sign amateur forms for Southampton; and speedily to turn pro and make his Second Division debut.

That would be Jock’s only first-team appearance. His recovery was not complete and the day-to-day football training proved too exhausting.  He returned to local football in 1924 with Thornycrofts, with whom he was briefly employed as a boilermaker. After that, he was a Post Office engineer, until he retired in 1963. His son, Roland, was on Southampton’s books in 1938, but his Dell career petered out by 1941, with just a few appearances in war-time competitions.