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Charlie
Alcock |
Wanderers FC
1 appearance,
1
goal
on debut
P 1 W 0 D 1 L 0 F 2:
A 2
50% successful
1870-76
captain:
one (one
goal)
minutes played: 90
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Timeline |
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Charles William
Alcock |
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Birth |
Friday, 2 December 1842
at 10 Norfolk Street [left], Bishop Wearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham |
,%20Charles.jpg) |
registered as Charles Alcock in Sunderland October-December 1842 |
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Education: Attended Walter Todd Preparatory School, Woodford
and Harrow School. |
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According to the 1851 census,
The second son of five, to parents Charles and Elizabeth (née Forster). Still at
school, living at 17 John Street, Sunderland. They have three servants. |
|
According to the 1861 census,
Charles is an unmarried Ship Broker in his father's business, living in Sunny
Side, Chingford in Essex. Still living with his parents. They have two
servants. |
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Marriage: to Eliza
Caroline Ovenden, on 19 December 1864, at St. Philip's Church, Arlington
Square. |
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registered in Islington October-December 1864 |
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"Dec
19th, at St. Philip's, Arlington Square, by the Rev. J. Sutherland,
Incumbent, Charles William Alcock, Esq., of Chingford, in this county, to
Eliza Caroline, only daughter of the late Francis Ovenden, esq., of St.
Clement Danes." - Essex Standard, Friday, 30 December 1864 |
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Children:
Charles and Eliza
Alcock had eight children together. William Edward Forster (b.26 October
1865), Elizabeth Maud (b.13 November 1869), Florence Caroline (b.16 November 1870),
Charlotte Mabel (b.15 April 1872), Charles
Ernest (b.16 September 1873), Helen
Mary (b.16 September 1874), Marion Frances
(b.7 November 1875) and Violet May (b.14 May 1878). |
According to the 1871 census,
he lives at Grassendale House in Rosendale Road, Lambeth. He is a journalist,
the new husband to Eliza, and father of one son, William
E.F. and two
daughters, Elizabeth M. and Florence C. They have two servants.
(His son, Charles Ernest, died on 13 February 1874 as a six month-old)
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(His father died on 23 February 1881)
According to the 1881 census,
Chas Wm. now lives at 36 Somerleyton Road, Lambeth. He is a journalist and publisher.
Still married, now with three more daughters, Helen M., Marion F. and
Violet May. They have two servants.
(His eldest son, William
Edward, died early 1887) |
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(His mother died on 28 December 1890)
According to the 1891 census,
Charles W. is earning his trade as a Journalist and Author, at homw with his wife and
four of his daughters, and three servants, living at Heathlands, Kew Road,
Richmond in London. |
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According to the 1901 census,
Charles is still a journalist and now a JP in Surrey. Living with his
wife, three daughters, and two servants, at Hazelwood, 16 Ennerdale Road, Richmond in London.
(His daughter, Charlotte, died in 1903) |
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Death |
Tuesday, 26 February
1907 at 7 Arundel Road, Kemp Town, Brighton, Sussex |
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aged 64
years 86
days |
registered in Brighton
January-March 1907 |
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Obituary |
"DEATH OF MR. C. W. ALCOCK―A
FATHER OF MODERN FOOTBALL.
"Mr.
Charles William Alcock one of the fathers of modern football, died at
Brighton yesterday. Of late years his name has been chiefly associated
with cricket, because of the post of secretary to the Surrey County
Cricket Club, which he had held since 1872. But football was his first
love, and it was in connection with the development of the Association
code that his name first became familiar out of London. He does not
appear to have been present when the Football Association was formed in
1863. His brother was a member of the first Committee, but it was three
years later that he became officially connected with it. Mr. Alcock did
more than any other individual, however, to establish it firmly. He had
been playing the game for some years, first at Harrow, where he was
educated, and afterwards with the Epping Football Club, which he helped to
found and to broaden into the famous Wanderers club. He was captain of the
latter team when it won the Association Cup in 1872, and he originated the
idea of International matches by two years previous to that―organising a
match between English players and a team of Scotsmen resident in London.
In the first recognized International match, in [1872], he was a player,
so that his practical knowledge of the game was undoubted.
"On the
Football Association, then, he speedily became prominent. Early in 1870 he
was appointed honorary secretary, and for sixteen or seventeen years he
took the lion's share of the work. During this time there were great
changes.
"In 1884, Mr. Alcock moved a resolution at the annual meeting
of the Football Association that professionalism be legalised. He had been
brought to this by a knowledge of the veiled payments to players that, it
is stated, were first made by the Darwen Club, the new system spreading
through Lancashire rapidly. The proposal was rejected, but later in the
same year payment of 'wages lost' was authorised. This was no remedy, and
in July, 1885, largely owing to Mr. Alcock's exertions, the football
professional was openly acknowledged. In 1886 Mr. Alcock was appointed
paid secretary of the Association and he held the post until 1895 having
then served for about a quarter of a century. During this time he had also
been a prominent writer on the game, being engaged on the 'Sportsman'
staff, and with journals devoted to athletic sports which he had helped to
establish.
"In recent years Mr. Alcock took up golf―the game to which
cricketers who wish to keep in condition during the winter months are
turning in ever-increasing numbers. He was on the Commission of the Peace
for the county of Surrey. Mr. Alcock was born in Sunderland in 1842."
-
The Yorkshire Post,
Wednesday, 27
February 1907. |
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According to the 1911 census, Eliza, now a
widow and living by private means, remains with two of her daughters,
Florence and Marion and a single servant, at Hazelwood. |
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Funeral |
"IMPRESSIVE SCENE AT NORWOOD
"The funeral of the late Mr
C. W. Alcock, secretary of the Surrey County Cricket Club since 1872,
president of the Surrey County Football Association, and a vice-president
of the Football Association, took place at Norwood Cemetery on Saturday
morning. On Saturday a large gathering of famous cricketers, both old and
new, representatives from various football and cricket clubs and
associations, and a great array of magnificent wreaths, including tributes
from the majority of the first-class counties, showed eloquently the
esteem in which he who had worked so long and so hard in the cause of
sport was held by all who came in contact with him, whether professional
or amateur, exalted official or humble workman.
"The funeral service was
arranged for one o'clock, but long before that hour a little crowd of
mourners was assembled at the cemetery gate. When the cortege arrived and
proceeded up the long, sloping path to the little chapel at the top of the
hill, a procession fully a hundred yards in length followed. The spring
sun shone brightly, and a little band of red-coated soldiers, sent to
represent the Guards Depot F.C., introduced a splash of colour among the
prevailing hues of sombre mourning.
"The coffin―which
was of plain oak and bore the simple instruction: Charles William Alcock.
Died 26th February 1907. Aged 64 years."―was covered with floral tributes,
to the number of well over fifty. The funeral service was most
impressively read by Dr John Darlington, Vicar of St. Mark's, Kennington."
- The Sporting Life, Monday, 4 March 1907 |
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Probate |
"ALCOCK
Charles of 7 Arundel-road Brighton
died 26 February 1907 Administration
London 22 March to
Eliza Caroline Alcock widow.
Effects £3186 15s. 2d."
[2019 equivalent: £386,150] |
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Biographies |
The Father
of Modern Sport: The Life and Times of Charles W. Alcock -
Keith Booth.
(Parrs Wood Press. 2002). |
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Eliza Alcock died 30 January
1937 in Worthing |
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Sources |
 Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990], Keith Booth's The Father
of Modern Sport [2002] & |
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Playing Career |
,%20Charles.jpg) |
Club(s): Educated at
Harrow School, Alcock was a keen schoolboy footballer, and formed the
Forest club from Epping with his elder brother, John, in 1859. He was then a prime
mover in the 1863 foundation of Forest's more famous successor, Wanderers
FC, who were initially a predominantly Old Harrovian side. Appears
to have been a member of Upton Park FC between 1869 and 1872. |
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Club honours:
FA Cup winners
1871-72; |
Individual honours: Early FA Committee member
1866-69, Honorary Secretary of the FA 1870-86, Honorary Treasurer of the
FA 1877, FA Secretary 1887-95, FA vice-President 1896-1907;
Founding father of the FA Cup in 1871;
FA Cup Final referee
1874-75, 1878-79;
Also a first class cricketer with Middlesex and Essex. Then
became secretary of Surrey, the Cricket Club that owned the cricket ground in
Kennington, London. |
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Height/Weight |
not known |
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Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & Keith Booth's
The Father
of Modern Sport [2002]. |
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England Career |
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Player number |
One of
six who became the
28th players
(31) to appear
for England. |
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Position(s) |
Forward |
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Only match |
No. 4, 6 March 1875,
England 2
Scotland 2, a friendly match at The
Surrey Cricket Ground,
The Oval, Kennington, London,
aged 32 years 94 days.c ⁶⁰ |
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Individual honours |
The North
(one appearance, 1870);
England's
joint-Top Goalscorer (one 1875) and the fourth player to score
on his debut. |
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Distinctions |
One of the many
committee members that founded the International Match (Alcock
himself, never took the credit), and
headed the selection process for England's first 31 matches, 1872-1887.
"After another second place in the Home
Championship behind the Scots 1886/87, England finally triumphed in the
1887/88 season. The season had begun with the introduction of the
FA's new International Selection Committee and finished with outright
victory in the Home Championship for the first time. The old
selection procedure had got out of hand as upwards of 70 players would
turn up for the trials, making the process a logistical and bureaucratic
nightmare for Alcock and his team..."
Forever England: A History of the National Side, Mark Shaoul & Tony
Williamson, 2000, page 19./First Elevens: The Birth of International
Football, Andy Mitchell, 2012, page 16.
England's
oldest goalscorer from March 1875 until March 1896. |
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Beyond England |
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A sports journalist
by profession, compiled the first Football Annual (1868) and edited
the Cricket newspaper 1882-1905. He had a close connection
with the summer game having played for Essex and crack club sides, and
serving as secretary of Surrey CCC 1872 to his death. Was also
chairman of the Richmond Athletic Association and vice-president of the
Mid-Surrey Golf Club. -
An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.9. |
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The Numbers |
|
parties |
Appearances |
withdrew |
minutes |
|
Goals ave.min |
captain |
| 4 |
1 |
two |
90 |
1 |
90
min |
one |
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The minutes here given
can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only an
approximation. |
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P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
=0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
50 |
=0 |
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His only match was a friendly match, at one of his home grounds and as Captain |
Match History
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apps |
match |
match details |
comp |
res. |
rundown |
pos |
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England
Football Online