A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



secondly on account of the important part 

 played by the alumni of the Hertfordshire 

 School in the history and development of the 

 game. The college was opened in 1862 and 

 A. Butler the first headmaster, who came 

 from Rugby, brought with him and intro- 

 duced into Hertfordshire the rules of that 

 school. The Haileybury boys at once took 

 kindly to football, and with the example of 

 several masters who participated in the prac- 

 tice games, notably E. P. Ash and the late 

 H. St. J. Reade, a creditable team was soon 

 placed in the field. 



In the ' sixties ' twenty players formed a 

 side at Haileybury, and this number was not 

 reduced to fifteen until 1877, the arrangement 

 of the men in the field being three full-backs 

 with two or sometimes three half-backs. To 

 encourage efficiency in kicking, prizes were 

 awarded for both dropping and placing. In 

 addition to the regular inter-house matches 

 and school games about five foreign matches 

 were usually played Guy's Hospital, Old 

 Marlburians, Old Haileyburians and a team 

 or two from Cambridge University being 

 among the earliest opponents met. Some of 

 the prominent players of the sixteen were 

 E. C. Cheston, captain in 1867, and his brother 

 Horace, both of whom were afterwards con- 

 spicuous members of the Richmond club ; 

 H. Bourdillon, of whom more anon ; F. S. 

 Wrench, a fine half-back ; W. A. Frith and 

 G. V. Oddie. 



That the standard of play at Haileybury 

 soon became a high one may be gathered 

 from the fact that of the team of 1869 four 

 Bourdillon, Champneys, Batten and Meri- 

 vale afterwards played for their respective 

 Universities Batten by the way captained 

 the first Cambridge University twenty 

 while another member of the same team, 

 L. Birkett, represented England against Scot- 

 land. This same season the college were 

 only defeated in one match, that against the 

 powerful Richmond club. In the following 

 year, under the captaincy of H. Bourdillon, 

 Haileybury had again a very strong com- 

 bination, and its success was largely con- 

 tributed to by the excellent dropping and 

 placing of J. (now Colonel) Spens so well 

 known later as a racquet and cricket player. 

 By his instrumentality Colvin's house carried 

 off this year the Inter-house championship. 

 Of the foreign clubs met, Richmond, Guy's 

 Hospital and the Old Boys were defeated, 

 and only the match against the Marlborough 

 Nomads resulted in a reverse. It is interest- 

 ing to note that the latter match has been 

 regularly played from 1867 to the present 

 time. 



In 1872 H. Bourdillon filled the position 

 of captain for the third season and completed 

 his fifth year in the team. During his last 

 year as captain the college suffered no de- 

 feat, an achievement which stamps the 

 Haileybury football training as being most 

 thorough. On going up to Oxford Bour- 

 dillon so favourably impressed the football 

 authorities there that he was chosen for 

 three years against Cambridge. In addition 

 to the captain the team of 1872 con- 

 tained several other players who afterwards 

 became famous in the football world, not- 

 ably the brothers E. T. and C. Gurdon, 

 two of the best forwards who ever repre- 

 sented England. E. T. Gurdon played four 

 years in the Cambridge team and sixteen 

 times for England, a record not equalled by 

 any other Englishman. For many years he 

 captained both the Richmond and English 

 fifteens and has long been a leading legislator 

 on the Rugby Union Committee, of which 

 body he is a past president. Charles Gurdon, 

 who captained Haileybury in succession to 

 Bourdillon, was a heavier forward than his 

 elder brother. Like him he represented 

 Cambridge, Richmond and England, while 

 as an oarsman he had few equals. A con- 

 temporary of the Gurdons in the Haileybury 

 team was the present headmaster of Malvern, 

 the Rev. S. R. James, who captained the 

 light blue fifteen in 1877. As a matter of 

 history it may be mentioned that no less than 

 eight of Bourdillon's last team gained their 

 blues at one or other University. 



In C. Gurdon's year of captaincy, 1873, 

 the college again did extremely well, only 

 suffering one defeat, and that from Richmond 

 on the latter's ground. C. C. Atkinson, who 

 afterwards played for Oxford, succeeded 

 Gurdon, and his team defeated the famous 

 Ravenscourt Park club and drew with the 

 Marlborough Nomads. Though matches 

 against other schools did not form a regular 

 part of the college programme until some 

 years later, this season was notable for the 

 fact that the college for the first time tried 

 their strength against another public school. 

 St. Paul's were met on November 14, 1874, 

 and easily defeated by a goal and three tries 

 to nothing. In 1877, in conformity with 

 the reduction made by the Rugby Union in 

 the number of players in their international 

 matches, Haileybury also reduced their twenty 

 to fifteen. This season however the college 

 did not maintain their good record, as out of 

 six foreign matches they were only successful 

 in one. Next year, under A. L. Foster, the 

 team did better, and much of their success 

 was due to J. B. Shackle, who scored nine 



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