A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Senior Charity Shield, Presented by 

 T. H. Roberts ; Winners of Shield. — 

 1895-6, Guildford ; 1896-7, Reigate Priory ; 

 1897-8, West Croydon ; 1898-9, Guildford ; 

 1 899-1900, Guildford ; 1900-1, East Sheen ; 

 1901-2, Guildford ; 1902-3, Dulwich Ham- 

 let; 1903-4, Woking. 



CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL 



Football has been played for over a cen- 

 tury at Charterhouse School. Mr. A. H. Tod 

 finds the earliest definite reference to the 

 game in ' the Charterhouse Song,' first sung 

 in 1794 to the tune of ' Ally Croker': — 



I challenge all the men alive to say they e'er were 



gladder 

 Than boys all striving who should kick most wind 



out of the bladder. 



Football was certainly in vogue thirty or 

 forty years later, though the football registers 

 of the school do not commence until the 

 captaincy of G. J. Cookson in 1861-2. 

 charterhouse then was in the heart of the 

 city, within about half a mile of St. Paul's, 

 and formed a part of the square bearing its 

 name. It was not until 1872 (when it was 

 moved bodily to the much more imposing 

 position it now occupies at Godalming) that 

 Charterhouse became connected with Surrey 

 football. Before then the Charterhouse game 

 had played an important part as a basis 

 in framing the laws of ' The Football Associa- 

 tion,' and indeed the rules in force at Charter- 

 house and Westminster formed the foundation 

 of the revised code which is in the main the 

 Football Association Code of to-day. The 

 history of Charterhouse football as a Surrey 

 sport of course begins with the history of New 

 Charterhouse in 1872. Some nine years be- 

 fore, Westminster and Charterhouse had met 

 in Vincent Square, and the remark in the 

 register that ' it was the first match with 

 Westminster for many years ' shows that the 

 contest was much older than the existing 

 records would seem to indicate. Before the 

 migration to Godalming three other matches 

 had been played between the two schools in 

 1864 and two succeeding years. The result 

 was to leave Westminster, who had been 

 successfvil in 1863, still one to the good. 



The very limited area allowed to football 

 on the Old Green in Charterhouse Square 

 did not prevent the school from rearing a 

 number of good players. T. C. Hooman, the 

 late C. E. B. Nepean, the uvo Muir Macken- 

 zies, K. and M., were among the best ex- 

 ponents of the game in the early seventies. 

 The adoption of the rules of the Football 



Association in their entirety in 1875 brought 

 the school directly into touch with the 

 governing body of the game. Since then 

 Charterhouse has supplied an uninterrupted 

 succession of great players to Inter-Univenity 

 and International football. From W. N. 

 Cobbold and the brothers, P. M. and A. M. 

 Walters, down to G. O. Smith, the history of 

 Association football is full of the names of 

 Carthusians who have taken the highest rank 

 as players. As an instance of sustained ex- 

 cellence, G. O. Smith is perhaps the most 

 conspicuous. From 1894 to 1902 inclusive he 

 played in twenty-one International matches, 

 the largest number at credit of any player up to 

 date. That Charterhouse, too, has furnished 

 a very large number to the ranks of Univer- 

 sity footballers of late years is a matter of 

 history. As an illustration of this it is only 

 necessary to point to the Inter-University 

 match of 1897; no less than ten of the 

 twenty-two competitors engaged had been 

 taught the game at Charterhouse. 



To say that football is the game of Charter- 

 house is only to assert an indisputable fact. 

 From September till the end of March it is 

 practically the only pastime. Of late years, 

 the organization has been so perfected that 

 every boy in the school has a fair chance, if 

 he is inclined to take it. The latest develop- 

 ment has been the introduction of the league 

 system. Originally introduced in 1894, it 

 was extended in 1898 by the formation of a 

 second as well as a first division, the former 

 composed of twelve, the latter of fourteen 

 teams. This latter is for the new boys with 

 the weaker players, and is irrespective of the 

 four school elevens for those of the higher 

 class. As there are the house matches in 

 addition to these, it will be seen that every 

 grade of player is cared for. 



The match with Westminster has been 

 played alternately at Charterhouse and Vin- 

 cent Square since 1875. The following is the 

 result of the thirty-one matches played (includ- 

 ing those of 1863-4-5-6) :— 



Charterhouse . . .21 



Westminster ... 7 



Drawn .... 3 



Goal Score : — Charterhouse, 97 

 Westminster, 35 



Total 132 



How Carthusians have done in Inter- 

 national football the names of the following 

 who have played for England will show. 

 Against Scotland : A. Amos (1885) ; W. N. 

 Cobbold (1883, 1885, x886, 1887) ; E. S. Currey 



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