Charles Bambridge
Encyclopedia
Edward Charles Bambridge (30 July 1858 – 8 November 1935) was an English
footballer who made eighteen appearances as a left winger for England
between 1879
and 1887
, being appointed captain twice. He was one of three brothers who played for England.
He was one of the first "stars" of the England side who was an extremely fast winger. Throughout his career he was known as "Charlie Bam".
, the fifth child of Sophia (née
Thorington) and William Samuel Bambridge, who had been a missionary in Waimate
, New Zealand
, and was then the photographer to Queen Victoria. He was educated at St Mark's School in Windsor and then Malvern College
in Malvern, Worcestershire
, and was a member of the college football team.
His football career was spent with Swifts
, Windsor Home Park, Streatham, Upton Park
, Clapham Rovers
and Corinthian and he gained representative honours for Surrey
, Berkshire
and London.
He made his debut for England
against Scotland
at Kennington Oval on 5 April 1879. At half time, England were 4–1 down to the Scots. Bambridge scored early in the second half and his team-mates had levelled the score by the 75th minute. With less than ten minutes remaining, the Scots scored what they thought was the winning goal but the referee disallowed it as offside
. The English forwards then raced upfield with Bambridge scoring the winning goal, thus enabling England to claim their first victory over the Scots since 1873 in what was described as "the most exciting England and Scotland game to date".
His next England appearance came a year later
on 13 March 1880 and was another exciting encounter in which Bambridge again scored twice. This time it was the Scots who were the winners, 5–4, with a hat trick from George Ker
. Bambridge scored against the Scots again in the following year's international
, a consolation goal in a 6–1 defeat.
He was appointed captain for the first match between England and Ireland played at Bloomfield, Belfast
on 18 February 1882. Ireland were "totally dominated by the visitors" who won the game 13–0, with Bambridge scoring once. The other goal scorers included Aston Villa
forwards, Howard Vaughton
who scored five and Arthur Brown
with four.
In the match against Wales
on 13 March 1882, Bambridge left the field after only three minutes because of injury, and England played on with ten men, losing 5–3 with two late goals for the Welsh. The English gained their "revenge" the following year
with a 5–0 victory in which Bambridge scored once, with Clement Mitchell
scoring a hat-trick. In this match his younger brother Arthur
played on the right wing. For the match
against Ireland on 23 February 1884, Charles again played alongside Arthur; both brothers scored in an 8–1 victory, (Charles scoring twice) but he again left the pitch with an injury after 75 minutes.
He continued to be selected regularly for England over the next few years, scoring against the Irish and the Scots in 1885
. His second captaincy came in a 7–0 victory over the Irish on 5 February 1887, in which Tinsley Lindley
scored a hat-trick. His final England appearance came a month later against Scotland on 19 March.
He was a member of the Football Association
committee from 1883 to 1886 and a member of the Corinthians original committee in 1882. He became honorary secretary of the Corinthians between 1923 and 1932.
England's list of all-time top goalscorers is skewed towards more recent players, in large part, due to the sheer number of games played in the modern game but Bambridge has the distinction of having been England's top scorer in 1879, 1881 and 1885 which places him 8th= player for the most number of years as top scorer and 4th= for most years as outright top scorer (excluding joint first places), a record bettered only by Vivian Woodward
, Gary Lineker
and Michael Owen
, with four, five and six exclusive top scoring years, respectively. He held the overall England goalscoring record
, either jointly or alone, from his debut against Scotland
in 1879 until his final tally of 11 was overhauled by Tinsley Lindley
in 1890.
The 13-0 routing of Ireland on 18 February 1882, when Bambridge was captain is England's highest ever winning margin. In this match, three Old Malvernians were present ; the others being Doctor Greenwood
and Fred Hargreaves
.
Bambridge is also said to have played in a cup tie with a broken leg, and scored the winning goal.
Two of his brothers, Arthur
and Ernest
, also played for England making three and one appearances respectively. They are the only trio of brothers to have played for England.
underwriter, but went "broke
" at Lloyd's
in 1909.
He married Kathleen Sylvia Bailey on 13 August 1862 and had four children. Two of his sons, Rupert and Frederick, were killed in France
during the First World War. His grandson, Anthony Charles Bambridge, was managing director of Colmans Foods
in the 1970s.
Charles died on 8 November 1935, aged 77. His widow, Kathleen, lived on until 1960 and died at the age of 97.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
footballer who made eighteen appearances as a left winger for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
between 1879
1878-79 in English football
The 1878–1879 season was the eighth season of competitive football in England.-National team:For the first time, England played a team other than Scotland. They beat Wales 2–1 at Kennington Oval, London...
and 1887
1886-87 in English football
The 1886–1887 season was the 16th season of competitive football in England.-Events:* Dial Square FC are founded by workers at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and play their first match on 11 December...
, being appointed captain twice. He was one of three brothers who played for England.
He was one of the first "stars" of the England side who was an extremely fast winger. Throughout his career he was known as "Charlie Bam".
Career
Charles Bambridge was born in Windsor, BerkshireWindsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, the fifth child of Sophia (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Thorington) and William Samuel Bambridge, who had been a missionary in Waimate
Te Waimate mission
The Waimate Mission established one of the earliest settlements in New Zealand, at Waimate North in the Bay of IslandsAt the instigation of Samuel Marsden, a model farming village for Māori was constructed at Te Waimate by the Church Missionary Society...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and was then the photographer to Queen Victoria. He was educated at St Mark's School in Windsor and then Malvern College
Malvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
in Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
, and was a member of the college football team.
His football career was spent with Swifts
Swifts F.C.
Swifts Football Club were a football team based in Slough, England.The club were founded c.1868 and played their home matches on a ground near The Dolphin public house, Slough...
, Windsor Home Park, Streatham, Upton Park
Upton Park F.C.
Upton Park Football Club were an amateur football club from Upton Park, London in the late 19th and early 20th century, now defunct. As well as being one of the fifteen teams that played in the inaugural FA Cup, they also represented Great Britain at the 1900 Summer Olympics football tournament,...
, Clapham Rovers
Clapham Rovers F.C.
Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct...
and Corinthian and he gained representative honours for Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and London.
He made his debut for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
against Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
at Kennington Oval on 5 April 1879. At half time, England were 4–1 down to the Scots. Bambridge scored early in the second half and his team-mates had levelled the score by the 75th minute. With less than ten minutes remaining, the Scots scored what they thought was the winning goal but the referee disallowed it as offside
Offside (football)
Offside is a law in football which states that if a player is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a teammate, he may not become actively involved in the play...
. The English forwards then raced upfield with Bambridge scoring the winning goal, thus enabling England to claim their first victory over the Scots since 1873 in what was described as "the most exciting England and Scotland game to date".
His next England appearance came a year later
1879-80 in English football
The 1879–1880 season was the ninth season of competitive football in England.-National team:* England score given firstKey* A = Away match* F = FriendlyNote – TheFa.com give different times for the England goals in the match against Wales....
on 13 March 1880 and was another exciting encounter in which Bambridge again scored twice. This time it was the Scots who were the winners, 5–4, with a hat trick from George Ker
George Ker
George "Geordie" Ker was a Scottish footballer of the 1870s and 1880s.Kerr played for Queen's Park juniors, Kerland FC, and Alexandra Athletic before joining Queen's Park in 1877. Until 1878, Ker had played as a defender but converted to a striker in 1878...
. Bambridge scored against the Scots again in the following year's international
1880-81 in English football
The 1880–1881 season was the tenth season of competitive football in England.-National team:England played their first home match outside London when they hosted Wales at Alexandra Meadows in Blackburn.* England score given firstKey...
, a consolation goal in a 6–1 defeat.
He was appointed captain for the first match between England and Ireland played at Bloomfield, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
on 18 February 1882. Ireland were "totally dominated by the visitors" who won the game 13–0, with Bambridge scoring once. The other goal scorers included Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
forwards, Howard Vaughton
Howard Vaughton
Oliver Howard Vaughton was an English international footballer who played as an inside left.He played as a forward for Aston Villa before the Football League was formed between 1880 and 1888. He was part of Villa's first FA Cup final victory in 1887...
who scored five and Arthur Brown
Arthur Alfred Brown
Arthur Alfred Brown was an English footballer who played for Aston Villa in the 1880s. He was their first international player, making three appearances for England in 1882...
with four.
In the match against Wales
Wales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
on 13 March 1882, Bambridge left the field after only three minutes because of injury, and England played on with ten men, losing 5–3 with two late goals for the Welsh. The English gained their "revenge" the following year
1882-83 in English football
The 1882–1883 season was the 12th season of competitive football in England.-National team:* England score given firstKey* H = Home match* F = Friendly-Honours:...
with a 5–0 victory in which Bambridge scored once, with Clement Mitchell
Clement Mitchell
Clement Mitchell was an English sportsman who represented the England national football team and played first-class cricket with Kent....
scoring a hat-trick. In this match his younger brother Arthur
Arthur Bambridge
Arthur Leopold Bambridge was an English footballer who made three appearances either as a full back or as a right winger for England between 1881 and 1884...
played on the right wing. For the match
1883-84 in English football
The 1883–1884 season was the 13th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:1883–1884 saw the world's first international tournament begin. The British Home Championship pitted the UK's four national teams against each other in a league competition in which each played the other three...
against Ireland on 23 February 1884, Charles again played alongside Arthur; both brothers scored in an 8–1 victory, (Charles scoring twice) but he again left the pitch with an injury after 75 minutes.
He continued to be selected regularly for England over the next few years, scoring against the Irish and the Scots in 1885
1884-85 in English football
The 1884–1885 season was the 14th season of competitive football in England.-National team:England finished second in the British Home Championship, which was won by Scotland.* England score given firstKey* H = Home match...
. His second captaincy came in a 7–0 victory over the Irish on 5 February 1887, in which Tinsley Lindley
Tinsley Lindley
Tinsley Lindley was an English footballer. He was considered one of the 19th century's great centre forwards. His passes and shots at goal were very precise, he was very clever and an excellent team player. An elegant and technically superb player.He was the son of Leonard Lindley who was a lace...
scored a hat-trick. His final England appearance came a month later against Scotland on 19 March.
He was a member of the Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
committee from 1883 to 1886 and a member of the Corinthians original committee in 1882. He became honorary secretary of the Corinthians between 1923 and 1932.
Achievements
Bambridge holds several records and distinctions. He scored 11 goals in 18 appearances for England with an average goals per game rate of 0.61.England's list of all-time top goalscorers is skewed towards more recent players, in large part, due to the sheer number of games played in the modern game but Bambridge has the distinction of having been England's top scorer in 1879, 1881 and 1885 which places him 8th= player for the most number of years as top scorer and 4th= for most years as outright top scorer (excluding joint first places), a record bettered only by Vivian Woodward
Vivian Woodward
Vivian John Woodward was an English amateur football player who enjoyed the peak of his career in the late 1900s and early 1910s.-Club career:...
, Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker, OBE , is a former English footballer, who played as a striker. He is a sports broadcaster for the BBC, Al Jazeera Sports and Eredivisie Live...
and Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
, with four, five and six exclusive top scoring years, respectively. He held the overall England goalscoring record
Progression of England association football goalscoring record
This is a progressive list of association footballers who have held or co-held the record for international goals for the England national football team, beginning with William Kenyon-Slaney who scored the first ever international goal...
, either jointly or alone, from his debut against Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
in 1879 until his final tally of 11 was overhauled by Tinsley Lindley
Tinsley Lindley
Tinsley Lindley was an English footballer. He was considered one of the 19th century's great centre forwards. His passes and shots at goal were very precise, he was very clever and an excellent team player. An elegant and technically superb player.He was the son of Leonard Lindley who was a lace...
in 1890.
The 13-0 routing of Ireland on 18 February 1882, when Bambridge was captain is England's highest ever winning margin. In this match, three Old Malvernians were present ; the others being Doctor Greenwood
Doctor Greenwood
Doctor Haydock Greenwood was an English footballer who played for Blackburn Rovers and made two appearances for England in 1882...
and Fred Hargreaves
Fred Hargreaves
Frederick William Hargreaves was an English footballer who represented the England national football team. He also played first-class cricket with Lancashire....
.
Bambridge is also said to have played in a cup tie with a broken leg, and scored the winning goal.
Two of his brothers, Arthur
Arthur Bambridge
Arthur Leopold Bambridge was an English footballer who made three appearances either as a full back or as a right winger for England between 1881 and 1884...
and Ernest
Ernest Bambridge
Ernest Henry Bambridge was an English footballer who made one appearance as a forward for England in 1876. He was the eldest of three brothers who played for England.-Career:...
, also played for England making three and one appearances respectively. They are the only trio of brothers to have played for England.
Outside football
Bambridge earned his living as a Lloyd'sLloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
underwriter, but went "broke
Broke
Broke may refer to:* To being currently out of money* Broke, New South Wales, village in Australia* Discarded paper created when a break occurs in the normally continuous papermaking process...
" at Lloyd's
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
in 1909.
He married Kathleen Sylvia Bailey on 13 August 1862 and had four children. Two of his sons, Rupert and Frederick, were killed in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during the First World War. His grandson, Anthony Charles Bambridge, was managing director of Colmans Foods
Colman's
Colman's is a UK manufacturer of mustard and various other sauces, based at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Presently an operational division of the multinational Unilever company, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited range of products, almost all varieties of...
in the 1970s.
Charles died on 8 November 1935, aged 77. His widow, Kathleen, lived on until 1960 and died at the age of 97.