Maxwell Woosnam
Encyclopedia
Maxwell "Max" Woosnam (6 September 1892 – 14 July 1965) was an English
sportsman is sometimes referred to as the 'Greatest British sportsman' in recognition of his achievements .
Amongst his achievements was winning an Olympic gold and silver at the 1920 Summer Olympics
, winning the doubles at Wimbledon
, compiling a 147 break in Snooker
, making a century at Lord's Cricket Ground
, captaining the British Davis Cup
team, captaining Manchester City F.C.
finishing ultimately runners-up for the Football League Championship in 1920-21 and captaining the England national football team
.
. The son of Charles Maxwell Woosnam, a clergyman who served as canon
of Chester and Archdeacon of Macclesfield, Woosnam spent most of his childhood in Aberhafesp
, Mid Wales
. He attended Winchester College
, where he captained the golf and cricket teams, and also represented the school at football and squash. As a schoolboy he made scores of 144 and 33 not out
for a Public Schools XI while playing against the MCC
at Lord's
.
In 1911 Woosnam enrolled in Cambridge University. Whilst here he represented the university at football, cricket
, lawn tennis, real tennis
and golf
(being a scratch golfer), becoming a quadruple Blue.
After Cambridge, Woosnam played amateur football for the then highly successful teams, Corinthians and Chelsea
.
In the First World War he fought alongside Siegfried Sassoon
on the western front
and in the Gallipoli Campaign. Woosnam took part in a number of wartime sporting events, including football matches between a team of enlisted Corinthians players and Aldershot Command, and a Military vs Queen's Club
tennis match.
for the first time. His tennis form in 1919 led The Times correspondent to describe his partnership with Noel Turnbull as a "doubles team of promise". Woosnam declined the opportunity to become a professional sportsman, finding the idea 'vulgar'.
he signed for Manchester City
on amateur terms. He made his debut on 1 January 1920 against Bradford City, a match which also saw the debut of Sam Cookson
. Initially he played only home matches due to other commitments. However, when Manchester City, without Woosnam, suffered a shock 3–0 FA Cup
defeat to Leicester City
at the end of the month, some supporters blamed Woosnam's employers, Crossley Brothers. As a result, the engineering firm ordered Woosnam not to miss another game..
Playing at centre half, Woosnam eventually became Manchester City captain at the recommendation of his team-mates. This was highly unusual for an amateur among professionals. Eventually his success allowed him to play for England (both for the amateur team and as a full international as captain). Woosnam was also selected to captain the British football team at Olympics
, but refused, having already committed himself to the tennis team. He continued other sporting endeavours outside of football however, winning doubles titles at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and captaining the Great Britain Davis Cup team
. After leaving Manchester City in October 1925, he continued playing football occasionally for Northwich Victoria.
, and died in 1965 of respiratory failure.
His life is chronicled in the book All Round Genius - The Unknown Story of Britain's Greatest Sportsman, by Mick Collins.
Woosnam's uncle, Hylton Philipson, was a cricketer and played five Test matches
for England
.
He once defeated actor and film director
Charlie Chaplin
at table tennis
playing with a butter knife instead of a bat. Besides being a pioneer for table tennis, he was very experienced at snooker
too, once achieving a maximum break of 147.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
sportsman is sometimes referred to as the 'Greatest British sportsman' in recognition of his achievements .
Amongst his achievements was winning an Olympic gold and silver at the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
, winning the doubles at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, compiling a 147 break in Snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, making a century at Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
, captaining the British Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
team, captaining Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
finishing ultimately runners-up for the Football League Championship in 1920-21 and captaining the England national football team
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...
.
Background
Max Woosnam was born into to a wealthy family in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. The son of Charles Maxwell Woosnam, a clergyman who served as canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Chester and Archdeacon of Macclesfield, Woosnam spent most of his childhood in Aberhafesp
Aberhafesp
Aberhafesp is a small village in Powys, Wales.It is situated about five miles west of Newtown on the B4568 close to the River Severn.- External links :*...
, Mid Wales
Mid Wales
Mid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales covered the counties of Ceredigion and Powys and the area of Gwynedd that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC...
. He attended Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, where he captained the golf and cricket teams, and also represented the school at football and squash. As a schoolboy he made scores of 144 and 33 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
for a Public Schools XI while playing against the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
.
In 1911 Woosnam enrolled in Cambridge University. Whilst here he represented the university at football, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, lawn tennis, real tennis
Real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(being a scratch golfer), becoming a quadruple Blue.
After Cambridge, Woosnam played amateur football for the then highly successful teams, Corinthians and Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
.
In the First World War he fought alongside Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...
on the western front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
and in the Gallipoli Campaign. Woosnam took part in a number of wartime sporting events, including football matches between a team of enlisted Corinthians players and Aldershot Command, and a Military vs Queen's Club
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. Founded in 1886, the Queen's Club was the world's first multipurpose sports complex and named after Queen Victoria, its first patron...
tennis match.
Post-war
After the war Woosnam continued his amateur sporting career taking part in several sporting events. Following a defeat while representing Cambridge University in a tennis match against Queen's Club in April 1919, the Times remarked that "Woosnam is a player of many games, and he could excel at tennis if he could devote enough time to the game... ...tennis is a mistress who must be constantly wooed." However, Woosnam continued to divide his attention; he played football for Chelsea either side of the Queen's Club match, captaining the team. His performance for Chelsea led to selection for a North versus South international trial match. Once the football season finished Woosnam took part in several tennis tournaments. He won both the singles and doubles titles in the Cambridge University tournament, and entered WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
for the first time. His tennis form in 1919 led The Times correspondent to describe his partnership with Noel Turnbull as a "doubles team of promise". Woosnam declined the opportunity to become a professional sportsman, finding the idea 'vulgar'.
Manchester City
Upon moving to ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
he signed for Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
on amateur terms. He made his debut on 1 January 1920 against Bradford City, a match which also saw the debut of Sam Cookson
Sam Cookson (English footballer)
Sam Cookson was an English footballer who played in the right full back position.-Early life:Sam Cookson was born in Manchester in 1896. He began his footballing career playing for Stalybridge Celtic. During weekdays Cookson was a miner and worked down a pit. At the weekends he played football...
. Initially he played only home matches due to other commitments. However, when Manchester City, without Woosnam, suffered a shock 3–0 FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
defeat to Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
at the end of the month, some supporters blamed Woosnam's employers, Crossley Brothers. As a result, the engineering firm ordered Woosnam not to miss another game..
Playing at centre half, Woosnam eventually became Manchester City captain at the recommendation of his team-mates. This was highly unusual for an amateur among professionals. Eventually his success allowed him to play for England (both for the amateur team and as a full international as captain). Woosnam was also selected to captain the British football team at Olympics
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, but refused, having already committed himself to the tennis team. He continued other sporting endeavours outside of football however, winning doubles titles at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and captaining the Great Britain Davis Cup team
Great Britain Davis Cup team
The Great Britain Davis Cup team represents the United Kingdom in Davis Cup tennis competition and is controlled by the Lawn Tennis Association. The United Kingdom played in the very first International Lawn Tennis Challenge...
. After leaving Manchester City in October 1925, he continued playing football occasionally for Northwich Victoria.
Death and legacy
He was appointed to the board of ICIImperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
, and died in 1965 of respiratory failure.
His life is chronicled in the book All Round Genius - The Unknown Story of Britain's Greatest Sportsman, by Mick Collins.
Woosnam's uncle, Hylton Philipson, was a cricketer and played five Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
for England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
.
He once defeated actor and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
at table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
playing with a butter knife instead of a bat. Besides being a pioneer for table tennis, he was very experienced at snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
too, once achieving a maximum break of 147.
See also
- C. B. Fry, Cuthbert OttawayCuthbert OttawayCuthbert John Ottaway , one of the most talented and versatile sportsmen of the 1870s, was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in the first official international football match....
and Alfred LytteltonAlfred LytteltonAlfred Lyttelton QC was a British politician and sportsman who excelled at both football and cricket. During his time at university he participated in Varsity Matches in five sports: cricket , football , athletics , rackets and real tennis , displaying an ability that made him...
— three similar sporting polymathPolymathA polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
s.