Percy Melmoth Walters
Encyclopedia
Percy Melmoth Walters was an English
amateur footballer who played as a defender
for the Old Carthusians
and the Corinthians in the late nineteenth century as well as making thirteen appearances for England
, five as captain.
He and his younger brother, Arthur Melmoth Walters
, were known as "morning
" and "afternoon
" in allusion to their initials. The brothers were generally regarded as the finest fullbacks in England for a number of years; according to Philip Gibbons in his "History of the Game from 1863 to 1900" this was due mainly to their own defensive system based on the combination game
used by the Royal Engineers during the early 1870s.
, Surrey
, the son of a solicitor
, and attended Charterhouse School
, although he did not play for the school football team. He went up to Oxford University, where he won a blue in 1885, when his brother was in the Cambridge team.
Percy joined the Easter tour in which five games were played in six days, playing in all five games, including the opening fixture against Preston North End
on 6 April 1885, when he played at right-back with his brother Arthur alongside him on the left.
This match was the first of many over the next six years in which the two brothers played alongside each other as the two full backs. Amongst the more significant matches were a 6–0 defeat of the FA Cup
holders, Blackburn Rovers
, in December 1885 and a 7–0 victory over Notts County
in March 1886, when fellow Old Carthusian William Cobbold
scored four goals.
The brothers' final match together for Corinthian was on 8 November 1890 in an eight goal victory over Sheffield
in which younger brother H.M. Walters (who was only playing his second match) scored a hat-trick, with another goal from Percy. The other four goals came from V.G. Manns, who was playing his only match for Corinthian. Shortly after this match, the younger brother died from a football injury inflicted during a match and, in deference to their parents' wishes, both brothers retired from football to concentrate on their legal careers.
The withdrawal of the Walters brothers from the Corinthian team had a significant effect on the team's performances as they were "extremely hard to replace, and Corinthian were destined to win only six of their next nineteen games".
Despite the promise made to their parents, the brothers made a return to the Corinthians for a multi-sport tournament against the Barbarian
s rugby club in April 1892, although Percy did not play in the soccer match which Corinthian won 6–0, with Tinsley Lindley
scoring a hat-trick. The clubs also played a rugby
match, which Corinthian won 16–13, although the match was not a very serious encounter and was described by The Times
newspaper as "a very amusing game". The rugby match was followed by an athletics meeting in which C. B. Fry was prominent, winning both the long jump
and high jump
. Finally, the two clubs met a few weeks later in a cricket
match in which Percy played alongside several other prominent Corinthians, including Fry, Lindley and Charles Wreford-Brown.
During his time with the Corinthians, Walters made 54 appearances, scoring once.
. His major success came late in his time with the club, reaching the FA Amateur Cup
final in 1895.
debuts together on 28 February 1885 in a 4–0 victory over Ireland, with Percy at left back and Arthur on the right.
He first captained the England team, in only his third appearance, against Ireland on 13 March 1886, in the absence of the regular captain, Norman Coles Bailey. England "totally dominated the Irish" to record a 6–1 victory, with four goals from Benjamin Spilsbury
.
In the next match against Scotland
on 27 March 1886, nine of the eleven players selected were members of the Corinthian club, although all had their primary affiliation with other clubs. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with England's being scored by fellow Corinthian Tinsley Lindley
.
On 17 March 1888, Percy played at left-back (alongside Bob Howarth
of Preston North End
) when England achieved their first victory over Scotland since 1879. In "a brilliant display of attacking football" England were 5–0 winners, including two goals from Fred Dewhurst
, thus securing their first victory on Scottish soil.
Percy made a total of thirteen appearances for England, five as captain, with his final match being against Scotland in the 1890 British Home Championship
. The match ended 1–1, and as a result England and Scotland shared the championship. Of the thirteen matches played for England, eight were won, three drawn (all against Scotland) and two were lost (also against Scotland).
committee in 1886, and a vice-president from 1891 to 1892.
Whilst at Oxford University, Walters made one appearance for the University cricket team
in a match against the M.C.C.
in May 1885, when he was the wicket-keeper
. In his one innings, he scored nine runs in a drawn match.
Walters spent some time as a volunteer in the army, and in June 1886, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant
in the 3rd Surrey Rifles.
Walters qualified as a barrister
and was called to the bar in 1888.
He died on 6 October 1936 at Ashtead
, Surrey (aged 73 years).
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...
amateur footballer who played as a defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
for the Old Carthusians
Old Carthusians F.C.
Old Carthusians Football Club is an association football club whose players are former pupils of Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, England...
and the Corinthians in the late nineteenth century as well as making thirteen appearances 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...
, five as captain.
He and his younger brother, Arthur Melmoth Walters
Arthur Melmoth Walters
Arthur Melmoth Walters was an English amateur footballer who played as a defender for the Old Carthusians and the Corinthians in the late nineteenth century as well as making nine appearances for England....
, were known as "morning
Morning
The word morning originally referred to the sunrise. Morning precedes midday, afternoon, and night in the sequence of a day.Morning is the part of the day usually reckoned from dawn to noon...
" and "afternoon
Afternoon
Afternoon is the time of day from noon to about 18:00.The term should not be confused with "after noon" , which is a translation of the Latin "post meridiem" as used in the 12-hour clock, meaning a time of day from noon to midnight.In Australia and New Zealand, the word "arvo" is a slang term for...
" in allusion to their initials. The brothers were generally regarded as the finest fullbacks in England for a number of years; according to Philip Gibbons in his "History of the Game from 1863 to 1900" this was due mainly to their own defensive system based on the combination game
Combination Game
The Combination Game was a style of association football based around team work and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Association games. It developed from "scientific" football...
used by the Royal Engineers during the early 1870s.
Education
Percy was born in EwellEwell
Ewell is a village in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, close to the southern boundary of Greater London. It is located 14 miles south-south-west of Charing Cross and forms part of the suburbia that surrounds Greater London. Despite its growing population it is still referred to as a...
, 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...
, the son of a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
, and attended Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
, although he did not play for the school football team. He went up to Oxford University, where he won a blue in 1885, when his brother was in the Cambridge team.
Corinthian
In his final year at Oxford, Walters followed his younger brother and joined the Corinthian club which had been established three years earlier with a view to giving amateur players the opportunity to play together on a regular basis in order to improve the quality and strength of the England team.Percy joined the Easter tour in which five games were played in six days, playing in all five games, including the opening fixture against Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
on 6 April 1885, when he played at right-back with his brother Arthur alongside him on the left.
This match was the first of many over the next six years in which the two brothers played alongside each other as the two full backs. Amongst the more significant matches were a 6–0 defeat of the FA Cup
1885 FA Cup Final
The 1885 FA Cup Final was contested by Blackburn Rovers and Queen's Park at the Kennington Oval, a repeat of the previous year's final. Rovers won 2–0 in their second successive FA Cup Final victory, with the goals coming from Jimmy Forrest and James Brown.-Teams:*Played April 4,...
holders, Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
, in December 1885 and a 7–0 victory over Notts County
Notts County F.C.
Notts County Football Club are an English professional football club based in Nottingham. They are the oldest of all the clubs in the world that are now professional, having been formed in 1862. They currently play in League One of The Football League, the third tier of the English football system...
in March 1886, when fellow Old Carthusian William Cobbold
William Cobbold
William Nevill Cobbold , familiarly known as "Nuts" Cobbold, was one of the leading footballers of the Victorian era and on several occasions a member of the England national football team...
scored four goals.
The brothers' final match together for Corinthian was on 8 November 1890 in an eight goal victory over Sheffield
Sheffield F.C.
Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The club is most noted for the fact that they are the world's oldest club now playing Association football, founded in 1857...
in which younger brother H.M. Walters (who was only playing his second match) scored a hat-trick, with another goal from Percy. The other four goals came from V.G. Manns, who was playing his only match for Corinthian. Shortly after this match, the younger brother died from a football injury inflicted during a match and, in deference to their parents' wishes, both brothers retired from football to concentrate on their legal careers.
The withdrawal of the Walters brothers from the Corinthian team had a significant effect on the team's performances as they were "extremely hard to replace, and Corinthian were destined to win only six of their next nineteen games".
Despite the promise made to their parents, the brothers made a return to the Corinthians for a multi-sport tournament against the Barbarian
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
s rugby club in April 1892, although Percy did not play in the soccer match which Corinthian won 6–0, with 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...
scoring a hat-trick. The clubs also played a rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
match, which Corinthian won 16–13, although the match was not a very serious encounter and was described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper as "a very amusing game". The rugby match was followed by an athletics meeting in which C. B. Fry was prominent, winning both the long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
and high jump
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
. Finally, the two clubs met a few weeks later in a 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...
match in which Percy played alongside several other prominent Corinthians, including Fry, Lindley and Charles Wreford-Brown.
During his time with the Corinthians, Walters made 54 appearances, scoring once.
Old Carthusians
After graduating in 1885, Walters joined the old-boys' team for his former school, the Old CarthusiansOld Carthusians F.C.
Old Carthusians Football Club is an association football club whose players are former pupils of Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, England...
. His major success came late in his time with the club, reaching the FA Amateur Cup
FA Amateur Cup
The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.-History:...
final in 1895.
England
Percy and Arthur made their EnglandEngland 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...
debuts together on 28 February 1885 in a 4–0 victory over Ireland, with Percy at left back and Arthur on the right.
He first captained the England team, in only his third appearance, against Ireland on 13 March 1886, in the absence of the regular captain, Norman Coles Bailey. England "totally dominated the Irish" to record a 6–1 victory, with four goals from Benjamin Spilsbury
Benjamin Spilsbury
Benjamin Ward "Ben" Spilsbury was an English international footballer. He made his debut for the international team against Ireland on the 28 February 1885...
.
In the next match 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...
on 27 March 1886, nine of the eleven players selected were members of the Corinthian club, although all had their primary affiliation with other clubs. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with England's being scored by fellow Corinthian 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...
.
On 17 March 1888, Percy played at left-back (alongside Bob Howarth
Bob Howarth
Bob Howarth was a leading footballer in the 1880s and 1890s. He was an England international and was a member of the Preston North End side that became famous as "The Invincibles".-Career:...
of Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
) when England achieved their first victory over Scotland since 1879. In "a brilliant display of attacking football" England were 5–0 winners, including two goals from Fred Dewhurst
Fred Dewhurst
Fred Dewhurst was a professional footballer, who played as an inside forward for Preston North End in the late 19th century...
, thus securing their first victory on Scottish soil.
Percy made a total of thirteen appearances for England, five as captain, with his final match being against Scotland in the 1890 British Home Championship
1890 British Home Championship
The 1890 British Home Championship was an edition of the annual international football tournament played between the British Home Nations. The seventh such competition held, the 1890 edition was, for the second time, jointly won by England and Scotland, the sixth time that Scotland had won...
. The match ended 1–1, and as a result England and Scotland shared the championship. Of the thirteen matches played for England, eight were won, three drawn (all against Scotland) and two were lost (also against Scotland).
Life away from football
During his football career, Walters also played for East Sheen and Epsom in 1884/85], was a founder member of Ewell F.C. together with his brother and John Henry Bridges in 1890 and also represented Surrey. He was a member of the F.A.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 in 1886, and a vice-president from 1891 to 1892.
Whilst at Oxford University, Walters made one appearance for the University cricket team
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
in a match against the M.C.C.
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...
in May 1885, when he was the wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
. In his one innings, he scored nine runs in a drawn match.
Walters spent some time as a volunteer in the army, and in June 1886, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the 3rd Surrey Rifles.
Walters qualified as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and was called to the bar in 1888.
He died on 6 October 1936 at Ashtead
Ashtead
Ashtead is a village situated within the Metropolitan Green Belt of Surrey, England, and is just outside of the suburbia of London. It is separated from Leatherhead by the M25, and from Epsom by Ashtead Common.- History :...
, Surrey (aged 73 years).