Charles Bambridge

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Charles Bambridge
Personal information
Full name Edward Charles Bambridge[1]
Date of birth (1858-07-30)30 July 1858
Place of birth Windsor, England
Date of death 8 November 1935(1935-11-08) (aged 77)
Place of death Surrey, England
Position(s)
Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Swifts
Windsor Home Park
Streatham
Upton Park
Clapham Rovers
1886–1889 Corinthian
International career
1879–1887 England 18 (11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Edward Charles Bambridge (30 July 1858 – 8 November 1935) was an English

1887, being appointed captain
twice. He was one of three brothers who played for England.

He was an extremely fast winger, being considered one of England's first notable players. Throughout his career he was known as "Charlie Bam".[2]

Career

Charles Bambridge was born in

Waimate, New Zealand, and 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.[3]

His football career was spent with Swifts, Windsor Home Park, Streatham, Upton Park, Clapham Rovers and Corinthian, also gaining representative honours for Surrey, Berkshire and London.

He made his debut for

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 teammates 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".[4][5]

His next England appearance came

the following year's international
, a consolation goal in a 6–1 defeat.

He was appointed

Arthur Brown with four.[7]

In the match against

the match against Ireland on 23 February 1884, Charles again played alongside Arthur; both brothers scored in an 8–1 victory, with Charles scoring twice, but he again left the pitch with an injury after 75 minutes.[10]

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.[11]
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.

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[12] which places him as 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 bested 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, including Bambridge; the others being Doctor Greenwood and Fred Hargreaves.[13]

Bambridge is also said to have played in a cup tie with a broken leg, and scored the winning goal.[14]

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.[15]

Outside football

Bambridge earned his living as a Lloyd's underwriter, but went "broke" at Lloyd's in 1909.[citation needed]

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.

References

  1. ^ "Charlie Bambridge". England Football Online. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  2. ISBN 1-905009-63-1
    .
  3. ^ "England Player Profile: Charlie Bambridge". www.englandfc.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  4. ISBN 1-84426-035-6
    .
  5. ^ "England 5 – Scotland 4, 5 April 1879 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  6. ^ Gibbons. Association Football in Victorian England. pp. 63–64.
  7. ^ "Ireland 0 – England 13, 18 February 1882 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  8. ^ "Wales 5 – England 3, 13 March 1882 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  9. ^ "England 5 – Wales 0, 3 February 1883 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  10. ^ "Ireland 1 – England 8, 23 February 1884 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  11. ^ "England 7 – Ireland 0, 5 February 1887 Match summary". www.englandstats.com. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  12. ^ "England's Top Scorers by Calendar Year". englandfootballonline. 14 November 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  13. ^ "Ireland 0 – England 13 (Match report)". englandstats. 18 February 1882. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  14. ^ "The Famous Bambridge Brothers". Slough History online. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  15. ^ "Only instance of three footballing brothers playing for England". London: www.timesonline.co.uk. 25 January 2004. Retrieved 10 February 2008.

External links

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