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Gerald Onslow

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British Army officer

Gerald Onslow
Personal information
Full name Gerald Charles Penrice Onslow
Date of birth (1853-02-07)7 February 1853
Place of birth Deyrah, India
Date of death 16 April 1909(1909-04-16) (aged 56)
Place of death Crowborough, East Sussex
Position(s) Half-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1874–76 Royal Engineers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Colonel Colonel Gerald Charles Penrice Onslow (2 February 1853 – 16 April 1909) was a British Army officer in the Royal Engineers, and an FA Cup-winning footballer.

Early life

Onslow was the grandson of Sir Henry Onslow, 2nd Baronet. He was born in Dehradun, British India, the son of a lieutenant in the Bengal Army, and was educated at Cheltenham School.

Sporting career

Cheltenham School was not one of the traditional football-playing public schools, and Onslow's first known appearance in the game was in the fourth round 1873–74 FA Cup, for the Royal Engineers A.F.C. against Swifts, as a replacement in the half-back line for Alfred Goodwyn; the Sappers won 2–0. Goodwyn soon won back his place, but was posted to India before the 1874 FA Cup final, and Onslow was recalled to fill his position. The final was only Onslow's third match for the Sappers, having appeared in a win over Gitanos in February, before the defeat by Oxford University in the final.

Onslow however was a regular in the 1874–75 season, playing in nearly every round of the 1874–75 FA Cup, and he was considered a standout player in the 5–0 second round win over Cambridge University. He did not play in the third round win over Clapham Rovers, which meant the Sappers "suffered materially" by his absence.

The Engineers reached the 1875 FA Cup final, the third time they had reached that stage, and faced the Old Etonians at the Kennington Oval. Onslow had the honour of kicking off, and his back play "was very neat and effective and without doubt the feature of the match". The match ended 1–1, and, in the replay, Onslow – entrusted with dead-ball duties – put in a free-kick which rebounded from one of the umpires standing between the posts; given a second chance with the free-kick, Onslow dropped it in the goalmouth, and the resulting scrimmage saw the Etonians collapse under the force of the Engineers' charging, giving the Sappers the first goal. Ultimately the Royal Engineers won 2–0 and therefore took the Cup for the only time.

It was Onslow's eighth and final match in the competition. He did not play in the first round in 1875–76, and his absence from the Sappers' third-round defeat to Swifts "was a great blow to them". His final recorded match was a 3–2 win over Cambridge University at the Chatham Lines in April 1876; he was reckoned to have "showed but little falling off of his old form", but he was posted to India at the end of the year, and never seems to have come back to the sport.

Charles Alcock reckoned him "one of the most brilliant half-backs of the day, very quiet and a sure kick". However, despite playing in two Cup finals, he never received an England cap.

Military career

Onslow was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as Lieutenant in 1873. He served in Afghanistan in 1878–80 and Burma in 1885–87; by the time of his second tour of duty, he had been promoted to captain.

Later life

Onslow married Flora Frances Mary Donald on 16 November 1889 in Cheltenham. He died at Camperdown, Goldsmith's Avenue, Crowborough, in 1909. He had four sons, three of whom were killed in the First World War; the fourth, Eric Montague Onslow, was kept as a prisoner of war for much of the conflict.

Sporting honours

Royal Engineers

References

  1. Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition. Wilmington: Burke's Peerage. p. 1600.
  2. Bancroft, James W (2021). The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army Helped Establish the World's First Football Tournament. Pen & Sword. p. 67.
  3. "Royal Engineers v Swifts". Field: 111. 31 January 1874.
  4. "Royal Engineers v Gitanos". Sportsman: 3. 3 February 1874.
  5. Gibbons, Philip (2001). Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. Upfront Publishing. pp. 41–42. ISBN 1-84426-035-6.
  6. "Royal Engineers v Cambridge University". Field: 637. 12 December 1874.
  7. "Royal Engineers v Clapham Rovers". Sportsman: 3. 2 February 1875.
  8. "Royal Engineers v Old Etonians". Field: 276. 20 March 1875.
  9. "The Football Association Challenge Cup". Sheffield Daily Telegraph: 4. 17 March 1875.
  10. "Royal Engineers v Swifts". Field: 147. 5 February 1876.
  11. "Royal Engineers v Cambridge". Field: 30. 15 April 1876.
  12. Alcock, Charles (1875). Football Annual. London: Virtue. p. 79.
  13. "Corps of Royal Engineers". London Gazette: 4596. 18 August 1876.
  14. Bancroft, James W (2021). The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army Helped Establish the World's First Football Tournament. Pen & Sword. p. 69.
  15. "Gloucestershire, England, Church of England". Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938: 58. 16 November 1880.
  16. "Deaths registered in April, May, and June 1909". Civil Registration Death Index: 221. June 1909.
  17. Bancroft, James W (2021). The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army Helped Establish the World's First Football Tournament. Pen & Sword. p. 68.
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