Dingley Dell: a conundrum, within a puzzle, hiding behind a contradiction

ABSTRACTThis article traces the life of a football club at the forefront of the game’s initial development in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Dingley Dell’s football arm was founded in 1858 but disappeared from view in 1864, during which time they engaged mainly in matches against the schools of Westminster and Charterhouse. However, their history has been sorely neglected and this paper is designed to redress that balance. The most significant question Dingley Dell’s existence poses is why they failed to send a representative to the early meetings of the Football Association in late 1863. Yet, in a story full of contradictions, even their absence appears open to question. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Dingley Dell were rarely referred to as a “Football” club, probably because they also played cricket, and several players were involved in both teams. For instance, Anthony John Anstruther Wilkinson and Algernon Rutter were part of the team that were narrowly defeated by South Essex in May 1863 (Bell’s Life, May 24, 1863).2. Readers will note part of the title of this article as being borrowed from Winston Churchill’s description – “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” - of the Soviet Union in 1939.3. An athenaeum in Ancient Greece was the name given to a building dedicated to the goddess Athena where poets and authors gathered to discuss their work. In Victorian England, they were buildings which housed newspaper and periodicals. They were also centres for sport. Indeed, Hulme Athenaeum in Manchester has been identified as being the first football club in that area, probably being founded as early as 1863 (James, Emergence of Footballing Cultures).4. Manchester Daily Examiner and Times, November 201,857.5. Manchester Courier, July 20, 1861.6. Bell’s Life, June 27, 1858.7. See Charterhouse versus Dingley Dell cricket report in Bell’s Life, June 27, 1858.8. Bell’s Life, June 27, 1858.9. Ibid, December 12, 1858.10. Sheffield Daily Telegraph, September 7, 1905.11. Bonney’s most comprehensive obituary appears in the Saffron Walden Weekly News on 14 December 1923.12. Bonney, Memories: 17.13. Bell’s Life, February 26, 1860.14. A prestigious award of 48 scholarships at Westminster School decided by an annual competitive examination. Depending on the monarch, they are named either Queen’s or King’s Scholars.15. Bell’s Life, December 9, 1860.16. Ibid, February 2, 1862.17. Ibid., February 23, 1862.18. Ibid, February 23, 1862.19. Ibid., March 9, 1862.20. Ibid.21. The Field, March 15, 1862.22. Bell’s Life, November 2, 1862.23. Ibid., November 23, 1862.24. Interestingly, Cobb’s son Edward attended Eton and Trinity, Cambridge.25. Foster’s school was quite hard to find, as it is neither mentioned in Joseph Foster’s Men-at-the-Bar nor the records of Christ Church, Oxford. However, his obituary is included in the Bedfordshire Times and Independent - as in similar obituaries, there is no mention of football – and the Rugby School Register, 1853–1923.26. Another whose school was difficult to locate. See his obituary in the Middlesex & Buckinghamshire Advertiser, February 15, 1913.27. Times of India, May 13, 1872.28. Dingley Dell fulfilled three fixtures with Charterhouse in the 1863–4 season. See Bell’s Life, November 7 and 28, 1863 and February 13, 1864.29. The Field, April 20, 1867. This is certainly true of Dingley Dell (See Table 2), though mentions in the press regarding Crusaders around 1860 are hard to find. Westby (History of Sheffield Football, 85) credits them with a formation date of 1859.30. Bell’s Life, February 1, 1863.31. This is probably the same club as No Names or NN Kilburn, which operated around that time.32. Bell’s Life, October 31, 1863.33. Ibid., February 8, 1863.34. Bell’s Life, February 13, 1864.35. Ibid., February 27, 1864.36. Ibid., March 5, 1864.37. Ibid., October 28, 1863.38. Bell’s Life, October 31, 1863.39. The Scotsman, October 12, 2013. Andy Mitchell, “Scotland’s original Law Men revealed”.40. Bell’s Life, February 13, 1864.41. Ibid., July 2, 1864, against Charterhouse.42. Ibid., June 24, 1865.43. Sporting Gazette, November 19, 1864.44. For instance, Westminster v Harrow in December 1859 (Bell’s Life, December 11, 1859) and Eton opposed Harrow in November 1863 (The Field, November 7, 1863). For a more complete list, see Curry and Dunning, Association Football, Chapter Five.45. Curry, “Football in the capital”.46. The Sportsman, February 16, 1870.47. Sporting Gazette, November 19, 1864.