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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Warwickshire => Topic started by: Grandma Chris on Saturday 12 May 18 13:02 BST (UK)
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This is a medal given to my grandfather Albert Gray born in Birmingham in 1879. He lived in Dudley Road ,Rotton Park, Birmingham before coming here to Cardiff in 1906. Does anyone know what club he may of been playing for please .
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Is the engraved date 1836 or 1896? It may help if the other side of the medal was shown as it might show which league or competition for which the medal was presented.
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Is the engraved date 1836 or 1896? It may help if the other side of the medal was shown as it might show which league or competition for which the medal was presented.
Or 1886? I agree that a view of the face of the medal might be useful (and if not - it would nevertheless be interesting!) It could be dated by the hallmarks, but I am woefully ignorant about silver.
Philip
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If I've read it correctly, the anchor is the mark of the Birmingham Assay Office, and the lower-case Gothic 'v' is its date letter for 1895.
Edited to add:
The maker's mark might be for William James Dingley, of Warstone Lane, Birmingham. See
http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-WH-WK.html#WJ
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If I've read it correctly, the anchor is the mark of the Birmingham Assay Office, and the lower-case Gothic 'v' is its date letter for 1895.
Edited to add:
The maker's mark might be for William James Dingley, of Warstone Lane, Birmingham. See
http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-WH-WK.html#WJ
You star! That would fit with a presentation date of 1896.
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Yes 1896 as Albert was born in 1879. This is reverse of the medal.
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Did Albert have a connection with Duddeston in Birmingham? There was a St. Anne's Church there at the time of the medal award, perhaps it was a church team he played for. Have a look at this link.
https://ahistoryofbirminghamchurches.jimdo.com/aston-ss-peter-paul/st-anne-duddeston/
Organised league football was in it's infancy around this time and many of the big clubs of today were founded as church or chapel teams.
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Just a thought while we are searching:
Do you know what occupation Albert gave on the 1901 census and his marriage certificate - if he was a professional footballer this could rule out church teams. (Although in the 19th century there weren't many full-time professionals).
Philip
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Thank you for your interesting reply. Albert was a choir boy in 1894 at St Augustines, Edgebaston.I have photograph of him in his choir boy clothes and that is what is written on the back.
Maybe the inscription on the medal is St.Augustines Football Club. He married in Spring Hill Chapel in 1903.
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Albert was an engineer who started his career with Bellis and Moorcom, Star Engineering Co and Ariel Motor Company. He came to Cardiff and was transport manager for William Hancocks ,the brewers and went on to start a bus service, Western Welsh. I know he was passionate about football.
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As a collector of football medals there is an unusual thing on the inscription. It actually gives the date which I have never come across before but also the word 'to' again is most unusual. April suggests it may have been a cup final but normally it would just have the name of the recipient plus his club and the year so could it be that it was presented by his club for services rendered?
He would be about 17 and it is possible his voice had broken and he was leaving the choir or in fact joining the men.
Not really much help to you but thought I would pass on those observations. A local newspaper of the day may supply the answers as many did include local football results at that time.
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Thank you for your reply. It has been mentioned that some churches had football teams. As he was a choir boy in St. Augustine’s I wonder whether the inscription is St. A(Augustine’s)
FC(Football Club).
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I think it would definitely be that church.
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Yes, I think that is the most likely answer .