Sergeant William Tootell was born the son of a cork cutter- John Tootell in 1831. He followed in his fathers footsteps and worked as a cork cutter but later became a Musketeer instructor in the Royal Denbigh Rifle Militia, in which he was promoted to sergeant. He was also a drill instructor in the 5th Denbighshire (Gwersylt) rifle volunteers. He had been a student of The Musketry School in Hythe, Kent.
He was married to Elizabeth Roberts at St Giles Church on 15 September 1855 and they had 4 children
Sergeant Tootell played Cricket for the Denbighshire County Cricket Club and he attended an after-dinner event, after he had played in the last cricket match of the season on 08th October 1864.
During this event, the chairman of the cricket club- Edward Manners, announced that after a consultation with the Mayor, he was going to purchase a football in the course of the week, with the intention of starting a new Athletic Club in Wrexham and stated that he expected a good many down on the field next Saturday.
Sergeant William Tootell was 1 of the 10 founding players of Wrexham Football Club (the third oldest professional football club in the World) who would play in their first ever match on 22nd October 1864, at The Racecourse Ground (the oldest international football stadium in the World) against the 10 men of The Prince of Wales Fire Brigade; a game in which they lost 2-1.
William Tootell died aged 35, at the military baracks in Wrexham where he he lived with his family, after a fortnights illness on 30/09/1866 and was buried with full Military honours at Ruthin Road Cemetery on 03/10/1866; less than 2 years after he played in the clubs first ever game. I have added an article about this on WST, Wrexham Supporters Trust website under the heading 'the early years' along with the information relating to the other founding members and the early history of the football club.
http://wst.org.uk/www3/index.php/wrexham-afc/early-years Also posted on Redpassion- Wrexham Fans forum, under the heading of ' the sad case of a founding member of Wrexham Football Club'.
In time, my intention is to have a plaque installed on The Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham. dedicated to the memory of William Tootell and the other founding players and members of the club.
