1884 or 1894 ?

[jonmcity]

In 1880 the cricketers decided to form St Mark’s football club. Some of the players from this football team were instrumental in forming Gorton AFC in October 1884. The Chairman of Gorton AFC was James Moores, a sidesman at St Mark’s Church, who was also active in local Conservative politics. In February 1888 a Conservative lecture had been given in St Mark’s School, Clowes Street, West Gorton, under the auspices of Gorton Conservative Club, where James Moores presided. The Vice-Chairman of the club was William Henry Beastow, and the secretary was Edward Kitchen, who was a member of St Mark’s. Other members of the Church involved in the football club were Walter Chew, Frederick Hopkinson, Richard Hopkinson, who went on to become the organist at St Mark’s, and Lawrence Furniss, who would become a sidesman at St Mark’s Church and a Director, Chairman and President of Manchester City Football Club. Walter Chew played in St Mark’s (West Gorton) first match and went on to become the secretary of both Gorton and Ardwick He died in September 1948 and an obituary described him as one of the founders of Manchester City.

 

[Healthcare29]

I'd be interested to see Gary James' take on this.

"Manchester The City Years" (my latest book, published in August) starts with the story of the area in the 1850s and goes through the key steps that led to the first known game and on to the formation of MCFC in 1894.


I'd urge everyone to read "Manchester The City Years" (borrow it from a library - it's usually free and if they don't have it in ask them to order it). The book covers City's full history and contains almost 500,000 words but even then there's so much more I wanted to include.

Half a Mill! no wonder it took me so long to read. I'm # 10 on the credits, so must have been one of the first to order.
Absolutely essential for every literate City fan :)