Anna Connell
Anna Connell was born in 1855. Her father, Arthur Connell, was curate of Christ Church, Harrogate. In 1865 Connell became the rector of St Mark's Church in West Gorton in Manchester. There was a great deal of unemployment in the area and in January 1879 Connell set up a soup kitchen and a relief fund for the local poor. In its first week over 1,500 gallons of soup, 1,000 loaves of bread and 10 tons of coal had been distributed by Connell and his helpers.
Anna Connell also became involved in community work. She was deeply concerned about the religious and racial conflicts in the city. After heavy drinking sessions, there were regular fights between the different groups in Manchester. According to Peter Lupson, the author of Thank God for Football (2006): "At that time, West Gorton was an area of tremendous deprivation. There was overcrowding, squalor, poor sanitation and poverty, and the ways in which the men of the community sought refuge from this was drink and gang warfare, which was called 'scuttling' in that era. We are talking about 500 people at a time involved in fighting. The local press reported 250-a-side – we are talking about warfare. Anna was grieved by seeing these men live such wasted lives and wanted to do something for them that could reverse the direction they were going in."
Anna Connell believed that the creation of male clubs would help improve the community spirit. With the help of William Beastow and Thomas Goodbehere from Brooks' Union Ironworks, she established a series of clubs. This included the creation of the St. Marks Church Cricket Team. The first recorded game took place against the Baptist Church from Macclesfield on 13th November, 1880. The youngest player was 15 year old Walter Chew. The eldest was Archibald MacDonald, a 20 year old iron moulder.
The team was a great success. The Archdeacon of Manchester told one meeting of Anna Connell's Men's Meetings: "It must be a great source of encouragement to see how the movement had been taken up, and the highest credit was due to Miss Connell for the way in which it had been carried out. No man could have done it - it required a woman's tact and skill to make it so successful."
That winter Anna Connell established the St. Marks Church football team. In 1884 the team was renamed the Gorton Association Football Club. The team included three players, Walter Chew, William Beastow and Edward Kitchen, who had been members of the original cricket team. Beastow also supplied a new kit of black shirts with a white cross.
In August 1887 the club moved to a new ground at Hyde Road. They also changed their name to Ardwick. Two years later the club built a grandstand capable of holding 1,000 spectators. The joined the Alliance League and in 1891 Ardwick won the Manchester Cup. The following season they won the cup again by beating Football League side Bolton Wanderers, 4-1 in the final.
The management committee of the Football League decided in April 1892 to form a Second Division of 12 clubs as well as expanding the First Division to 16 teams. Ardwick became a member of the Second Division and in the 1892-93 season finished in 5th place.
Joshua Parlby became the Ardwick manager in 1893. The following year Newton Heath joined the Second Division. Both clubs were based in Manchester but neither carried the name of England's second largest city. Parlby argued that the club should change its name from Ardwick to Manchester City. As Gary James points out in Manchester City: The Complete Record (2006): "The selection of the name was directly aimed at creating a side to represent all of Manchester and so, for perhaps the first time in the history of the region, there was an organisation to represent all Mancunians no matter what their social status, background, or place of birth." The management committee agreed and the club became known as Manchester City.
In 1894 Joshua Parlby signed Billy Meredith from Northwich Victoria. Aged only nineteen, this extremely talented outside right soon became a firm favourite with the fans and was dubbed the "Welsh Wizard" by his admirers. The following year he won his first international cap for Wales. However, he continued to work underground as a miner during the week until 1896, when Manchester City finally insisted that he give up his colliery job. That season he was top scorer with 12 goals.
Arthur Connell suffered from chronic bronchitis and in July 1897 he was forced to resign as rector of St Mark's Church. His wife had died two years previously and Anna took the decision to nurse her sick father. They moved to Southport, where it was hoped that the sea air would improve Arthur's health. He died in February 1899.
Anna went to live with her married sister in Walsall. Later the family moved to Darlaston where her brother-in-law became rector.
Anna Connell died after suffering a heart-attack on 21st October, 1924.
