History
Queen's House was established in 1867 through the co-operation of the brothers Rowland and Edward Hill and the families of Hewitt and Fry, who all lived in Greenwich. The club was named after the famous Queen's House in Greenwich where Rowland Hill was born. The team wore a white jersey with the blue crown. The club played football using a modified form of the Rugby School code. On 26 January 1871, they sent representation to a meeting of twenty-one London and suburban football clubs that followed Rugby School rules (Wasps were invited by failed to attend) assembled at the Pall Mall Restaurant in Regent Street. E.C. Holmes, captain of the Richmond Club assumed the presidency. It was resolved unanimously that the formation of a Rugby Football Society was desirable and thus the Rugby Football Union was formed. A president, a secretary and treasurer, and a committee of thirteen were elected, to whom was entrusted the drawing-up of the laws of the game upon the basis of the code in use at Rugby School. Although Queen's House was considered prominent enough to have been invited, they did not gain any of the thirteen places on the original committee.
The club was regarded at one time as one of the most formidable clubs in London, and perhaps the most difficult to beat. The London Scottish, a team with great success against all teams in the London area, in the five matches played against Queen's House were never able to snatch a victory and in fact Sidney Ellis of Queen's House was the first player to ever cross the London Scottish try-line. At its height the team comprised Cameron Hewitt playing back, Tom and Fred Fry as three-quarters, and Sidney Fry as a half-back. In the physically powerful forwards were Walter Hewitt, the international oarsman and his brother Malcolm, as well as the England international Sidney Ellis. Contemporary accounts describe the team as having "probably as strong a set of scrummagers as were ever got together. They did not go in for a fast or showy game, and were never great scorers, but their defence was wonderfully strong, and it is doubtful whether any team ever had a finer lot of tacklers."
In the short time the team was together, their greatest rivals were their neighbours, Blackheath FC, with whom they played the closest and most exciting matches.
Read more about this topic: Queen's House Football Club
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)