Claude Wilson

Education

Wilson was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and educated at Brighton College, where he played for the college football team in 1876 and 1877, being captain in the latter year. He then went up to Exeter College, Oxford, where he won blues for football in 1879, 1880 and 1881.

Football career

Wilson was called into the England team for their first-ever meeting with Wales. The match was played at the Kennington Oval on 18 January 1879 in a blizzard. Due to the atrocious snowfall both captains agreed to play halves of only 30 minutes each. The poor attendance (reports range from 85 to 300) was also attributed to the weather. Some sources suggest that William Clegg turned up 20 minutes late for the game. Clegg, a solicitor, was working late on a case (the trial of Charles Peace, the Banner Cross murderer) and was unable to leave Sheffield for London on the Friday night. The next morning, the southbound train with Clegg on it, was delayed by heavy snow. The match started without Clegg and England played with ten men until he arrived. Despite this, England won the match by two goals to one, with Herbert Whitfeld and Thomas Sorby scoring for England. In 1880, he was part of the Oxford University team that reached the FA Cup Final, where they met the previous year's losing finalists, Clapham Rovers. This was the university's fourth appearance in the Cup Final since the Cup was inaugurated in 1872, and, having "conquered much-fancied Nottingham Forest in the…

Oxford University

FA Cup runners-up: 1880