Julian Sturgis

Law and sport

After graduating in 1872, Sturgis entered the legal profession, becoming a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1876. During the same four years, he distinguished himself as a footballer, playing for the amateur team Wanderers when they won the FA Cup in 1873. As all the other players in this and the previous Cup Final were either English, Irish or Scottish, Sturgis was the first person born in the United States to appear in and also the first to win, an FA Cup Final. He also played for the Old Etonians, and in the FA Cup semi-final against Oxford University at The Oval on 19 February 1876, he scored the only goal for the public school old boys to take them to their second consecutive final, against the Wanderers. He played in the final at The Oval. Sturgis also played for the Gitanos Football Club and at county level for Middlesex. Sturgis was granted British nationality in 1877, and he travelled extensively throughout the world in the late-1870s.

Writer

Sturgis's first published work as a professional writer was a short piece, "The Philosopher's Baby", in Blackwood's Magazine in 1874. His first novel was John-a-Dreams (1878), followed the next year by An Accomplished Gentleman, of which The Times said:

It may be described as an Idyll of Anglo-Italian life under the sunny skies of Venetia. Mr. Sturgis, who must have steeped himself in local inspiration, dwells with delicately sympathetic discrimination on his scenes as well as his characters.…

Sturgis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the fourth son of merchant and lawyer Russell Sturgis and his third wife, Julia Overing (née Boit). His great-grandfather was another Russell Sturgis, and his older half-brother was John Hubbard Sturgis. When Julian was seven months old, the family moved to England, where Russell Sturgis joined Baring Brothers in London. The writer Howard Sturgis was Julian's younger brother. Sturgis attended Eton from 1862 to 1867, where he played an active role in the mixed Wall and Field XI games in 1867, serving as Keeper of the Field. He also edited the Eton College Journal and was chairman of Pop. On leaving Eton, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he rowed for three years for the college.