1890s

In the early 1890s, the football scene in East London and Essex was a crowded one.

Entries to the 1892 London FA Senior and Junior Cup competitions included Clapton, Ilford, Leytonstone, Leytonstone Atlas, Millwall Athletic, Old St Luke’s, Plaistow, South West Ham, Stratford Town, Upton Park, West Ham Church Institute and a club named Castle Swifts.

Formed by Scottish shipowner Donald Currie as the works team of The Castle Shipping Line repair yard at Leamouth, near to the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Castle Swifts played their home matches on a field in West Ham Lane. The team’s first ground was named ‘Dunottar Park’ after the Castle Line’s ship Dunottar Castle.

Castle Swifts played their first matches in September 1892, moving from Dunottar Park to a new ground at Temple Meadows in Wakefield Street, East Ham. Swifts enjoyed early success, defeating Barking Woodville to win the 1893 West Ham Charity Cup.

After the 1893/94 season Castle Swifts merged with Old St Luke’s to form Old Castle Swifts and played their home games at Hermit Road in Canning Town. At the end of October 1894, the club met at the Marquis of Salisbury pub in Hermit Road, where the decision was made to turn professional after one of the club’s players, Cunningham, was denied a return to amateur status. The club also resigned from the London FA.

A few weeks later, Old Castle Swifts played an experimental game ‘by artificial light’, drawing 1-1 with the 1st Scots Guards at Hermit Road. The club continued to play challenge matches against teams from across London and beyond over the coming months.

However, come the first week of April 1895, with debts from expenditure to improve Hermit Road the previous summer, ‘other financial difficulties’ and ‘ground troubles’, Old Castle Swifts were dissolved.

The demise of Old Castle Swifts left a hole in the footballing landscape, and the club’s players without a team to represent, and opened up an opportunity for a new football club to be formed in what was then the County Borough of West Ham.

Businessman Arnold Hills, the managing director of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, was asked by one of his foremen, local football referee Dave Taylor, if he could start up a works football team.

Mr Hills was a keen and very able sportsman himself and was well known for his enthusiasm for exercise, healthy living, tee-totalling, temperance and encouraging his workforce to become involved in communal activities.

As a younger man, he was the English mile and three-mile champion, played cricket and football – the latter to the highest level.

Hills started the 1877 FA Cup final for Oxford University in their 2-1 defeat by Wanderers and even represented England against Scotland as an amateur in April 1879.

Prior to the foundation of Thames Ironworks FC, Hills had already overseen the introduction of a host of sports clubs, including cricket, running, rowing, cycling and a junior football team, a brass band, operatic society and a debating society, among others.

In June 1895, the formation of the senior works football club was announced in the company’s ‘Thames Iron Works Gazette’ newspaper and Taylor set about assembling a squad and arranging friendly matches for the 1895/96 season.

A number of former players and staff from Old Castle Swifts joined the new Thames Ironworks FC, including Old St Luke's honorary secretary Mr A. C. Davis, who later served as a Director.

The new club moved into Old Castle Swifts’ recently-vacated ground at Hermit Road, Canning Town, less than a mile north of the Thames Ironworks shipbuilding yards at the mouth of Bow Creek.

Thames Ironworks FC also adopted Old Castle Swifts’ colours, with the new club’s first kit being all traditional Oxford Blue.

Having founded the new club and assembled a squad of around 50 would-be amateur players, Taylor went back to his former role as a referee, leaving the management to Thames Ironworks company secretary Francis Payne, who became Chairman and Chief Director.

On the pitch, the players were coached by Thames Ironworks employee Ted Harsent, with another former Old Castle Swift, Tom Robinson, appointed as trainer and physio.

Robinson ran twice-weekly evening training sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays in a gas-lit schoolroom at Trinity Church School in Barking Road, Canning Town, where the players were put through Army-style physical training exercises. They also went for runs around the local streets.

Thames Ironworks FC stepped out at Hermit Road for their first-ever fixture on 7 September 1895, with the friendly meeting with Southern League side Royal Ordnance Factories FC, Woolwich Arsenal’s reserve team, ending in a creditable 1-1 draw.

For the record, the Hammers’ first-ever goalscorer was Canning Town-born Arthur Darby, whose name was also on the teamsheet when the Club’s first competitive fixture took place on 12 October 1895. For that game, Thames Ironworks travelled to another club with maritime traditions, Chatham, in the FA Cup first qualifying round. A 3,000-strong crowd turned out to see the Kent League outfit triumph 5-0.

Thames Ironworks’ team that afternoon was captained by Scotsman Robert Stevenson – formerly of Old Castle Swifts – while the defence included clerk Walter Parks, the midfield engine room comprised boilermakers Johnny Stewart, George Sage and James Lindsay and the forward line was led by ship’s fireman Thomas Freeman.

The new Club, then nicknamed ‘The Tee-totallers’ due to Hills’ urging his players to abstain from drinking alcohol, had more reason to celebrate in the West Ham Charity Cup, which they won at the first attempt by defeating Barking in a second replay at Beckton Road on 20 April 1896, having twice drawn at the Old Spotted Dog Ground in Forest Gate.

Over the course of the 1895/96 season, Thames Ironworks’ sides would contest 46 matches in total, winning 30. A number of those matches were played in the evening, allowing employees and their families to attend. In those relatively early days of electricity, Thames Ironworks pioneered floodlit football, with the first such match taking place on 16 December 1895. It was some feat for the Club to surround the Hermit Road pitch with some 2,000 light bulbs suspended between poles.

The exercise was repeated a number of times over the course of the club’s inaugural season, with two-time FA Cup winners West Bromwich Albion scoring a 4-2 victory at Hermit Road on 20 March 1896.

Thames Ironworks FC’s historic first season had been a success.

After winning the West Ham Charity Cup in their first season, Thames Ironworks FC entered the London League for the 1896/97 campaign.

Playing in 'Royal Cambridge Blue' shirts, white shorts, red caps, belts and socks, the patriotic-looking Irons fielded three teams each weekend, with a number of those who had played their part in the Club’s successful first season returning for a second year.

Arnold Hills, the managing director of the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company, former FA Cup finalist and England international and the man who was the driving force behind the football club, continued to take a close interest in its fortunes, and urged its members to act professionally.

At the beginning of the season, he sent a message to the players, which read: “As an old footballer myself, I would say, get into good condition at the beginning of the season, keep on the ball, play an unselfish game, pay heed to your captain, and whatever the fortunes of the first half of the game, never despair of winning, and never give up doing your very best to the last minute of the match. That is the way to play football, and better still, that is the way to make yourselves men.”

Despite losing star player Billy Barnes to Sheffield United, where he would win the FA Cup in 1902, the likes of Robert Stevenson, Charlie Dove, Walter Tranter, George Gresham, William Chapman and George Sage were joined by a host of new signings.

Under the direction of trainer Tom Robinson, the squad would train regularly, building up stamina, strength and speed with a variety of drills.

With just seven teams participating, the London League season comprised only 12 matches, the first of which saw Thames Ironworks defeat Vampires of Crouch End 3-0 on 18 September 1896, with new boy Edward Hatton scoring two of the goals.

The game was the last to be played at the Club’s original Hermit Road home, as the Ironworks would be evicted the following month for violating their terms of tenancy by erecting a perimeter fence and charging admission to matches.

After playing their next four London League matches on the road, the Ironworks set up at their new home, Browning Road in East Ham, and celebrated with a 3-2 win over Ilford on 6 March 1897. A 1,500-strong crowd were present to see Charles Read and H Butterworth share the hosts’ goals.

Unfortunately, the supporters continued to stay away, with future player and manager Syd King labelling Browning Road a ‘wilderness both in the manner of luck and support’ in his 1906 Book of Football.

The Irons also entered the FA Cup for a second time, and were again rewarded with an away tie in Kent, this time at Sheppey United. As Chatham had the previous season, the Southern League First Division side proved too strong, running out comfortable 8-0 winners.

Just a month after playing their first game at Browning Road, Ironworks played their last, a 1-1 London League draw with Barking Woodville. The result meant the Irons would finish the season in second place behind the champions, 3rd Grenadier Guards FC.

With Browning Road proving unsuitable, Arnold Hills earmarked a large section of land in Canning Town to be built on, with £20,000 being spent on developing a large multi-sports venue which would ultimately be named The Memorial Grounds.

Work began in mid-February 1897 under the direction of Sam Turner. The ground was created, pavilion built, track laid and four acres of turf put down in just under four months.

The new stadium was officially opened on 22 June 1897, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and contained a football pitch, cinder running track, cycle track, tennis courts and a huge outdoor swimming pool.

Hills and his wife oversaw the opening ceremony, which was attended by 8,000 people, including the Mayor of West Ham, Albert Govier, and the Archdeacon of Essex, the Rev Thomas Stevens. Following the ceremony itself, a series of athletics and cycling races took place, refereed by Hills, and the day concluded with the Thames Ironworks Military Band entertaining the crowds with 'excellent musical selections' until 7.45pm.

The Memorial Grounds was estimated to have a capacity for 100,000 spectators. However, just 1,000 were present when Thames Ironworks kicked-off life at their third home ground, beating Brentford 1-0 in the London League on 11 September 1897, with new signing Jimmy Reid getting the goal, although some reports claimed centre-forward Edward Hatton had been the scorer.

In the FA Cup, Simon Chisholm scored two goals in a 3-0 home win over Redhill in the preliminary round on 18 September 1897, then Hatton and Reid were both on target in a 2-1 first qualifying round win over the Royal Engineers Training Battalion - a Southern League Division Two club based in Chatham, Kent. The second qualifying round saw Thames Ironworks travel to another Southern League Division Two team, St Albans, who ran out 2-0 winners to end our challenge.

November 1897 saw the team wearing bright new colours, with a sky blue shirt, white shorts and scarlet stockings.

The same month, Hills secured an agreement with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to build a railway station to serve The Memorial Grounds at the junction of Manor Road and Memorial Avenue. This was approved in February 1898 and work on what became West Ham station was completed in 1900.

Around the turn of the year from 1897 to 1898, Thames Ironworks became embroiled in controversy, when the Club was subject to a London FA investigation into the payment of its amateur players. It was found that the players' wages were proportionate to the jobs they had been given at the company's shipbuilding works, so no infringement had been committed.

On the pitch, Ironworks thrived at their new home, despite losing a number of the best players, including captain Robert Stevenson, who had returned to his home town of Barrhead in Scotland to join Arthurlie FC. The team won 12 and lost just one of 16 London League matches and were crowned champions, a point above Brentford following a final-day win away to 2nd Grenadier Guards on 30 April 1898, with Hatton and Reid scoring 22 of the team’s 47 goals between them.

April 1898 also saw Thames Ironworks elected to the Southern League Second Division for the following season.

After being founded as an amateur works team for the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company in Canning Town, Thames Ironworks FC turned professional on entering the Southern League in the summer of 1898.

Thames Ironworks were elected to the 12-club Second (Metropolitan) Division alongside Brentford, Chesham, Fulham, Maidenhead, Shepherds Bush, Southall, St Albans, Uxbridge, Watford, Wolverton and Wycombe Wanderers.

However, before the new season began, tragedy struck the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. At the launch of the battleship HMS Albion on 21 June 1898, some 200 people crowded onto a temporary viewing platform. As the ship slipped onto the water, a large wave hit the platform and it collapsed, sending dozens into the water. Between 34 and 39 people died.

The Southern League season began on Saturday 10 September at Shepherd's Bush, who were also debuting in the division after merging with Old St Stephen's that summer. Atkinson (two) and Frederick Adams scored in a 3-0 win for the visiting Ironworks.

That victory was a sign of things to come as Thames Ironworks won 19 and lost just two of their 22 Southern League Second Division matches, scoring 64 goals and conceding just 16, to win the title at the first attempt.

One of more than a dozen professional players signed was David Lloyd, who joined from Brentford. Lloyd scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at St Albans in November 1898, and another treble in a 10-0 home win over Maidenhead in April 1899.

Lloyd also scored Thames Ironworks goal in a 1-1 'Test' match draw with Sheppey United on 29 April 1899.

The game, played at Chatham, saw Sheppey, who had finished 12th in the 14-team Southern League First Division, play the Ironworks for the right to be in the First Division in 1899/00. After 120 minutes, the two teams were locked together.

Newspaper reports suggested that, rather than a replay be held, both clubs would be in the First Division for the following season, as Gloucestershire club Warmley's resignation midway through the 1898/99 campaign had left the league with just 13 clubs.

As it turned out, Thames Ironworks and South-West Division champions Cowes were both promoted, while Queens Park Rangers, Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth were also elected. With Royal Artillery FC being disbanded in summer 1898, the First Division would be comprised of 17 clubs when it kicked-off in September 1899.

For the third season in succession, Thames Ironworks kicked-off in a new division when the 1899/00 campaign began.

Having lost just two games in the Southern League Second Division in 1898/99, the step up to the First Division proved challenging for the Ironworks.

The team won just eight of 28 league matches and scored just 30 goals. Albert Carnelly, Bill Joyce and Kenny McKay each netted eight, meaning the remainder of the squad combined to score just six goals between them!

Nottingham-born Carnelly was a professional signed from Bristol City, who had finished as First Division runners-up the previous season. Prolific Scotsman Joyce and fellow countryman McKay both joined from Tottenham Hotspur, who had finished seventh.

A third player who joined from Tottenham that summer was Harry Bradshaw, a former Liverpool forward who was the Reds' first international when he was capped by England in 1897. Bradshaw was appointed Ironworks club captain but sadly neither his career nor his life would last the season.

Bradshaw suffered a head injury while playing against Bedminster on 7 October 1899. He struggled with his health thereafter, but scored two more goals against Dartford and Millwall. The latter was on 9 December, which proved to be the final game of his life, as his condition deteriorated and he passed away from consumption (now known as tuberculosis) on Christmas Day. He was just 26 years old.

On 2 April 1900, his former club Tottenham and Thames Ironworks came together to play a charity match to raise money for Bradshaw’s family – he was survived by his widow and two young children.

Cowes and Brighton United both resigned from the league during the season - Cowes after 13 matches and Brighton after 22 - and their records were expunged.

With just 15 clubs remaining the bottom two, Sheppey United and Thames Ironworks, both faced promotion-relegation 'Test' matches. Sheppey were beaten 2-1 by Watford, while Thames Ironworks defeated Fulham 5-1 at White Hart Lane, Tottenham, to retain their First Division status.

It was clear further improvements were needed if the Club was to continue on an upward trajectory.

That said, Thames Ironworks did go further in the FA Cup than ever before in 1899/00, defeating Royal Engineers (6-0), Grays United (4-0) Sheppey United (4-2), Dartford (7-0) and New Brompton (2-0 in a replay after a goalless draw) to reach the fifth qualifying round. There, Millwall Athletic proved too strong, winning 2-1 at the Memorial Grounds in front of a season-high 13,000 crowd. Ironworks scored 24 goals in their seven FA Cup ties, with Joyce netting seven, Carnelly six and McKay five. Off the field, Thames Ironworks owner Arnold Hills acquired engineering firm John Penn & Sons in a takeover in the second half of 1899. To raise capital to finance the deal, Hills decided to turn the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company into a public company, preventing him from using company money to fund Thames Ironworks FC in the future. In spring 1900, proposals for a ‘reorganisation’ of the football club were published in the West Ham Guardian newspaper, followed by details of a share offer which would fund the new Club. Hills offered four thousand, ten-shilling (50p) shares in the new public limited company, whose headquarters were based at 55 Barking Road, Canning Town. The philanthropic businessman also offered the use of the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow – the stadium he built for the Club in 1896 – for a nominal rent. Anticipating the share offer would be under-subscribed, Hills promised to match the sale by buying one share for every other share purchased himself, while any fan who bought ten shares was promised a position on the Board of Directors. It was hoped that at least 2,000 supporters would buy shares, but even the ten-shilling price was out of the reach of many local people. Regardless, the reorganisation went ahead and Thames Ironworks FC was wound up and resigned from the Southern League in June 1900.