The 5th King's Own Scottish Borderers Football Club was a football team based in Dumfries,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
.
History
The club's origin is from volunteer regiments (i.e. part-time soldiers) being raised in response to increasing unrest within Continental Europe and the British Empire in the Victorian era. 5th K.O.S.B. came out of the disbanded Maxwelltown Volunteers F.C. side, after a reorganization of volunteer regiments saw a new regiment, the 5th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, formed out of battalions from
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
...
and
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, counci ...
.
The club entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1910–11, losing at Forfar Athletic in the first round proper before a crowd of 3,000.
The club inherited the Maxwelltown Volunteers position in local tournaments. It took part in the Scottish Combination from 1908 to 1910 to little effect. The club's only major success was winning the Southern Counties Cup, for teams in the south-west of Scotland, in 1915, beating St Cuthbert's Wanderers F.C. 2–1 in a replay at
Dumfries F.C.
Dumfries Football Club was an association football club from Dumfries, Scotland.
History
The name was used by at least four clubs, the first founded in 1869 and playing exclusively rugby union from 1877, the second existing from 1885 to ...
's Eastfield Park, the winner being scored by Potter with ten minutes to go.
Formation of Queen of the South
At the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, the rival Dumfries F.C. club was in financial difficulties. One of the Dumfries directors suggested amalgamating with the 5th K.O.S.B. in order to raise crowd levels.
During the war, the 5th K.O.S.B. was given permission to change its name to Palmerston F.C., suggesting the club was looking to widen its catchment, but it does not seem to have played under this name. The merger suggestion came back to life after the war concluded. On 21 March 1919, a public meeting was held in Dumfries Town Hall, with a view to forming a single club to represent the town, perhaps with a view to applying to join the Scottish League. At the meeting, representatives of three clubs in the town - the 5th KOSB, Dumfries, and the works side of the
Arrol-Johnston
Arrol-Johnston (later known as Arrol-Aster) was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1895 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain. The company also developed the world's first "off-road" veh ...
car factory - agreed to merge into a new club, eventually named Queen of the South F.C., and the new club's first meeting took place a week later.
Colours
The club played in blue shirts and white shorts.Scottish Football Historical Archive :: Home Page
Ground
The club played at Palmerston Park.Scottish Football Historical Archive :: Home Page