Charles Henry Lewis (15 August 1886 – 1967) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Born in

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic counties of England, historic county of Kent and the detail of mu ...

, London, Lewis played for Eltham and then

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

as a youth, before signing for Woolwich Arsenal in May 1907. A versatile forward, he was used by Arsenal in every attacking position, including

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

and winger. Although he only made his Arsenal debut midway through his first season, against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on 28 December 1907, he finished the 1907–08 season as the club's second-top goalscorer, with eight, one behind Peter Kyle. For the next two seasons Lewis featured regularly, playing the majority of Woolwich Arsenal's matches. However, at the time the club were struggling in the First Division, skirting relegation in 1909–10 (finishing 18th out of 20), before financial problems forced the club to sell its best players. Arsenal finished bottom of the First Division in 1912–13 having only scored 18 League goals; Lewis was Arsenal's top scorer that season, albeit with only four goals. By now, Lewis mainly played as a supporting striker; this combined with Arsenal's poor attacking form meant he scored relatively few goals for the club. He faithfully stayed with the club (which in the meantime had moved to Highbury and renamed themselves "The Arsenal"), as they battled for promotion from the Second Division. The arrival of World War I robbed Lewis of the peak of his career; although he played in some wartime matches, by the time peace had broken out and Arsenal had returned to Division One in 1919, he was 33. He played in five League matches in 1919–20 before dropping down to the reserves. Lewis left Arsenal in 1921, having played 220 times for the club, scoring 34 goals. He played for Margate before retiring. He died aged 80, in 1967.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Charles 1886 births 1967 deaths Footballers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich People from Plumstead English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Arsenal F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Margate F.C. players English Football League players