George Albert Scorey (30 December 1882 – 14 April 1965) was an English soldier and later policeman. He is best known as the rider of the white horse at the
1923 FA Cup Final
The 1923 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United on 28 April 1923 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football As ...
, played between
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
and
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
on 28 April 1923, the first FA Cup final to be played at the original
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
, which became known as the "White Horse Final".
Early life and army career
Scorey was born in Bristol. His father, a shipping clerk and labourer, died in 1887. His mother worked as a
charwoman
A charwoman (also chargirl, charlady or char) is an old-fashioned occupational term, referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually ...
before remarrying in 1903.
Scorey enlisted in the British Army in August 1898, joining the
2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys). He served as a trumpeter in the
Second Anglo-Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
(1899–1902), and remained in South Africa until 1905 as part of the colonial garrison. He was an escort when
Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
and other members of the
Russian Royal Family visited England in 1909. Scorey was promoted to the rank of sergeant and
trumpet major
Trumpet major is an appointment in British Army cavalry regiments or the Royal Horse Artillery, held by a sergeant (or corporal of horse in the Household Cavalry) or a staff sergeant (or staff corporal in the Household Cavalry) or warrant office ...
shortly before his 11-year term of enlistment ended, and he re-enlisted in December 1909.
Scorey accompanied his regiment to France as part of the
5th Cavalry Brigade in the
British Expeditionary Force when the First World War broke out in 1914. He served in the
Battle of Mons
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
and the
First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. Th ...
in 1914, the
Second Battle of Ypres
During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the pre ...
in 1915, and the
Battle of Arras in 1917. He remained in France and Belgium until August 1918. He finally left the British Army at the end of August 1919, after completing 21 years of service.
Police career
Although he was shorter than the required minimum height of 5'8", Scorey was invited to join the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
by
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Percy Laurie
Brigadier Sir Percy Robert Laurie (5 November 1880 – 16 February 1962) was a British Army and police officer.
Laurie was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, and educated at Harrow School. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 3rd London Volu ...
, who was in charge of the force's
Mounted Branch
The Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch is the mounted police branch of London's Metropolitan Police. It is part of Met Operations.
History
The Bow Street Horse Patrol was formed in 1763, but ceased after eighteen months when funding ran out. Rev ...
. Laurie was formerly
regimental adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commissioned ...
in the Scots Greys, and offered positions to many of his former comrades. Scorey became a
police constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
in November 1919, and was quickly allocated to the mounted branch. He was issued horse no. 62, a seven-year-old grey named Billy (or Billie), in June 1920.
1923 FA Cup Final
The 1923 FA Cup Final, which was the first played at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
, was contested by
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
and
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
. There were almost 600 police officers and stewards on duty to supervise the event, with a crowd of around 100,000 expected. Scorey was part of the 200-strong reserve of police officers based at Wembley Park Road. The crowd easily numbered over 200,000, vastly exceeded expectations and the stadium's 125,000 capacity, with some estimates of the attendance reaching 300,000. The crush forced thousands of spectators out of the stands and on to the pitch before the scheduled 3pm kick-off.
Scorey, with nine other mounted police officers and the others on foot, were called in to control the crowd and clear the pitch. The encroaching spectators were slowly edged back behind the touchlines. The match eventually began 45 minutes late, after
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
had been escorted to the
royal box
In a theatre, a box, loge, or opera box is a small, separated seating area in the auditorium or audience for a limited number of people for private viewing of a performance or event.
Boxes are typically placed immediately to the front, side an ...
.
Billy, the only grey horse present, was prominent in black-and-white news photographs and newsreels, and the match became known as the "White Horse Final". Scorey and Billy – described as an "officer on a white charger" – was singled out for attention in press coverage.
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
gave him tickets to each subsequent
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
, but he had little interest in football and did not attend.
Private and later life
Scorey had married in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in December 1909. The couple lived in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, but their son was born in Edinburgh in June 1912. A second son was born in April 1915. Both sons were raised by Scorey's mother-in-law after his wife died of tuberculosis in November 1915. Scorey remarried in
Chislehurst
Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...
in September 1922.
After the 1923 FA Cup Final, Scorey declined invitations to appear in public, and he resumed normal duties with Billy. He was a trumpeter in the Metropolitan Police band, and he performed at horse shows. He won the King's Cup at the
Royal Tournament
The Royal Tournament was the world's largest military tattoo and pageant, held by the British Armed Forces annually between 1880 and 1999. The venue was originally the Royal Agricultural Hall and latterly the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. In its l ...
at
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
in 1928. Billy died in December 1930, and Laurie presented Scorey with an inkwell made from one of Billy's hooves mounted with silver, which is now held by the Metropolitan Police mounted branch museum at
Imber Court
Imber is an uninhabited village within the British Army's training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It lies in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. A linear village, its ...
, Surrey.
Declining eyesight forced Scorey to retire in 1939, and he received an ill-health pension. He and his second wife retired to
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...
in Sussex and then returned to Chislehurst. He died from
bronchial pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity of ...
at
Brook Hospital in
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
. His elder son had died in 1929, but he was survived by his wife and younger son from his first marriage.
References
* Chris Forester, Philip Carter, ‘Scorey, George Albert (1882–1965)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 201
accessed 22 May 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorey, George
1882 births
1965 deaths
Metropolitan Police officers
Military personnel from Bristol