Henry John Almond (17 April 1850 – 1910) helped form Stoke Ramblers (now Stoke City) in the 1860s.

Life and career

Almond was born in

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in 1850. He attended the private

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

where he played association football with his house team Gownboys and the School's team. Almond had a major role in forming Stoke Ramblers believed to have been in 1863 when Railway students from the Charterhouse School moved to Stoke-upon-Trent to work as apprentices for the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

. Amongst them was Henry Almond who was a keen sportsman and it is believed that he introduced organised club football to the local workers, although there is no record that matches took place. However, in 1868 it was reported in ''The Field'' newspaper that Stoke Ramblers had been formed with Almond as its captain and the club was to play under

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

rules. It remains unclear as to whether Stoke played any matches from 1863 to 1868. He played in and scored the first ever Stoke goal against E.W May's XV in a friendly on 17 October 1868. He left Staffordshire soon after to continue his career in railway. Later he became a successful Civil Engineer, going abroad to work in

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for the

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-based La Guayra and Caracas Railway Company. He died at sea the age of 60.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almond, Henry 1850 births 1910 deaths English footballers Stoke City F.C. players Association football forwards People who died at sea