Edward Vincent Ravenshaw (30 July 1854 – 23 May 1880) was an amateur

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 ...

who played for the Scotland XI against England in the last of the representative matches played in February 1872. He went on to become a

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

planter in India, where he drowned trying to save the life of a friend.

Family and education

Ravenshaw was born in

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many cen ...

, Surrey, on 30 July 1854, the son of George Chandler Ravenshaw and Eliza Willock. His father was educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

and was employed by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. His mother was the daughter of Sir Henry Willock, who was the chairman of the East India Company in 1844–45. His uncle Thomas was the founder of Ravenshaw College in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

state, India. Having first attended

Bromsgrove School Bromsgrove School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, England. Founded in 1553, it is one of the oldest public schools in Britain, and one of the 14 founding members of the Headmaste ...

, he joined Charterhouse School in 1866 where he showed an aptitude for various sports. He was a member of the school

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

team in 1871 and 1872 and of the school football XI in 1871–72.

Football

On 24 February 1872, he was asked to represent "Scotland" in the last pseudo-international match against an English XI, organised by

Charles W. Alcock Charles William Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of ...

. The Scottish XI was made up from players from London and the Home Counties with "Scottish connections". Ravenshaw had attended the match to watch Old Carthusians

Thomas Hooman Thomas Charles Hooman (28 December 1850 – 22 September 1938) was a leading English association football player of the Victorian era. He played for Wanderers in the 1872 FA Cup Final and was also chosen to represent England on several occasion ...

and Charles Nepean play for England and Scotland respectively, and (despite having no family links to Scotland) was pressed into service by the Scottish captain Montague Muir Mackenzie (also an Old Carthusian) to replace Quintin Hogg who had been injured shortly before the match. The match ended in a 1–0 victory to the English with a goal from Charles Clegg.

Later life and death

He left Charterhouse in the summer of 1872 and became a clerk in the Old Bank at

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dr ...

. He subsequently became a tea planter in Cachar, India. He drowned in the Katakhal River, while attempting to save a friend's life near Julnacherra in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

on 23 May 1880.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravenshaw, Edward 1854 births 1880 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Sportspeople from Richmond, London People educated at Charterhouse School Old Carthusians F.C. players Scotland men's representative footballers (1870–1872) Deaths by drowning in India Accidental deaths in India Men's association football players not categorized by position English men's footballers