Pa Wilson
The Father of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club
by Jack McInroy
In 1923 the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club celebrated its first thirty years. Known in all quarters as one of the friendliest amateur clubs, the Hamlet had achieved the highest of things from the humblest of beginnings. A feat entirely due to the fine efforts of its loyal personnel. Among those committed to the administration of the club were a number of officials who had progressed through the ranks, having originally joined on the playing staff. Men such as Arthur Knight, Stan Hann, Cecil Lawrence and Tom Smith. These trusty men had taken heed to the wise words of a great man. A man whose motto to junior footballers was “Stick to your club.”
That man, the honorary treasurer Mr Lorraine Wilson, had dedicated all thirty of those .years to the love of his life – a love at first sight that began way back in 1893. Wilson, it can truly be said, was very much in love with Dulwich Hamlet Football Club. It was probably the reason why he remained a bachelor. How could he devote time to a wife when he was married to Dulwich Hamlet?
No marriage is complete without a family, and Wilson created a family atmosphere throughout the club. The excellent way that he, and the Hamlet’s secretary George Wheeler, ran things in the midst of trials was a credit to them. When Wheeler died in December 1921 the wave of grief that permeated Champion Hill affirmed that Dulwich Hamlet had lost more than a great club man, they lost a member of the family.
Within two years it was unanimously agreed upon that Wilson be offered the esteemed position of President of the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club. A more suitable candidate for the post would have been impossible to find. Wilson was inspirational, inducing the spirit of pure amateurism among his colleagues with a burning passion. The marvellous gesture by the club was gratefully accepted by Wilson, who, arguably, did more for Dulwich Hamlet than anyone before or since. Sadly, he would be President for only a short time.
Born in Fallowfield in the heart of Manchester on 2nd December 1865, Lorraine .Wilson, .the son of a merchant, came to live in Dulwich as a thirteen year old in 1879. The next year he was accepted into Dulwich College, leaving the upper fifth in 1883. From school he went on to private tuition at Lausanne in 1884. In business he was a very accomplished book-keeper, serving as a clerk with Hart & Tibbits Chartered Accountants from 1887 for a year or so. By 1891 he was a fully fledged Drapers Hall accountant.
Lorraine Wilson, a bespectacled stocky little man, was affectionately known by all and sundry as ‘Pa’ surely because of his warmth and fondness. His fatherly affection was seen most clearly in the help and guidance he showed to the youngsters that came under his wing. Whether Pa had adopted his nickname before he was thirty, when he was treasurer of the Dulwich Hamlet School Old Boys Cricket Club, we do not know.
In January 1893 two teenage boys who had played in the school’s cricket and football teams approached the fatherlike figure with a proposition. They were now at school leaving age, but they had a desire to form an Old Boys Club with as much help as possible from Pa. No doubt impressed with the one shilling and eightpence that J.W. Williamson and his mate (some think it to be Teddy Booker) had got together, Pa Wilson duly obliged, taking on further treasury duties. His accountancy skills made him well qualified to guide them in monetary matters. The young chaps could now continue their athletic activities all year round – in the winter sport of association football, and cricket in the summer months. What they did not realise is how often Pa Wilson kindly dipped into his own pocket to meet the needs of the newly founded club. Were it not for this generosity the football club may well have died in its infancy.
Besides being a very charitable man Wilson was also a great supporter of things. After leaving Dulwich College he became a founder member of the College Chapel Committee with the Rev. Canon George William Daniell. Canon Daniell, the College chaplain, and a great friend of Wilson, was elected President of the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club at its inception. He retired from the position in 1915. [Note: There was no President from 1915 until Wilson in 1923. After Wilson’s death the position remained vacant until 1956!] The connection with Dulwich College allowed the Hamlet’s footballers to use the College Reading Rooms in the village for dressing rooms; five minutes walk from the playing field in Woodwarde Road, and across the track from Dulwich Park where the team preferred to play. The Hamlet were off to a good start. In a few short years they transferred from College Farm in Burbage Road to a pitch in Sunray Avenue, with the description “part swamp, part jungle”. They eventually settled in the surrounds we are familiar with today, in 1900 simply known as Freeman’s Ground after the landlord Thomas Freeman.
Quickly progressing through the local junior leagues, Dulwich Hamlet had .accomplished senior status by the turn of the century, and in1907 joined the Isthmian League where they have remained ever since. Stops along the way included the Southern Suburban League and the Dulwich League – both creations of Pa Wilson. The founder became President of each one.
Dulwich Hamlet enjoyed much cup success at that time, and Pa Wilson used the well earned prosperity by improving the facilities at Freeman’s Ground. When the lease held by Thomas Freeman expired in 1912, one section of the land was enclosed with a fence, terraces and a stand erected, and thus the Hamlet’s famous Champion Hill headquarters for the next twenty years came into being.
During the First World War Pa Wilson published a quarterly magazine for the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club’s staff and players. The ‘News of the Pink & Blue Brigade’ was posted to about 100 members on service at home and abroad, informing them of the latest news regarding the club and the matches played at Champion Hill during wartime. The team Wilson assembled at Dulwich was made up of local teenage boys who perfected their craft against visiting Forces sides. Pa Wilson nurtured this second generation of youngsters throughout the latter half of the war period, thus preceding Matt ‘Busby’s babes’ by forty years. It was a stroke of genius and showed great foresight on the part of the Dulwich maestro.
Indeed, following the war the Hamlet side continued to meet success with success, most notably in the 1920 side that destroyed everyone in its path to glory. All this is documented elsewhere of course. [See this author’s The Story of a Season for an in-depth look at the 1919-20 season, and more on Wilson’s efforts in securing the Hamlet’s Champion Hill stadium.]
Pa Wilson’s enthusiasm for all things football-shaped was most clearly expressed in the energy he afforded the club he had built into one of the most famous amateur clubs in the country. It was said that on the day of a big match when the team was doing well, and the receipts were good, his beaming smile was almost a landmark. “Pa’s pleased today.” the crowd would say.
Pa’s greatest love was obviously Dulwich Hamlet, but his attentions were not just confined to local interests. Far from it, such was his widespread popularity that he was invited to take on greater responsibilities. Not only was he honorary treasurer of the London Football Association, but also the Surrey FA as well, where he eventually occupied the seat of Vice President. These offices spoke volumes of the vast amount of work he did and the confidence placed in him. It must have been a great thrill for him to see Dulwich Hamlet win Surrey’s county cup on six occasions. Pa enjoyed the big occasion, and in one of his official capacities he attended the first ever Wembley FA Cup Final in 1923. And although he was shaken up in the famous crush, he nevertheless, (up until a few weeks before he died) spoke of going again the following year. It is also fascinating to discover that Pa Wilson made out his last will and testament in the week following his Wembley ordeal.
The opening months of the 1923-24 season saw Dulwich at their best, despite losing .Edgar Kail for eleven weeks after the amateur international fractured his collar bone in one of the early games. It was not until the Saturday before Christmas that Dulwich Hamlet’s unbeaten league run came to an end at Woking. During this time, plans were being drawn up to sort out the immediate drainage problems with the Champion Hill pitch, which after a good shower, invariably turned into a mudheap. Looking further ahead, a scheme was being finalised to create a brand new ground with a pitch for the reserves. Pa strove for the best. Whether it was the condition of the playing surface for his footballers, or the view and comfort of the spectators, he always had the good of the club in mind. It was an exciting time to be involved with Dulwich Hamlet.
During the week of Sunday 9th December 1923, Pa Wilson sustained a very nasty fall, really suffering the consequences. Everyone showed concern for the ailing Dulwich President, who had recently celebrated his fifty eighth birthday. Pa lived with his seventy four year old spinster sister Annette at their residence, ‘Birchwood’, 57 Alleyne Park, Dulwich. It is difficult to work out whether brother looked after sister or vice versa. Although his Christmas was somewhat spoilt by his infirmity, Pa could take consolation in the fact that Dulwich Hamlet headed the Isthmian League table.
The new drains were fitted at the end of January and the work continued well into the next month. On the new turf the London Caledonians became the first team all season to beat Dulwich at Champion Hill.
Some newsreel footage was recorded at the cup-tie with Nunhead at Brown’s ground in February. The following week pictures of the two sets of players, action from the game and the customary spectator shots were shown in cinemas to huge roars of approval. It is doubtful that Pa Wilson ever got to see these pictures. His ill health continued, and by mid March he had two nurses in constant attendance. Everyone wished him a speedy recovery.
That same month Dulwich made their exit from the Amateur cup, going out at the hands of Chilton Colliery Recreation. It had been a miserable month for all at the club. The final week saw the popular President’s condition become critical. The prolonged illness was taking its toll. In the middle of April Pa Wilson was forced to retire from his position with the London Football Association. In so doing, the LFA lost one of its longest serving members.
By the run-in St Albans had become the team to beat, which nobody had done in the league for seven months. Returning from their Easter tour, the Hamlet players knew they were still in with a shout of the championship, providing they didn’t slip up, and if St Albans dropped a point or two. The Hamlet soundly thrashed Oxford City 4-0 on Saturday 26th April. The same score was recorded against the Casuals on Monday 28th at Crystal Palace. Right up to the last Pa Wilson’s thoughts were with ‘the boys’ as he fondly called the Dulwich Hamlet team. At his home in Alleyn Park he received the news of their doings with great eagerness. Particularly the description of the hat-trick scored earlier that evening by his favourite son, Edgar Kail. It was the last news that Pa Wilson would receive about his beloved club. He died the next day.
The funeral was hastily arranged for eleven o’clock on the morning of Saturday 3rd .May at Old College Chapel with the cortege going on to West Norwood Cemetery for the interment. As the funeral was set for the morning of the final league match with Tufnell Park, it was hoped that the game would be postponed. It was not to be. Permission would have to be granted from the Football Association and Tufnell Park, and with the championship hanging in the balance, it was felt by some that the club’s founder would have wished for the game to go ahead.
Tufnell Park were in a lowly position and in danger of having to seek re-election. There was everything to play for. Dulwich, on the other hand, were playing for a possible chance of the championship. St Albans were leading the pack in their first shot at the Isthmian League having won the previous season’s Athenian League. One point ahead of Dulwich Hamlet, they had not lost a single league match since September, and their opponents Civil Service, who despite playing exceptionally well, were not going to hinder them. But there was a slim chance that they would buckle under the pressure – and surely Dulwich would easily overcome lowly Tufnell Park.
In the end it was academic. St Albans won their game easily, and against all odds Dulwich were remarkably defeated, having run the show, and after hitting the crossbar twice through Jones and Jonas. Even when Kail was brought down in the box Pilkington failed to convert the spotkick. Dulwich finished runners-up, 3 points behind the champions.
The matchday programme, with its black border, illustrated the severity of Pa Wilson’s loss locally. “Today .marks what is beyond doubt the direst calamity that has befallen the club since its inception; for we have laid to his last rest one who was the keystone of the whole edifice which has come to be built up around the name of Dulwich Hamlet.”
The tone of the day was set a few hours earlier when over twenty cars made up the large funeral procession. Among the congregation were most of Dulwich Hamlet’s players and officials; distinguished members of various football associations; the Isthmian League and several of its clubs were represented; teachers and boys from Dulwich Hamlet School; Dulwich College; and the Dulwich Conservative Association. The pall bearers were six prominent Dulwich Hamlet officials:- Tom Smith (Hon. Sec.), Alf Garratt (Hon. Treasurer), Arthur Knight, Stan Hann, Cecil Lawrence and Dick Jonas (Captain).
Further large crowds were at the graveside. The extent of Pa Wilson’s popularity and esteem were seen in the flowers and wreaths from a variety of teams, schools, leagues, including some from as far away as Norway and Holland, The most outstanding was the beautiful pink and blue floral tribute from Dulwich Hamlet in the form of the club badge.
At the beginning of the 1924-25 season the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club Handbook paid tribute to the great man:
LORRAINE WILSON
One short year ago it was our pleasure and pride to devote the place of honour in the .Handbook to our newly appointed President. We recounted the circumstances under which the foundation, the building up. And the carrying on of the Club were the product of thirty years of earnest endeavour and self-sacrifice; and we looked forward with the greatest pleasure and confidence to the Club’s progress under the pilotage from the Presidential chair of the one who, of all others, was most fully equipped with the essentials to the prosperous passage of Dulwich Hamlet.
The season 1923-24 had not ended ‘ere the life that was so devoted to the Club had run its course; and on April 29th our founder and President – Mr Lorraine Wilson – passed away, leaving us in a flood of sorrow as intense as it was universal. The sharpness of the blow was keenly felt in a very large circle, centring in his grief stricken family, extending through the Club to the London and County Associations and the many organisations within their jurisdictions, and widening out to the furthest realms of amateur football, as well as to other spheres of sport.
His was an influence, the absence of which will without doubt be sorely missed for many days to come. Noble tributes have been paid to his memory in the highest football circles, but all that can have been said or written of him must fall short of what we know him to have been during the many years that he devoted his time, his health and his substance to the elevating of those by whom he was immediately surrounded, amongst whom the Dulwich Hamlet Football Club figured not least in his affections. And now that, for him, is peace, there remains to those who are left to carry on a legacy that may well be the envy of many. A high standard has been set, and it is for us to profit by the noble example of him who has shown the way, to maintain the Club’s dignity at all times and to order its affairs that the bond of honour by which the name ‘Pa’ Wilson and Dulwich Hamlet have been, and still are mutually entwined, may ever be preserved in that purity, freshness and vigorous vitality which neither time nor circumstances can weaken.
(Phew! At this point the writer’s pen must have exploded.)
In 1996 I paid a visit to the site of the burial plot in West Norwood Cemetery but came .away rather disappointed. Pa Wilson’s family gravestone had been removed from the site and is gone forever. The Friends of Norwood Cemetery later informed me that Wilson purchased the actual plot as far back as 1888. It is not clear when the tombstone was removed, but in the past some stones were hauled up because of natural decay and wartime bomb damage. However, during the 1970s and 80s, it was Lambeth Council’s policy to demolish thousands of gravestones in the interest of tidying up the cemetery and releasing more available burial space. Understandably, the Council came in for widespread criticism, especially from relatives and descendants of the deceased, but by then it was too late, the damage had been done.
It is a travesty that anyone, let alone one of the most important figures in amateur football, should have his last resting place desecrated in such a way. I for one would like to see some sort of memorial stone replaced, and the name of Lorraine ‘Pa’ Wilson rightly remembered for his large contribution to amateur football in general and Dulwich Hamlet in particular.
This article was originally published in the Champion Hill Street Blues No.50 in March 1997. It was republished with additional material in the Hamlet Historian No.10 in January 2003.
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