Four decades of sterling service – and a Wanderers’ Special cigar
A hundred years ago this month, one of the founding fathers of Wolverhampton Wanderers ended a long and illustrious career
JACK Addenbrooke was the secretary-manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers between 1885 and 1922, and this month marks the centenary of his last game in charge and completion of 37 years of unprecedented service.
The date – 6th May 1922, away to Hull City, was preceded by a last Molineux outing against the same team just a week earlier. Both games ended in 2-0 defeats for Wolves.
Twelve
John Henry, usually known as Jack, Addenbrooke was born at 84 Dudley Road, Wolverhampton on 6th June 1865, the fourth child of John and Jane Addenbrooke. As was not uncommon in that time the couple, who had moved from Gornal just a few months prior to the birth, had a large family of twelve children.
Along with his siblings John junior attended St Luke’s School in Blakenhall and it was at St Luke’s that two boys,
John Brodie and John Baynton, had been presented with a ball and encouraged to play by their headmaster, W. H. (Harry) Barcroft.
Brodie and Baynton arranged a meeting on 10th November 1876 that saw the establishment of St Luke’s football club. They played their first competitive game against Stafford Rangers reserves on 13th January 1877, and lost 8-0.
On 23rd August 1878 headmast e r Barcroft recorded the employment of two monitors at 2s 6d (12 and a half pence) a week – they were John Addenbrooke and Fred Blackham. In nineteenth century England rudimentary school education for many children involved the sharing of facts by monitors, youngsters of their own age who had recently acquired their information from teachers.
By this time Lancaster’s monitorial system for the education of poor children had become the most widely emulated in the world. Joseph Lancaster was a prominent Quaker and educator.
Teacher
In the late 1870s Addenbrooke took on the five-year training programme as a pupilteacher but became bored with it. So in July 1883 he took the entrance examination for the teachertraining course at St Peter’s Teacher Training College at Saltley in Birmingham and obtained a first class Queen’s scholarship, attending fulltime from October. That same year he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as a forward, but although he appeared in the reserve side never made a first-team appearance. On summer holiday from Saltley in August 1885 he was asked to take on the role of
As well as team affairs, signings and generally running the club, Jack also ran a tobacconist shop in Dudley Street
secretary-manager, a task that had previously been the responsibility of a committee of eleven, with George Worrall, an early player, having acted as team manager from 1877 to April 1885. Jack’s appointment coincided with the Football Association allowing the introduction of full-time professional players. In addition to team affairs he became responsible for signings, arranging player contracts and generally running the club, including overseeing fixtures and related arrangements. He was a vice president of the Football League and served on the Staffordshire County Football Association for 28 years.
First
He therefore became Wolves’ first paid official, leaving Saltley College the following year and returning to live in Dudley Road whilst obtaining a temporary teaching post at Bushbury School. He left there in July 1887 to cope with the increasing demands of his role at Wolves and other business interests.