Henry Almond
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Henry John Almond[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 1850 | ||
| Place of birth | Westminster, England | ||
| Date of death | 1910 (aged 60)[1] | ||
| Place of death | At Sea, Venezuela[1] | ||
| Playing position | Centre-forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1863–1868 | Charterhouse School | ||
| 1868–1869 | Stoke Ramblers | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Henry Almond (1850–1910) helped form Stoke Ramblers (now Stoke City) in 1863.[1]
Playing career
Stoke were formed in 1863 as Stoke Ramblers F.C. when Railway students from the Charterhouse School in Surrey moved to Stoke-upon-Trent to work as apprentices for the North Staffordshire Railway Works. Amongst them was Henry Almond who was a keen sportsman and it is believed that he introduced football to the local workers although there is no record that matches took place.[1] 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 rules.[1] It remains unclear as to whether Stoke played any matches from 1863 to 1868.[1]
After ending his educational studies and skippering Stoke in their first few games (he scored the first ever Stoke goal against E.W May’s XV in a friendly on 17 October 1868), Almond completely forgot about football. He became a very successful Civil Engineer, going abroad to work in Costa Rica for the Venezuela-based La Guayra and Caracus Railway Company. A fairly young death for Henry at the age of 60.[1]