The Birth of Football and the Origins of Manchester City

Fourteen: The First Team Photo

Sep 29, 2024

The identities of the men in City’s earliest team photo have been shrouded in mystery since its discovery in the early 2000s. A brief caption that accompanied the image gave only the club’s name, Gorton AFC, and the season it was taken, 1884-85.

But the key to unlocking this particular mystery was provided by Paul Toovey, author of Birth of the Blues. He noticed that the players were arranged in the same order as their 2-3-5 team formation. The identities of two players, Walter Chew (back row, left) and Lawrence Furniss (middle row, centre) can be established by looking at later photographs of them. And there was only one game that season where Chew and Furniss and were listed in these exact positions: the Manchester & District Challenge Cup tie with Dalton Hall on 31 January 1885.

Here is the line-up for that match, indicating the probable position of the players in the photograph:

Walter Chew, R Hopkinson, D Melville, T Kirk, J Bain

E Groves, L Furniss, E Kitchen

K Mackenzie, F Hopkinson

I Bower

In regards to the players, that only leaves the mystery of the 12th man (located on second right of the back row). The most likely candidate is William Chew, Walter's older brother, who was one of the umpires that day.

Here are the details of those 12 men:

Front row (left to right)

Kenneth Mackenzie (captain)

The 17-year-old Scot had been captain of the rugby team at the elite Loretto School, near Edinburgh, one of the ‘famous family of M’Kenzies who have done so much to make Loretto celebrated in athletics and otherwise’. In March 1882 Loretto won the Inter-Scholastic Championship in London. According to Athletic News,

‘after the match the winning team had tea at the Café Royal, where the most genial of school captains (Kenneth M’Kenzie), who was an unwilling onlooker during the game, had to compliment the team for finishing up on of the most successful season’s which any school team has yet had, at to which it may be added he had in no small degree contributed.’

Mackenzie was now working at Bennett’s Foundry, situated just to the north-west of the land off Hyde Road that the club would move to in 1887. He had made his debut for Gorton on 6 December, replacing Turner as captain (Turner never played for Gorton again and the reason for the switch is unclear). Mackenzie didn't play for the club in the 1885-86 and 1886-87 seasons, possibly due to their home ground being on the eastern boundary of Gorton, but in February 1886 he is recorded as playing there for Bennett’s Foundry, after Gorton had allowed them used of the ground

Some early histories claim he played a key role in securing the 4½-acre Hyde Road site in 1887. After the move he became a regular for Ardwick, making at least 25 appearances between 1887-1890. By 1891 he was married to Sarah Baronda, a member of a Mexican-American land-owning family

Isaac Bower (goalkeeper)

The 26-year-old joiner was born in Mottram, Cheshire and moved to West Gorton aged around nine. The son of a provision dealer living at 251 Hyde Road, Bower was a former St Mark's player who made his first appearance for them in November 1881. Initially a forward, he replaced Kitchen in goal two months after his St Mark's debut. He may have played at No.5 for Gorton AFC on 6 December before again replacing Kitchen as goalkeeper the following game. It's likely that his younger brother, 21-year-old Edward Bower (described as a “great full-back with mighty kick in either foot”) played in Gorton's first recorded line-up on 22 November, before being replaced by Mackenzie.

Frederick Hopkinson

The 21-year-old clerk lived at 71 Clowes Street and read out the annual report at Gorton's end of season dinner. He was the secretary of St Mark's Juniors cricket club (1878-80) and may have been secretary of its football club. The son of the church's organist, Hopkinson was also a member of its choral society.

Middle row players (left to right)

Edward Kitchen

(a later photo intentifies Kitchen as the man on the left of the middle row, despite the team line-up putting him on the right)

The 22-year-old clerk was a regular for St Mark's during its first three seasons and also played for Belle Vue. Born in Bramhall, Cheshire, the engine driver's son lived at 4 Tank Row (also known as Railway Cottages). He was baptised by Rev. Adams at the original St Mark's in November 1864, and married at the new St Mark's church in 1887.

Lawrence Furniss

The 26-year-old was unquestionably the most influential person in the club's history. Over the next four decades—spanning Gorton's transition into Ardwick and rebirth as Manchester City FC—he served as captain, manager, director and chairman, a feat which may be unique in professional football.

Furniss was born in Cromford, Derbyshire early in 1858, the eldest child of station master Edwin Furniss and wife Sarah. In 1881 he worked with his father as a clerk at Cromford's Midland Railway station. By that time he had become the village's most prominent sportsman, serving as captain and committee member of the Cromford Football Club and captain and secretary of its Cricket Club. In November 1881 he is also recorded as playing for nearby Matlock Football Club.

An employee at Union Iron, he later succeeded William Beastow as works manager, and by 1900 had become a warden at St Mark's. His job at Union Iron had already taken him to the United States, most probably to help prepare for the 1884 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition that would be held in New Orleans. In June 1883 he played twice for the Merion Cricket Club, whose ground is located beside the Merion railway station on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The following month he is recorded as playing for a cricket team called English Residents v American Born at the Germantown Cricket Club Ground in Nicetown, Philadelphia.

He had returned to Derbyshire by October 1883 and that month was a referee for Matlock Football Club. He also played for the West Gorton Cricket Club In the summer of 1884. After retiring as Gorton captain in 1886 because of injury, he joined the club's committee and in 1887 helped them secure a new ground off Hyde Road, Ardwick. In 1889 he became manager of the renamed Ardwick AFC and for the next four years oversaw their transition from small amateur club to Football League members.

A director of Manchester City when they won the FA Cup in 1904, he was appointed chairman in May 1920, a position he held for the next nine seasons. During that time the club moved to Maine Road, finished second in the League and reached an FA Cup final and semi-final.

Edward Groves

The 21-year-old warehouseman from Ardwick was described as the best player in the Cup tie against Dalton Hall. Manchester-born with a Welsh mother, Groves played his first game for St Mark's in February 1881 and became a regular for both West Gorton and Belle Vue between 1881-1884. He continued to play for Gorton for the next two seasons and also played for Ardwick in 1887-88.

Back row players (left to right)

Walter Chew

A 19-year-old warehouse clerk who lived at 12 Elizabeth St (off Clowes Street), Chew was to play a critical role in Gorton AFC's development. In the 1885-86 season he took over from Kitchen as club secretary and also made 14 appearances for the club. In January 1887 he began negotiations with the MSL Railway company that led to the club securing the Hyde Road ground that became City's home until 1923.

In August 1887 he was listed as Hon. Sec. Pro Tem (along with J H Ward) when the formation of Ardwick Association Football Club was announced, and was match secretary for 1887-88 season. A 1900 Golden Penny article described him as one of the ‘prime movers’ of Ardwick AFC while in 1910 the Manchester Guardian called him the ‘founder’ of the Ardwick club. Chew became a member of the Manchester FA in 1888-89 and was appointed treasurer in 1903. In January 1910 he was presented with the long-service medal for his services to Manchester football. He died in 1848, aged 84.

Richard Hopkinson

The 24-year-old clerk lived with younger brother, Frederick, and his father. He had played for St Mark's in its first three seasons and was also a keen cricketer, opening the batting for the Gorton Tradesmen side in 1884. A member of the church's choral society, he was probably the Mr R Hopkinson listed as a conductor for the Gorton Philharmonic orchestra in 1904.

D Melville

A Scot who worked at Bennett’s Foundry, he is recorded as playing for their works team in 1886.

T Kirk

Another Scot who played alongside Melville and Mackenzie for Bennett’s Foundry.

J Bain

No details available

William Chew

The 22-year old Chew, a founding St Mark's player, served as Gorton AFC's umpire for the 1884-85 season. In 1886 he became the club’s treasurer and was one of four men on the club management committee that season. In August 1887 he was one of the four names on the tenancy agreement for the new ground in Ardwick, and served on the club's 12-man committee for the first season.

My article on why the players wore a Maltese Cross on their shirts can be found here.

You can discover the identity of the four suited men in the photo (including the reason one of them is dressed like Buffalo Bill) in my book on City’s origins, A Man’s Game, which is available on Amazon here.

What was the first song at City? Why did Steve Coppell resign? Did City have a “Fifth Column”? Did the IRA try to burn down Hyde Road? Who started the “banana craze”? And what was Maine Road's Scoreboard End called before there was a scoreboard?

All these questions—and more—are answered in my latest book, available on Amazon here.