A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE secondly on account of the important part played by the alumni of the Hertfordshire School in the history and development of the game. The college was opened in 1862 and A. Butler the first headmaster, who came from Rugby, brought with him and intro- duced into Hertfordshire the rules of that school. The Haileybury boys at once took kindly to football, and with the example of several masters who participated in the prac- tice games, notably E. P. Ash and the late H. St. J. Reade, a creditable team was soon placed in the field. In the ' sixties ' twenty players formed a side at Haileybury, and this number was not reduced to fifteen until 1877, the arrangement of the men in the field being three full-backs with two or sometimes three half-backs. To encourage efficiency in kicking, prizes were awarded for both dropping and placing. In addition to the regular inter-house matches and school games about five foreign matches were usually played Guy's Hospital, Old Marlburians, Old Haileyburians and a team or two from Cambridge University being among the earliest opponents met. Some of the prominent players of the sixteen were E. C. Cheston, captain in 1867, and his brother Horace, both of whom were afterwards con- spicuous members of the Richmond club ; H. Bourdillon, of whom more anon ; F. S. Wrench, a fine half-back ; W. A. Frith and G. V. Oddie. That the standard of play at Haileybury soon became a high one may be gathered from the fact that of the team of 1869 four Bourdillon, Champneys, Batten and Meri- vale afterwards played for their respective Universities Batten by the way captained the first Cambridge University twenty while another member of the same team, L. Birkett, represented England against Scot- land. This same season the college were only defeated in one match, that against the powerful Richmond club. In the following year, under the captaincy of H. Bourdillon, Haileybury had again a very strong com- bination, and its success was largely con- tributed to by the excellent dropping and placing of J. (now Colonel) Spens so well known later as a racquet and cricket player. By his instrumentality Colvin's house carried off this year the Inter-house championship. Of the foreign clubs met, Richmond, Guy's Hospital and the Old Boys were defeated, and only the match against the Marlborough Nomads resulted in a reverse. It is interest- ing to note that the latter match has been regularly played from 1867 to the present time. In 1872 H. Bourdillon filled the position of captain for the third season and completed his fifth year in the team. During his last year as captain the college suffered no de- feat, an achievement which stamps the Haileybury football training as being most thorough. On going up to Oxford Bour- dillon so favourably impressed the football authorities there that he was chosen for three years against Cambridge. In addition to the captain the team of 1872 con- tained several other players who afterwards became famous in the football world, not- ably the brothers E. T. and C. Gurdon, two of the best forwards who ever repre- sented England. E. T. Gurdon played four years in the Cambridge team and sixteen times for England, a record not equalled by any other Englishman. For many years he captained both the Richmond and English fifteens and has long been a leading legislator on the Rugby Union Committee, of which body he is a past president. Charles Gurdon, who captained Haileybury in succession to Bourdillon, was a heavier forward than his elder brother. Like him he represented Cambridge, Richmond and England, while as an oarsman he had few equals. A con- temporary of the Gurdons in the Haileybury team was the present headmaster of Malvern, the Rev. S. R. James, who captained the light blue fifteen in 1877. As a matter of history it may be mentioned that no less than eight of Bourdillon's last team gained their blues at one or other University. In C. Gurdon's year of captaincy, 1873, the college again did extremely well, only suffering one defeat, and that from Richmond on the latter's ground. C. C. Atkinson, who afterwards played for Oxford, succeeded Gurdon, and his team defeated the famous Ravenscourt Park club and drew with the Marlborough Nomads. Though matches against other schools did not form a regular part of the college programme until some years later, this season was notable for the fact that the college for the first time tried their strength against another public school. St. Paul's were met on November 14, 1874, and easily defeated by a goal and three tries to nothing. In 1877, in conformity with the reduction made by the Rugby Union in the number of players in their international matches, Haileybury also reduced their twenty to fifteen. This season however the college did not maintain their good record, as out of six foreign matches they were only successful in one. Next year, under A. L. Foster, the team did better, and much of their success was due to J. B. Shackle, who scored nine 384
