Arthur Melmoth Walters (26 January 1865 – 2 May 1941) was an English amateur

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender for the Old Carthusians and the

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

s in the late nineteenth century as well as making nine appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He was president of the

Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as ...

. He and his elder brother,

Percy Melmoth Walters Percy Melmoth Walters (30 September 1863 – 6 October 1936) was an English amateur footballer who played as a defender for the Old Carthusians and the Corinthians in the late nineteenth century as well as making thirteen appearances for Engl ...

, were known as "morning" and "afternoon" in allusion to their initials. The brothers were generally regarded as the finest fullbacks in England for a number of years; according to Philip Gibbons in his "''History of the Game from 1863 to 1900''" this was due mainly to their own defensive system based on the

combination game The Combination Game was a style of association football based around teamwork and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Associati ...

used by the Royal Engineers during the early 1870s.

Family and education

Walters was born in

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a suburban area with a village centre in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, approximately south of central London and northeast of Epsom. In the 2011 Census, the settlement had a population of 34,872, a majority of wh ...

, Surrey, the son of

William Melmoth Walters William Melmoth Walters (25 January 1835 – 20 November 1925) was a former President of the Incorporated Law Society (1891-1892) and member of an old Somerset family. Family background Walters was the eldest son of solicitor John Eldad Walters ...

(1835–1926), a solicitor and member of an old Somerset family, and Marian Eleanor Leggatt (b. 1840). He was educated at

Windlesham House School Windlesham House School is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 4 to 13 on the South Downs, in Pulborough, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 1837 by Charles Robert Malden and was the first boys' preparatory school ...

, then

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

where he played for the school football team in 1882 and 1883 before going up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he won a

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in each of the years from 1884 to 1887. In 1892, he married Amy Constance Parbury, the daughter of G. W. Parbury, of Ifield, Crawley and they had 5 sons and 4 daughters, including Amy (born 1894), Anthony (1895), Herbert (1900), Bridget (1914) and Thomas (1917) and Marion Elizabeth (born 1901).

Football career

Corinthian

In his first year at Cambridge, Walters joined the

club which had been established two years earlier with a view to giving amateur players the opportunity to play together on a regular basis to improve the quality and strength of the England team. Arthur made his debut for Corinthian on 13 November 1884, in a 7–1 defeat by Notts Club. He was unable to take part in the Corinthians tour of northern England in December, but was able to join the Easter tour in which five games were played in six days. Arthur played in four of the five games, including the opening fixture against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

on 6 April 1885, when he played at left-back with his brother Percy alongside him on the right. This match was the first of many over the next six years in which the two brothers played alongside each other as the two full backs. Amongst the more significant matches were a 6–0 defeat of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

holders,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, in December 1885 and a 7–0 victory over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

in March 1886, when fellow Old Carthusian William Cobbold scored four goals. The brothers' final match together for Corinthian was on 8 November 1890 in an eight-goal victory over

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

in which younger brother H.M. Walters (who was only playing his second match) scored a hat-trick, with another goal from Percy. The other four goals came from V.G. Manns, who was playing his only match for Corinthian. Shortly after this match, the younger brother died from a football injury inflicted during a match and, in deference to their parents' wishes, both brothers retired from football to concentrate on their legal careers. The withdrawal of the Walters brothers from the Corinthian team had a significant effect on the team's performances as they were "extremely hard to replace, and Corinthian were destined to win only six of their next nineteen games". Despite the promise made to their parents, the brothers made a return to the Corinthians for a multi-sport tournament against the

Barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less ...

s rugby club in April 1892. Arthur played in the soccer match (without Percy) which Corinthian won 6–0, with

Tinsley Lindley Dr. Tinsley Lindley OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear football b ...

scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

. The clubs also played a rugby match, which Corinthian won 16–13, although the match was not a very serious encounter and was described by

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

newspaper as "a very amusing game". The rugby match was followed by an athletics meeting in which

C. B. Fry Charles Burgess Fry (25 April 1872 – 7 September 1956) was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could ...

was prominent, winning both the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and high jump. Finally, the two clubs met a few weeks later in a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

match in which Percy played alongside several other prominent Corinthians, including Fry, Lindley and

Charles Wreford-Brown Charles Wreford-Brown (9 October 1866 – 26 November 1951) was an English sportsman. He captained the England national football team and was a county cricketer during the Victorian age, and later acted as a sports legislator during the 20th c ...

. Arthur's final Corinthian matches came when he made a brief come-back at the end of the 1892–93 season with appearances against Bournemouth and Queen's Park. During his time with the Corinthians, Walters made 48 appearances, scoring once.

Old Carthusians

After graduating in 1887, Walters joined the old-boys' team for his former school, the Old Carthusians. His major successes came late in his time with the club, reaching successive

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an England, English football (soccer), football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of p ...

finals, winning the cup in 1894, the competition's inaugural year, and reaching the final in 1895.

England

Arthur and Percy made their

debuts together on 28 February 1885 in a 4–0 victory over

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, with Arthur at right back and Percy on the left. In the match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

on 27 March 1886, nine of the eleven players selected were members of the Corinthian club, although all had their primary affiliation with other clubs. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with England's being scored by fellow Corinthian

. Arthur made a total of nine appearances for England, with the final match being against Scotland in the

1890 British Home Championship Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe ...

. The match ended 1–1, and as a result England and Scotland shared the championship. Of the nine matches played for England, four were won, three drawn (all against Scotland) and two were lost (also against Scotland).

Life away from sport

Walters spent some time as a volunteer in the army, and in August 1886, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the 3rd Surrey Rifles. Walters eventually qualified as a solicitor in 1899, and joined the family firm. He was president of the

. He became a director of the London Guarantee and Accident Co., and of the Phoenix Assurance Co. He died at his home at Minnickwood, Holmwood, Surrey on 2 May 1941 aged 76.

Sporting honours

Old Carthusians *

winners: 1894 *

finalists: 1895.

References

External links

*
England profile on www.englandfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Arthur Melmoth 1865 births 1941 deaths People from Ewell People educated at Charterhouse School English men's footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Cambridge University A.F.C. players Corinthian F.C. players Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English solicitors Presidents of the Law Society of England and Wales Old Carthusians F.C. players People from Holmwood People educated at Windlesham House School