Edward Vincent Ravenshaw (30 July 1854 – 23 May 1880) was an 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 lea ...

who played for the Scotland XI against England in the last of the representative matches played in February 1872. He went on to become a

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

planter in India, where he drowned trying to save the life of a friend.

Family and education

Ravenshaw was born in

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes, London, Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes ...

, Surrey, on 30 July 1854, the son of George Chandler Ravenshaw and Eliza Willock. His father was educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

and was employed by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. His mother was the daughter of Sir Henry Willock, who was the chairman of the East India Company in 1844–45. His uncle Thomas was the founder of

Ravenshaw College Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw College, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The u ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

state, India. Having first attended

Bromsgrove School Bromsgrove School is a co-educational boarding and day school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, England. Founded in 1553, it is one of the oldest public schools in Britain, and one of the 14 founding members of the Headmasters' Confer ...

, he joined

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

in 1866 where he showed an aptitude for various sports. He was a member of the school

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team in 1871 and 1872 and of the school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

XI in 1871–72.

Football

On 24 February 1872, he was asked to represent "Scotland" in the last pseudo-international match against an English XI, organised by

Charles W. Alcock Charles William Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of t ...

. The Scottish XI was made up from players from London and the Home Counties with "Scottish connections". Ravenshaw had attended the match to watch Old Carthusians Thomas Hooman and Charles Nepean play for England and Scotland respectively, and (despite having no family links to Scotland) was pressed into service by the Scottish captain Montague Muir Mackenzie (also an Old Carthusian) to replace Quintin Hogg who had been injured shortly before the match. The match ended in a 1–0 victory to the English with a goal from

Charles Clegg Charles Myron Clegg Jr. (June 29, 1916 – August 25, 1979) was an American author, photographer, and railroad historian. Clegg is primarily remembered as the lifelong romantic partner of famed railroad author Lucius Beebe, and was a co-author o ...

Later life and death

He left Charterhouse in the summer of 1872 and became a clerk in the Old Bank at

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern (, locally also: ) is a spa town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is ...

. He subsequently became a tea planter in

Cachar Cachar district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. After independence, the pre-existing undivided Cachar district was split into four districts: Dima Hasao (formerly North Cachar Hills), Hailakandi, Karimganj, and the ...

, India. He drowned in the

Katakhal River The Barak River or Barbakro or Agu flows through the states of Manipur, Mizoram and Assam in India. It flows into Bangladesh where it bifurcates into the Surma river and the Kushiyara river which converge again to become the Meghna river befor ...

, while attempting to save a friend's life near Julnacherra in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

on 23 May 1880.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravenshaw, Edward 1854 births 1880 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Old Carthusians F.C. players People from Mortlake, London People educated at Charterhouse School Scotland men's representative footballers (1870–1872) Deaths by drowning in India Men's association football players not categorized by position English men's footballers