Illustrated London News 1846

Attacking Minded · Feb 12, 2008

I try to find cheap but personal ways to decorate my house. One way is to get old historical prints and have them framed. I found one from the Illustrated London News from 1846 and I thought it would be good to share the article on BigSoccer that accompanies the illustration. Below is the best as I'm able to transcribe it.

148 The Illustrated London News. [FEB. 28, 1846.

FOOT-BALL AT KINGSTON-UPON THAMES, ON SHROVE TUESDAY

On Tuesday last, the ancient Shrovetide division of Foot-ball was played most lustily at Kingston-upon-Thames; the inhabitants of which good old town claim this pastime as a right obtained for them by the valour of their ancestors. Kingston was one of the strongholds of the Anglo-Saxons; and tradition relates that the Danes, in a predatory excursion, were stopped here by a firm stand made against them by the towns-people, until assistance arrived from London, when the enemy was defeated; and the Danish General being slain, his head was cut off, and kicked about the place in triumph. This happened on a Shrove-Tuesday; whence the origin of the custom; the foot-ball being regarded as the symbol of victory.

Foot-ball was however, played many centuries since, at other places beside Kingston, on Shrove Tuesday; so that the above origin must be treated as a mere tradition, unless Kingston may have set the examples. It has, for ages, been noted for its popular pageants, sports, and pastimes, as shown by the Churchwardens’ and Chamberlain’s accounts, containing entries of many payments, from money collected from the inhabitants, in support of these festivals. Among them are the Kyngham, or pageant of the Three Kings of Cologne; Robin Hood; and the May-game.

Foot-ball was played at Kingston, on Tuesday last, by two clubs, one called the Thames-Street Club, the other Townsend. They began at eleven o’clock in the morning, and kept up the ball till five o’clock in the evening. The rule is to kick the ball throughout the town; and whichever club gets the ball nearest the meeting-place at five o’clock, wins the game. There are no stakes but the honour of victory; and the parties dine together in the evening. The poorer classes play also, for money and beer, subscribed by the townsmen. The annual game is supported by some of the wealthiest inhabitants in and around Kingston; and the majority of the corporation are understood to be favorable to the maintenance of this old English pastime. When the ball is driven into the river, the sport is “fast and furious;” the antagonists dash into the stream, and wade about in the struggle. A few years since, when the Shrove tide was so high as to be above the arch of the bridge, one of the players leaped after the ball from the parapet into the river, and was carried by the force of the stream through the arch, but was provincially rescued on his reappearance on the opposite side.

Our Illustration of Tuesday’s mimic fray in Kingston market-place, shows the scene of many an actual conflict during the Civil War; and it is remarkable on this spot, about the middle of January, 1641-42, the Royalist made their first attempt to assemble an armed force. The handsome building in the centre of the Engraving is the Town Hall, rebuilt in a light Italian style of architecture in the year 1840, on the site of a town or moot hall of the age of Elizabeth. The figure in the southern front is a leaden statue of Queen Anne, cast in her reign. In the distance is shown the massive tower of the old cruciform church of All Saints, mentioned in Doomesday Book, and doubtless of Saxon foundation; although no part of the present edifice appears to be of an earlier date than the reign of Richard II. Our artist has also shown a few of the old gabled houses with which the town abounds.
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I've tried to keep the original formating including the two words that for some unknown reason are italicized. If anyone is interested, I got this print from Julie Bennett who has a shop on ebay.