Bambridge, Charles

Born in Windsor , Berkshire . He was the fifth child in the family of Sofia and , who was a photographer for Queen Victoria . He studied at St. Mark's School in Windsor, and then at in Malvern, Worcestershire . He played football for the college team.

Later, he played for the football clubs Windsor Home Park, Stretem, , Klepem Rovers , and ³ Corinthian .

It is alleged that in one of the cup matches, Charlie Bambridge broke his leg, but continued to play and even scored a winning goal ^[4] . To one leg he attached a large protective shield protruding from behind his leggings. After the match on the dashboard there were traces of many blows of the opponent. When Charlie was asked how his broken leg withstood all these blows, he replied: “Not bad, I put a shield on my healthy leg” ^[2] .

On April 5, 1879, Bambridge made his debut as part of the England national football team in a match against Scotland at the Kennington Oval Stadium. By the break, England was losing to the Scots with a score of 1: 4. At the beginning of the second half, Bambridge played one goal, and by the 75th minute Norman Bailey had equalized. In the last ten minutes of the match, the Scots scored, but the referee did not count the goal, indicating the “offside” position . Shortly afterwards, the British already carried out their attack, and Bambridge scored the winning goal. The English for the first time since 1873 beat the Scots. That match in the press was called "the most exciting game between England and Scotland at the moment" ^{[5] [6]} .

On March 13, 1880, Charles Bambridge spent his second game for the national team. This was again a game against Scotland, this time at Hampden Park Stadium. This time, the Scots won with a score of 5: 4, although Bambridge again made a “double” in their goal ^[7] . A year later, on March 12, 1881, Bambridge again struck the gates of the Scots, who defeated the British with a score of 6: 1 ^[8] .

February 18, 1882, Charlie first played for England in the rank of captain . It was a game against Ireland in Belfast . The British defeated the opponent with a score of 13: 0, Bambridge became the author of one of them ^[9] .

On March 13, 1882, in a match against Wales, Bambridge left the field already in the 3rd minute because of an injury, and since substitutions of players during the game were not allowed then, the English had ten matches and lost 3–5 ^[10] . February 3, 1883 in a "rematch" England defeated Wales with a score of 5-0, Bambridge scored the second goal of the English. Also in that match was played by , brother of Charles ^[11] .

On February 23, 1884, the brothers Charles and Arthur again played together in the match against Ireland, participating in its defeat with a score of 8: 1. Arthur scored one goal, and Charlie scored two, but in the 75th minute the latter was forced to leave the field due to injury ^[12] .

In 1885, Charles scored against the Irish and the Scots. March 19, 1887, he spent his last 18th match for the national team. In total, he scored 11 goals for the national team and was twice the captain of the English ^[13] .

From 1883 to 1886, Charlie Bambridge was a member of the Football Association committee, as well as a member of the Corinthian club founders committee. Later he was honorary president of the Corinthian club from 1923 to 1932 ^[4] .

Charles’s two brothers, and , also played for England. This is the only “trio” of siblings who played for England ^[14] .

Bambridge worked as an underwriter at Lloyd's ^[3] .

He had four children. His two sons, Rupert and Frederick, were killed in France during the First World War . His grandson, Anthony Charles Bambridge, was the managing director of mustard company in the 1970s.

Charles Bambridge died on November 8, 1935, at the age of 77. His widow Kathleen died in 1960 at the age of 97.

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