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Derby County Football Club in their first season, 1884-85. Alfred Cochrane, then aged 19, is second left at the front

The splendid Who's Who of Derby County by Gerald Mortimer is a bible for Rams fans wanting information on all those players to have appeared for Derby County in a competitive match. It lists every single player to have turned out in either a Football League game, the FA Cup, or other recognised fixture.

But there is another category of Derby County player which the book excludes, namely those early footballers who played 'friendly games' for the club between its formation in 1884 and the birth of the Football League in 1888.

It is in honour of those pioneering Derby County players - the very lifeblood of the club following its birth - that this short series of portraits of 'Forgotten Rams' is offered, starting here with Alfred Cochrane.

ALFRED HENRY JOHN COCHRANE was born on 26 January 1865 in Moka, Mauritius, but he was brought up in Etwall, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish and Master of Etwall Hospital.

Along with three of his brothers, Alfred Cochrane attended Repton School, where he excelled at cricket and football. He later became the author of a History of Repton Cricket, a contributor of numerous sporting articles to The Times, and a Governor of Repton School for over twenty years.

On leaving Repton he went up to Oxford University, but failed to distinguish himself academically, gaining only a Third Class degree in Classics.

It was during his time at Oxford that he played occasionally for Derby County, and he features on the earliest known team picture of the Rams which was taken in the club's first ever season around Christmas 1884.

He was also a talented cricketer - a right-hand batsman and left-arm medium bowler - playing 28 first-class matches from 1884-88 at a batting average of 10.51. All but six of his games were for Oxford University, but he played four times for Derbyshire in 1884 and 1886.

After graduating from Oxford, Alfred Cochrane joined the administrative staff of the Armstrong engineering works at Elswick, Newcastle on Tyne, and eventually became their assistant company secretary.

On 25 July 1895 he married Ethel Isobel Virginia Noble at Newcastle Cathedral - she was the daughter of Sir Arthur Noble, who lived in Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle.

He continued to write for publication - his Early History of Elswick (1909) reflected his interest in antiquity, but he also produced poetry, some of it in light-hearted vein. One stanza to 'a sweetheart' included the lines 'I once admitted to my shame, that football was a brutal game, because she hates it!' His Later Verses were published by Longmans in 1919. He also left some words for posterity to Repton School, penning a school song 'To The Founder' in 1907 to mark the occasion of the school's 350th anniversary.

Alfred Cochrane died at the age of 83 on 14 December 1948 at Elmhurst, Batheaston, near Bath, Somerset. Although his name does not figure prominently in the Derby County history books, he was certainly one of the more interesting characters to don a shirt in service of the Rams:

A. H. J. Cochrane - 1865-1948 - R.I.P.

• Cochrane, Alfred - No.1 in the Rams Forgotten Players series

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County:  Derbyshire

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