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HARRY CURSHAM - REPTON 'OLD BOY' HOLDS FA CUP RECORD

Some of the subjects in our 'Famous Residents' section were not born in Derbyshire, but did spend an important part of their life in the county - namely their school days. The association footballer and county cricketer Harry Cursham was a pupil at Repton School - here local historian Peter Seddon outlines Cursham's curious place in the record books of both football and cricket.

Harry Cursham in his England attire

Hands up anyone who has heard of the former Repton schoolboy Harry Cursham, the celebrated footballer and occasional county cricketer.

If you have just raised an arm you will certainly be in a minority, for Cursham is one of those long-forgotten figures of the Victorian age whose sporting deeds died largely with him.

Yet his credentials are pretty impressive. As well as playing football for England, his name also appears in that sport's record books to this day – indeed this Old Reptonian holds a singular football honour which may never be beaten. And for good measure he commands a remarkably quirky place in the annals of world cricket too. Time for an introduction.

Henry Alfred ‘Harry’ Cursham was born in the village of Wilford, Nottinghamshire, on 27 November 1859. He was educated at Repton School in South Derbyshire, leaving in 1876 at the age of seventeen.

Repton was then one of the few leading Public Schools to fully embrace the relatively new sport of association football, and Cursham was one of the game’s most enthusiastic practitioners during his time there. His enthusiasm was also matched by talent, for when he left the school he was considered one of the leading players in the country.

Early in 1877 he played a game for Grantham Town, and was considered sufficiently good to advance to a higher level. That same year he nailed his colours to the association football pioneers Notts County, playing in their forward-line in countless matches during the pre-League era. And when the Football League was formed in 1888 he was still with County – he notched 9 League appearances and scored 2 goals before finally bowing out in 1890-91.

It was during his time with Notts County that his enduring football record was established. Over a ten year period from 1877 to 1887 he scored 49 goals in the FA Cup - strictly-speaking 48 in the Competition Proper and one in a Fourth Round Qualifying tie against the Derbyshire side Staveley.

His biggest haul in a single FA Cup game was six against Wednesbury Strollers in a crushing 11-1 win. But his more enduring record is that no player has ever topped Cursham’s 49 goal haul throughout the history of the competition – the nearest challenger has been the Liverpool striker Ian Rush who scored his 44th FA Cup goal in 1998.

Cursham’s scoring ‘rate’ in the competition was also remarkable, for his 49 strikes were achieved in 43 games – and for good measure no Notts County player has ever appeared in more FA cup ties.

Harry Cursham is also Notts County’s unofficial top goalscorer of all time – the club statisticians credit him with 208 goals between 1877-78 and 1890-91. The record remains ‘unofficial’ because only 53 of them were scored in competitive games.

Cursham also won eight caps for the England national side between 1880 and 1884. He scored 5 goals for his country, including a hat-trick in his final appearance. A contemporary pen-picture said of him: ‘A very fast and clever left-wing forward and a fine exponent of the art of dribbling.’

Cursham also occasionally assisted other clubs. Between 1882 and 1886 he played a number of games for the celebrated amateur side Corinthians, and in 1882 he turned out for a Sheffield outfit who were rivals to the celebrated Wednesday – because they preferred to play on a different day they called themselves Thursday Wanderers.

Now to Cursham's first-class cricket career. It began with Nottinghamshire in 1880 and ended with the same county in 1904 - Cursham was by then 44 years old.

That span suggests he enjoyed a long and successful time at the crease, but bare statistics can sometimes be misleading. In fact he played only two matches for Nottinghamshire, and the 24 year gap between his games is a world record in first class cricket!

It is worth noting too that Harry Cursham was not the only sporting talent in the family – his older brother Arthur William Cursham (1853-84) also played football for Notts County and won six caps for England. He was a first-class cricketer too, preserving a local connection by playing 9 matches for Derbyshire in seasons 1879 and 1880. By profession Arthur was a colliery proprietor near Ambergate. He is the subject of a separate article at Cursham, Arthur - England Football Captain.

Outside of sport Harry Cursham was an insurance agent – from 1889 to 1939 he worked for the Union Insurance Society.

He died at Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire, on 6 August 1941, aged 81.

There have certainly been more famous Old Reptonians than Harry Cursham, but none holds an illustrious record in the most celebrated Cup competition in world football. As for his cricket claim to fame, that will surely never be beaten.

                                                     R.I.P. HENRY ALFRED ‘HARRY’ CURSHAM 
                                                       LATE SCHOLAR OF REPTON SCHOOL
                                                          FA CUP RECORD GOALSCORER
                                                                BORN 1859 - DIED 1941
                                 
  

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