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M. M. Morgan-Owen (1877-1950). The former owner of Willington Hall, in Willington, Derbyshire, has an honoured place in the 'Hall of Fame' of Welsh international footballers

A 1960s view of Willington Hall, the former home of M. M. Morgan-Owen, who died there in 1950

One of the particular fascinations for those who pursue ‘local history’ is the voyage of discovery. Consider the early Welsh footballer M. M. Morgan-Owen (1877-1950), whose brief pen-picture in a ‘Who’s Who’ tantalisingly mentioned ‘his time at Repton’. Further investigation revealed that he wasn’t just ‘any old’ footballer, but a revered Welsh international considered one of the greatest of that proud ‘Red Dragon’ breed.

What’s more ‘M. M.’ - as he was popularly-known - lived in Repton and Willington for over 40 years. And in later life his footballer brother Hugh (1882-1953) lived in Repton too, at the curiously-named property ‘Pere Bryle’. This is the story of the remarkable M. M. Morgan-Owen and his clan.

The grandly named Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen was born in Cardiff on 20 February 1877 to Timothy Morgan-Owen and his wife Emma (née Maddox). He was never a pupil at Repton – his time there would come later - but instead attended another Public School of stature, Shrewsbury, where he won his football colours with aplomb. He was there from 1891 to 1896, and in 1894 played in the school’s first ever public school encounter, against Repton.

After leaving Shrewsbury he became a stalwart of the ex-pupils’ team the Old Salopians, and ultimately became President of that historic club. At Oriel College Oxford (1896-1900) he won his ‘soccer’ blue on three occasions – awarded for playing in the Varsity game against Cambridge - and while still an undergraduate was invited for the first time to play for his country.

He made his debut for Wales against Ireland in 1897 and proved such a success at centre-half (essentially a midfielder at that time) that he became a regular fixture in the side. Despite being small in stature, he was a solid and inspirational presence for Wales until 1906-07, the season in which they won the Home International Championship for the first time in their history.

‘M. M.’ won 12 caps in all, and might have added one more, but in 1903 he declined an appearance so he could play instead for Old Salopians in the final of the Arthur Dunn Cup, a prestigious amateur competition. His younger brother Hugh – himself a former Shrewsbury boy and Welsh international - did likewise.

That strict adherence to the amateur ethos was widely characteristic of the former public school players. So Morgan Morgan-Owen - despite being a leading exponent of football at a time when Steve Bloomer and his fellow professionals were earning decent money from the game - declined to take a single penny for playing. Quite simply ‘M. M.’ remained an amateur throughout his career.

He did, though, play four League games for professional clubs - one for Nottingham Forest (1901) and three for Glossop North End (1903-05), then a Second Division side. He also played many times for Rhyl and Oswestry, but given his stance it was inevitable that Morgan-Owen would throw in his lot with the famous Corinthians, the celebrated amateur side who were a match for any professional team in the world.

While with Corinthians (1898-1915) he played against many of the leading League sides, including Derby County, and travelled the world spreading the ‘soccer gospel’, including a tour of the United States and Canada in 1906.

By then the Corinthians had already afforded Morgan-Owen his finest hour in football. This was in a Sheriff of London Shield match (the forerunner of the Charity Shield), a prestigious annual fixture which pitched Corinthians against the best British professional club, usually taken then to be the FA Cup winners.

That meant that on 5 March 1904 Corinthians faced Bury, who in the 1903 Cup Final had famously thrashed Derby County by six goals to nil. Nine of the Bury side who had inflicted humiliation on the Rams just a year before lined up against Corinthians, and it was widely predicted that Bury would crush the amateurs in like manner.

When the Shakers raced to an early 2-0 lead it began to look that way too. But M. M. Morgan-Owen was captain of the Corinthians that day, and he wasn’t a man to accept defeat lightly. His firm shouts of ‘Play up Corinth’ and ‘Stick to it boys’ provoked a response so effective that by half-time Corinthians led 4-2.

Even then, the pundits in the crowd anticipated that Bury’s ‘superior fitness’ would tell in the second half. How wrong they were – Corinthians notched six more goals to run out 10-3 winners, and Morgan-Owen lifted the huge shield with deserved pride. The result remains one of the most sensational in football history, and made Derby County’s 6-0 loss to Bury look more shameful still.

As an amateur player Morgan-Owen needed to earn a living, which he did by teaching. After beginning at the Forest School in Walthamstow, he moved to Repton in 1909, when he was 32. He was first a master, and then from 1920 until his retirement in 1937 house master of New House. His forté during his 28 year association with the school was football, and his enthusiasm and aptitude as a coach was held to be a key factor in Repton’s rise as a leading ‘football school’.

In common with a number of Repton masters – shades of the younger characters in the film Goodbye Mr. Chips – Morgan-Owen forsook teaching during the First World War for the trenches. From 1905 he had already served with the Essex Regiment as a territorial, and at the outbreak of war in 1914 became a Captain in the Regular Army.

He commanded the 10th and 11th battalions of the Rifle Brigade, seeing action in Gallipoli, Anzac, France and Flanders. In March 1918 he survived being severely wounded and gassed, and was twice mentioned in dispatches. He was demobilised as a Lieutenant-Colonel and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions during the first battle of Cambrai.

When victory was secured he returned to the quiet calm of Repton and again donned his gown and mortar board. In 1925, then aged 48, he married 29-year-old Doris Marjorie Turner, daughter of the late Sir John Turner of Stanley House, Donisthorpe. They had a family, and after Morgan-Owen retired from Repton School in 1937 they settled in Willington at Willington Hall.

Even in his senior years the former footballer and military man did not rest on his laurels. In 1941 he became a Governor of Repton School, and during World War Two he commanded the 11th Battalion of the Derbyshire Home Guard, only stepping down in 1942 because he had reached the 65 age limit!

Thereafter he was a J. P. and served on the local councils for both Repton and Willington, both he and his wife later being praised for their ‘invaluable work in the parish’.

Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen died at Willington Hall on 14 August 1950, aged 73. His wife Doris died in September 1957 aged 61. Their late son John Maddox Morgan-Owen, for many years a leading figure in Derbyshire affairs, was appointed High Sheriff of the County in 1995. And their grandson – John’s own son Timothy Morgan-Owen - became an accomplished professional artist based in Melbourne.

Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen is commemorated by a simply-worded plaque in Willington’s St. Michael’s Church. It betrays no hint of the subject’s remarkable life. Visitors glancing at it without a second thought would have no idea that it honours a legendary international footballer, a military hero, and a revered figure in the history of Repton School.

Derbyshire can justly be proud of the man described by a colleague as ‘the greatest Corinthian of the Edwardian age’. The redoubtable M. M. Morgan-Owen – the ‘Red Dragon of Willington’.

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County:  Derbyshire