Rams teapot could be player's wedding gift
Derby Evening Telegraph reader Stuart Wilby appealed for help in discovering the significance of the date July 5, 1891, embossed on a silver commemorative Derby County teapot which he owns. Local historian Peter Seddon, author of numerous books on Derby County, decided to do some sleuthing on Stuart’s behalf and believes he may have solved the mystery.
So, when I saw a Bygones article about Stuart Wilby’s mystery teapot I was intrigued and think I may have a possible answer.
The teapot first featured in the Evening Telegraph as a “mystery item” at the time it was originally auctioned in 2006. Curiosity duly aroused, I secured, via a contact, some further information from the auctioneer.
He said the piece was put up for sale by someone whose footballer relative had been awarded it by his club. All he could remember about the footballer was that he played for Vale of Leven in Scotland in the Victorian era and moved from there direct to Derby County.
Investigation of the DCFC record books produced only one player that fitted the bill – he was the inside-forward James “Jimmy” McLachlan. Born around 1870 in Glasgow, he played for Vale of Leven in the late 1880s and transferred from there to Derby County in the 1890-91 season.
He stayed with Derby until September 1893 when he transferred to Notts County. He then rejoined the Rams in September 1894, before moving to another Derbyshire club, Ilkeston Town, in May 1895. He had, by then, played 66 games for Derby County and scored 17 goals.
Now to the teapot. As a “domestic item”, it did seem rather an unusual thing to award to a team as a trophy. Also the date on it was pre-season, not a time when competitions were generally held.
But the precise date is more significant still. July 5, 1891, was a Sunday. At that time, it would be unthinkable for a raucous football match or other sporting contest to be played on the Lord’s Day – so the idea of the teapot being a trophy seems a non-starter.
On the 1891 Census taken on the night of April 5, James McLachlan appears, aged 21 and single, a professional footballer, lodging at 181 Nottingham Road, Derby. Might he then have got married in July of that year?
Following that hunch, I looked up the online marriage records for 1891. Lo and behold, registered in the September Quarter for 1891 – that covers marriages for July, August and September – was the marriage of James McLachlan in Derby.
Based on this coincidence, I believe there is a very strong chance that Stuart’s teapot was a wedding gift from Derby County to their player Jimmy McLachlan.
Obtaining the wedding certificate would be the only way to prove it but it would not surprise me at all if the date recorded on it was July 5, 1891.
If it isn’t, then the mystery continues, but I hope this might provide a lead that is worth pursuing.
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