Max Woosnam
A Great British Sporting All-Rounder By Margaret Brecknell to make the Cambridge XI for the allimportant Varsity cricket match, for which the “Blue” was awarded. Whilst still at university, Woosnam, a talented defender, occasionally turned out for Chelsea, but played on a more regular basis for Corinthians FC. Despite consisting entirely of amateurs, the Corinthians were a leading light in the game during the 1890s and early 1900s. The club was also among the very first to travel abroad, touring all over Europe as well as North and South America and South Africa.
Above: Woosnam (far right) with other members of 1924 GB Olympic tennis team
The name of Liverpool-born Max Woosnam is little known to modern sports fans. Yet such was his all-round sporting prowess during the early part of the 20th century that he has been labelled by some as the greatest British sportsman of all time.
M
axwell Woosnam, the son of a clergyman, was born 130 years ago in September 1892. His parents were living at the time in Grassendale Park, an upmarket residential suburb of Liverpool, but the Woosnams originated from Builth Wells in mid-Wales, where the family estate, Cefnllysgwynne, was situated. Woosnam’s career as a sportsman began at Winchester College, where he captained the golf and cricket 170
teams, as well as representing the school at football and rackets. His maternal uncle, Hylton Philipson, was a wicketkeeper of some note, who had played Test cricket for England during the 1890s, and the young Woosnam showed a similar aptitude for the summer sport. In its review of the 1911 season, the cricketing bible, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack, described him as one of the school players of the year. This followed an impressive batting display for a Public Schools XI against MCC when he scored a century at the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground. He continued his education at Cambridge University and became one of the few people to win a coveted “Blue” in four different sports, namely football, golf, lawn tennis and real tennis. Perhaps, surprisingly, cricket is not on the list, as Woosnam failed
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Woosnam was a member of the Corinthians squad that set sail from Southampton for Brazil in the summer of 1913. He played several games during the tour and made quite a name for himself. The following summer, Woosnam returned with the Corinthians to Brazil. Having made the long journey by boat from Southampton, the team arrived in South America only to be told the news that war had broken out in Europe. The players set off home for England within the day and endured a hazardous journey home, dodging German U-boats along the way. Like all but one member of that squad, Woosnam never played for the Corinthians again, although he was more fortunate than many of his teammates who lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe during World War I. He himself served with distinction as an officer with the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Following the end of the war, Woosnam, now a married man with two young children, moved to Altrincham and started work for Manchester-based engineering firm, www.lancmag.com
