Charles Bousfield Huleatt (1863 – 28 December 1908) also known under thepseudonym ofCaulifield, was anAnglicanpriest born inFolkestone, England. He discovered theMagdalen papyrus and was also an early footballplayer-manager ofMessina Football Club.
Huleatt travelled as amissionary and, while inLuxor, Egypt, discovered three scraps ofpapyrus which he considered "very important".[1] He gave these to his old college,Magdalen College, Oxford, after which it is now known as theMagdalen papyrus. The papyrus was dated by consensus asc. AD 200, however, some date it as early as AD 68; in either case making it the oldest copy of any part of theGospel of Matthew.[2]
When illustrated fragments were published byColin Henderson Roberts in the 1950s, years after the reverend's death, they were described as "an early predecessor of the so-called 'BiblicalUncial'". The papyrus is now the most widely discussed fragment of theNew Testament in the world.
The papyrus is currently in print in the form of a book titled;The Jesus Papyrus.[3] Commenting on the book,Richard N. Ostling inTime magazine stated of it: "New Testament scholarship may be revolutionized by three old scraps of papyrus no bigger than postage stamps."[4]
Huleatt left Egypt forMessina, Sicily, in 1901 and became involved withMessina Football Club, sometimes using the name "Caulfield" very early on.[5] In 1902 he took over from F. L. Padgett to become only the second ever manager of Messina Football Club; he was also known tocaptain the team on the field, playing in matches.[6] For his first three seasons with the club, Messina played only in local games; primarily inSicilian derby matches againstPalermo.
Then in 1904, Huleatt along with Messina played in theWhitaker Challenge Cup. Messina beat Palermo 3–2, and in the process won their first ever trophy.[7] They won it again the following year, this time 2–1.[8] His last ever game was on 20 December 1908 against Palermo, Messina won this clash 3–0.
The1908 Messina earthquake ravagedMessina, Italy, killing around 60,000 people; one of whom was Huleatt who was in his 40s at the time, along with his entire family under the ruins of their house. Messina was in chaos at that time, and it took the men of theLancashirecruiser (made up of English sailors) four days to find them from under the rubble.
