| Full name | Chesham Generals Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname | the Generals | |
| Founded | 1887 | |
| Dissolved | 1917 | |
| Ground | Bellingdon Road | |
| President | Sir Arthur Liberty | |
Chesham Generals Football Club was anEnglishfootball club fromChesham,Buckinghamshire.
The club was founded in 1887 by the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Class of the General Baptist Chapel (at Broadway Baptist Church in Chesham), originally as a cricket and football club,[1] the football side being known as theChesham General Baptist Football Club.[2] In 1890 it adopted the shorterChesham Generals name and opened up its membership to those outside the church.[3] Unlike its cross-town rivalChesham Town, the Generals remained resolutely amateur.[4]
The club's first honour was winning theBerks & Bucks Senior Cup in 1900–01, beating surprise finalistsStantonbury St James in the final atMaidenhead. The Saints had won the Junior Cup the previous season and were not given a chance in the Senior, but startled the Generals by taking the lead inside three minutes. The shock did not last long as goals from Fred Pheby, Tom White, and a suspiciously offside Reynolds put the Generals 3–1 up at the break, and further goals from Redding and Pheby secured the title.[5]
The Generals also reached the final in 1904–05, atLoakes Park, but it conceded two goals in ten minutes toReading Amateur, and went down 3–2.[6]
It was a regular entrant to theFA Cup andFA Amateur Cup qualifying rounds in the pre-First World War period. The Generals reached the fourth qualifying round (equivalent of the first round today) of the former in1900–01 and1902–03, but its best run in the Amateur Cup was as far as the last 8 in 1897–98. At that stage it lost 4–2 to theOld Malvernians.[7]
The club's first league football came in 1898, in the Bucks and Contiguous League; the club left for theLondon Football League in 1900, but, after the fixture lists were arranged, the other clubs in the League had a change of heart, and voted the Generals back out - although they did fulfil most of the fixtures. In 1901–02 the club was a founder member of theSouth-Eastern League, in which it remained until 1908–09, continuously with playing in theBucks League, winning the latter in 1902–03 and 1903–04.[8] In 1909–10, the club joined the higher statusSpartan League, and although it finished bottom in its first season, it won the title in 1913–14,[9] one of a trio of trophies won in the season (alongside the Bucks Charity and Chesham Charity Cups).
In1917 the club merged with Chesham Town to formChesham United,[10] which is still in existence. The £104 of club assets which remained after the merger was handed to Chesham Hospital.[11]
The club wore blue and white striped shirts,[12][13] black shorts, and black socks with white trim.[14]
The club had a nomadic existence in its early days, originally playing at Top Park, and then spending two seasons at Portobello Farm, before moving to Bellingdon Road, and in 1892 left for the New Town Ground,[15] on the Brockhurst Estate, alongside Berkhamsted Road; however in 1912 the ground was sold off for housing,[16] and the club pre-empted homelessness by moving back to Bellingdon Road beforehand.[17]
