Colonel Charles Blair Mayne (15 October 1855 – 17 October 1914) was an association footballer and British Army officer who played in the 1878 FA Cup final.

Charles Mayne
Personal information
Full name Charles Blair Mayne
Date of birth (1855-10-15)15 October 1855
Place of birth Madras, British India
Date of death 17 October 1914(1914-10-17) (aged 59)
Place of death Camberley, Surrey, England
Position(s) Half-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1875–84 Royal Engineers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

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Mayne was born in Madras, British India, in 1855, the son of Jasper and Amelia Mayne.[1]

He passed the examinations for the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1873, scoring the 12th highest mark - his future football team-mate Charles Haynes scored the 3rd highest.[2]

Football career

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He joined the Royal Engineers, which had one of the strongest football teams at the time, and made his debut for the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in a 7–0 win over Barnes at the Chatham Lines in October 1875; the match was played 10-a-side.[3]

He was mostly a reserve player for his first two seasons of football, and did not play competitively until the 2nd round of the 1877–78 FA Cup, in a 5–0 win over Pilgrims.[4] He had generally played as a forward, but in the third round tie against the Druids, he had a one-off appearance in goal.[5] He had little to do as the Sappers had an easy 8–0 win, and in his next appearance - the quarter-final replay with Oxford University – he played as half-back, scoring the Sappers' equalizer in a 2–2 draw after the ball came out of a scrimmage.[6]

He retained the position for the remaining Cup games, and scored the winner in the semi-final against the Old Harrovians with a "well-directed kick".[7] He was considered one of the Sappers' better players in the final against the Wanderers,[8] but ended up on the losing side, the Wanderers winning 3–1.

His posting abroad prevented him from playing in any more competitive matches until 1882–83, and he featured as half-back (alongside Richard Ruck) in the Sappers' 3–1 win over Woodford Bridge for his only Cup match that season.[9] His final recorded match was as a full-back in the Sappers' final FA Cup tie, at Great Marlow in November 1884, which, in an indication of how football had moved on, ended 10–1 to the home side.[10]

Army career

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He took part in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878–80. After his active service was over, he became an army instructor; originally at the School of Military Engineering, and then becoming a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada in 1886,[11] before returning to England to be the Assistant Inspector-General of Fortifications.[12] He returned to India from 1897[13] to 1899.[14]

He also undertook duties as a lay preacher,[15] and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1907.[16] He was an authority on field artillery, writing books such as Infantry Fire Tactics and Infantry Weapons And Their Use In War.[17]

Personal life

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He married Victoria Moore in Frontenac, Ontario, Canada, on 6 April 1893.[18]

Mayne died on 17 October 1914, in Camberley, Surrey, leaving his estate to his widow.[19] The couple had two sons, both of whom were killed in the First World War; Jasper Mayne (of the Royal Field Artillery) in March 1915 and Victor Charles Moore Mayne (of the South Wales Borderers) in February 1916.[20] Their daughter Grace however lived until 1991.[21]

References

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  1. ^ India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947, volume 35. Vepery, Madras: India Select Births. 25 November 1855. p. 184.
  2. ^ "Royal Military Academy". Morning Post: 3. 13 June 1873.
  3. ^ "Royal Engineers v Barnes". Sportsman: 4. 27 October 1875.
  4. ^ "Royal Engineers v Pilgrims". Sportsman: 4. 10 December 1877.
  5. ^ "Royal Engineers v Druids". Bell's Life: 4. 2 February 1878.
  6. ^ "Oxford University v Royal Engineers". Bell's Life: 4. 2 March 1878.
  7. ^ "Royal Engineers v Old Harrovians". Sportsman: 3. 18 March 1878.
  8. ^ "Football Association Cup Final Tie". Referee: 6. 25 March 1878.
  9. ^ "Royal Engineers v Woodford Bridge". Field: 620. 28 October 1882.
  10. ^ "Great Marlow v Royal Engineers". Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette: 7. 15 November 1884.
  11. ^ "The Army". Belfast News-Letter: 7. 15 September 1886.
  12. ^ "Notices". Gloucestershire Echo: 1. 20 October 1914.
  13. ^ "Men and matters". Globe: 4. 10 September 1897.
  14. ^ "Military Works Department". Homeward Mail from India: 5. 22 August 1898.
  15. ^ "The Church and social duty". Maidenhead Advertiser: 3. 28 May 1913.
  16. ^ "The Services". Cheltenham Looker-On: 14. 16 February 1907.
  17. ^ "Recently published". Army and Navy Gazette: 12. 5 March 1904.
  18. ^ Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 78
  19. ^ Calendar of the Grants of Probate L.M.N.O.P. Claremont: HMSO. 1914. p. 155.
  20. ^ "France and Flanders". Western Morning News: 3. 28 February 1916.
  21. ^ Under her married name of Bradley: National Probate Calendar. HMSO. 1991. p. 954.