Clarence F.C. (England) should not be confused with Clarence F.C..
| Clubname: | Clarence |
| Fullname: | Clarence Football Club |
| Founded: | 1876 |
| Dissolved: | 1883 |
| Ground: | Battersea Park[1] |
| Mgrtitle: | Secretary |
| Manager: | Henry Morton-Carr |
| Pattern La1: | _thinbluehoops |
| Pattern B1: | _thinbluehoops |
| Pattern Ra1: | _thinbluehoops |
| Pattern So1: | _hoops_black |
| Leftarm1: | 000000 |
| Body1: | 000000 |
| Rightarm1: | 000000 |
| Shorts1: | 000000 |
| Socks1: | 1F75FE |
Clarence, sometimes referred to as The Clarence, was an English association football club from Battersea.
The club was founded in 1876 by Henry Morton-Carr, an Old Carthusian who later founded the Belgrave Harriers Athletic Club.[2] The club took its name from a hotel in Winstanley Road, near to Battersea Park. It was not an aristocratic club - goalkeeper Thomas Bockmaster was a stonemason,[3] and Cup goalscorer Thomas Wilmshurst a schoolteacher.[4]
The club's first recorded match was a 1–0 win at home to Trojans in 1876.[5] For its first three seasons, the club played mostly low-key matches, many of which were not reported. In 1879–80 the club entered the FA Cup for the first time, but lost 5–2 at Pilgrims F.C. in the first round; Clarence had gone 2–0 behind and pulled it back to 2–2 within the first fifreen minutes, but the second half was dominated by Pilgrims.[6] The following season, the club lost 6–0 at Marlow in the first round, having turned up to the match with only ten men,[7] and seems to have ceased operations soon afterwards; four of its players joined Morton Rangers for 1881–82 and the club was not a member of the London Football Association on the latter's foundation in 1882. Its last record is as being listed as a member of the Football Association in 1883.[8]
The club is not related to another Clarence football club, founded in 1875 as the works side for Maple & Co., which played in an all-black kit out of Willesden Green.[9]
The club played in blue with red stripes in 1876–77,[10] and changed the following season to blue and black.[11]
The club played at Battersea Park, and used The Crown on York Road for facilities.[12]