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Introducing the Dulwich Hamlet History Group

Dulwich Hamlet has always been fortunate in having a group of supporters who not only follow the fortunes of the club on the pitch avidly at home and on away trips but we also have a good number of fans who have a great interest in the history and heritage of this great club and who are always on the lookout for information pertaining to our past and to share this amongst the wider fan base.

It almost goes without saying that an early initiative – the Hamlet Historian – was the brainchild of the late Mishi Morath, who began writing the Hamlet Historian in magazine form in the 1990s, which was later taken on by Jack McInroy both as a magazine and also as a regular blog. Jack, along with Roger Deason and Steve Hunnisett has also produced many booklets on various aspects of the club’s history, such as Jack’s superb works on Hussein Hegazi, “Dulwich Hamlet’s Egyptian King” and Niilo Tammisalo, the latter work in conjunction with Finnish football writer Harri Laine. Roger has written about the club’s First World War history in some depth in two works, “When Shall Their Glory Fade?” and “Quite Wrong To Do So”, as well as some interesting diversions on Hamlet’s near neighbours Southern United and also “Before the Hamlet”, a history of football in Dulwich from the 1870s to the 1890s, which provides useful insight behind other local clubs prior to the formation of the Hamlet in 1893. Steve has brought the wartime history as up to date as possible in his work “For Freedom” about the Club’s Second World War fallen and has also discovered some further players inexplicably omitted from the Club’s war memorial, who have been covered in a Hamlet Historian magazine and also on his own website.

All of these works, whilst having the tacit support of the Club, have essentially been works of private enterprise, with any proceeds from the booklets either going to support the Hamlet Historian magazine or the erstwhile Twelfth Man initiative. Many other supporters and interested parties have supported these enterprises and happily shared research, most notably Ian Colley and Michael Walker, as well as the Football and War Network, a project established by Dr Alex Alexandrou of the University of Wolverhampton which brings together football club historians and military historians with an interest in the game who discuss and disseminate various aspects of the history of football in connection with wartime history.

Now though, exciting news is at hand, with the Club setting up an official History Group, formed from likeminded supporters, who will continue their works but now with the official backing of the Club.

After the life-changing illness to John Lawrence and following approaches from the club to Al Crane, Roger Deason, Steve Hunnisett, Ian Kemp, Richard Watts and Michael Wagg, these supporters have accepted the invitation to become founder members of this group. These supporters all have different areas of knowledge covering both Men’s and Women’s teams and can easily combine their efforts to produce articles for match-day programmes, ensure that important anniversaries are suitably recognised and celebrated, as well as coming up with new initiatives to keep the history and heritage of the club at the forefront for supporters old and new to enjoy.

An early idea which the History Group is eager to push, is the establishment of a “Hall of Fame” to recognise and commemorate significant people from the Club’s past, whether they be players, administrators or perhaps both. Five people will be added each season and nominations can be accepted from anyone who supports, or has an interest in the history of Dulwich Hamlet FC.

The group has established certain criteria for qualification into the Hall of Fame, perhaps most importantly that each individual proposed for membership must have left the club at least five years previously, thus hopefully ensuring that only those who have made a truly memorable contribution to the Club are recognised. We have set the ball rolling for the 2024/25 by nominating five important figures from the Club’s formative years but going forward, we will be establishing a nomination process for next season and beyond.

THEY WORE THE PINK & BLUE: REG ANDERSON & BILL PARR

What was to prove a tragic fortnight for Dulwich Hamlet FC began on February 24th 1942, when news arrived that Reg Anderson one of the club’s brightest young stars - had failed to return from a mission whilst serving in the RAF. His death at the youthful age of 25, was confirmed shortly after. Hamlet had sadly lost an integral player from their successful team of the immediate pre-war years.

REG ANDERSON

A local lad, Reg was born in Peckham in 1916 and lived on Woodwarde Road - just a stone’s throw from the location of Dulwich's home ground until 1895. He first came to the attention of Hamlet scouts playing for Wilson’s Grammar School in Camberwell. However, it was whilst playing for his 'old boys’ team - Old Wilsonians - that Dulwich really began to take notice, Anderson's 27 goals in 1933/34 prompting a move to Champion Hill that summer.

Once with Hamlet, he made steady progress and a First Team debut arrived in late 1936. A clever inside-right with an eye for goal, he soon became a fan favourite and by the outbreak of war in 1939 he was club vice-captain, having already been part of the 1937 side that lifted both the FA Amateur Cup and the Surrey Senior Cup. Selected for England's Amateur XI, he was to make three international appearances before war was declared.

It was perhaps on the back of scoring a hat-trick playing alongside Hamlet teammate Bill Parr in one of these - an 8-2 victory over Wales at Rhyl in 1938 - that Reg moved to Third Division Cardiff City. He played a handful of times for the Bluebirds as an amateur in the Football League, before deciding to return to Dulwich in time for the start of, what was to prove to be, the abortive 1939/40 season.

Like many of his Hamlet teammates of the time, Reg volunteered to serve in the RAF. On completion of his training as an Observer (Navigator) he was promoted to sergeant and posted to Bomber Command, where he would form part of the crew for a twin-engine Hampden bomber. It was whilst serving with 106 Squadron at Coningsby, on just his fifth mission, that Reg’s aircraft was shot down in the Heligoland Bight area, with the loss of the entire four-man crew.

Their remains are buried in Kiel War Cemetery. Reg had been chosen to represent the RAF in a match against Belgium at Wolves' Molyneux ground the following Saturday, and it is poignant to think that perhaps one of the last things he did before leaving for that fateful mission, may have been to sort out his kit in preparation for a match in which he would never get to play.

BILL PARR

The club had barely recovered from the shock at the loss of Reg Anderson when, on March 8th 1942, came further tragic news. Bill Parr (pictured above), another mainstay of the club’s immediate pre-war successes had lost his life, aged 26, in a training flight accident. Unlike Reg, Bill wasn’t a local lad.

Originally hailing from Blackpool, he had already started to establish himself as a player having made 18 appearances for his home town club as an amateur, before a change of job led to him moving to south London in early 1939. Bill was already an established England Amateur international by this time, making a total of 12 appearances for his country at that level.

An outside-right, he quickly formed a rapport with Reg Anderson and it is thought that a desire to continue this partnership at club level led him to sign for the Hamlet, rather than Brentford or Spurs as had been rumoured at the time. The partnership bore early fruit at the end of the 1938/39 season when Dulwich beat Erith & Belvedere 3-0 in the London Senior Cup Final at The Den in front of 18,000 spectators. Both men featured strongly in the game. But it's possible that Bill had realised that playing at this level was perhaps less of challenging than he needed, as in May 1939 it was announced that he would be joining north London giants Arsenal as an amateur for the 1939/40 season.

The new season dawned with it being far from clear which club Bill would play for.While he featured in Dulwich's handbook for the aborted 1939/40 season, he also turned out for Arsenal and, to confuse matters further, would appear as a guest for Wealdstone during wartime football. On the outbreak of war, Bill had also volunteered to serve as aircrew and trained as a pilot on multi-engine aircraft. On completion of his training, he was posted to Coastal Command in order to fly maritime patrols against U-Boats in the Western Approaches.

Sadly, Bill would never fly an operational mission. On the night of March 8th 1942, the Hudson bomber that he was piloting suffered a catastrophic engine failure shortly after taking off from RAF St Eval in Cornwall. The aircraft crashed whilst attempting an emergency landing at nearby St Merryn and immediately burst into flames with the loss of all three men on board. Ironically, Bill had written a letter to his mother in Blackpool on what proved to be the day of the accident in which he confided to her that “It’s a great life.”

Whether these two players, especially perhaps Bill who seemed destined to play at a higher level, would have continued playing for Dulwich after the war had they survived, is open to speculation. But their loss, within just a fortnight of each other, was a devastating blow to the club’s morale from which it took a considerable time to recover.

With thanks to Steve Hunnisett and the Dulwich Hamlet FC History Group