Edward Christian (footballer)
{{Short description|English footballer (1858–1934)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Edward Christian
| image =
| caption =
| fullname =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1858|9|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Malvern, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1934|4|3|1858|9|14|df=y}}
| height =
| position = Full back
| years1 =
| clubs1 = Old Etonians
| caps1 =
| goals1 =
| nationalyears1 = 1879
| nationalteam1 = England
| nationalcaps1 = 1
| nationalgoals1 = 0
}}
Edward Christian (14 September 1858 – 3 April 1934){{cite web|title=Edward Christian |url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrsBios/PlayersC/BioChristianE.html |publisher=englandfootballonline |accessdate=21 February 2011}} was an English amateur footballer who earned one cap for the national team against Scotland in 1879.{{Englandstats|ref=y}} He played in the full back position.
He was on the winning side for Old Etonians against Clapham Rovers in the 1879 FA Cup Final at Kennington Oval.
Early life and education
Christian was born at Malvern, Worcestershire and educated at Twyford School, near Winchester, Hampshire, Eton College, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1881.{{cite book|last=Warsop|first=Keith|title=The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs|year=2004|publisher=Tony Brown, Soccer Data|page=69|isbn=1-899468-78-1}}
Football and Other Sports
Christian was a full-back, praised by C.W. Alcock as "a fine back kicking well with either foot". He had played for Eton and Cambridge University (but never in Varsity matches which would have qualified him as a 'Blue'). In addition to the F.A. Cup competition of 1878–79, he played in the following season of 1879–80, only to find himself on the losing side against Clapham Rovers in the quarter final, again at the Oval. His playing career was short lived because of his early business career abroad.
He also played cricket and was a member of the M.C.C. While abroad he was a prominent member of the Colombo Jockey Club.
Business career
Family and later life
Christian settled at Otterbourne House, in the village of Otterbourne where he was lord of the manor, near Winchester. He was a frequent prize-winner at local agricultural shows. He was still living at Otterbourne when he died at Wimpole Street, Marylebone, London, on 3 April 1934, aged seventy-five. He had made a considerable fortune in Ceylon and left an estate worth £240,665.