Club History
Club History
Despite very incomplete records of their earliest days, it is known that a nomadic Bank of England Rugby team, Captained by Ernest Harvey (later to become Sir Ernest Harvey, Chief Cashier and the first Deputy Governor from BoE staff ranks) was in existence between 1886 and 1890. The Bank of England played occasional matches against Croydon, Upper Clapton and Wasps among others. Although a few annual fixtures were contested against teams like the RNC Greenwich and the London and Westminster Bank, even these were terminated in the early ‘90s when the Club found it impossible to find a ground upon which to play their home matches.
It wasn’t until A.E.S. ‘Dick’ Curtis proposed the formation of a BoE Sports Club in 1905 that the idea of a ‘proper’ Rugby Club was seriously considered. Curtis, together with one of the BoE Court of Directors, Mr. W. Douro Hoare, obtained the signatures of over 250 prospective Members. Things moved quickly, and by 1908 the Club was up and running. The present ground at Roehampton was aquired, a pavilion built, and pitches for Rugby football, Association football and cricket were all layed out (these were soon to be followed by Athletics, Tennis and Hockey facilities). | |
The Rugby division were able to run two XVs from the outset and playing standards were high. Many of the Members played County Rugby, and one, H.C. Mitchell, even had the honour of playing for London Counties against the touring South Africans in 1912.
All play ceased for the duration of the Great War and 280 Club Members joined the forces. When the Club eventually re-formed in 1919 it would be without the 42 Playing Members lost in action. The Club were quickly back to top form despite these losses, and the 1920-21 season brought with it the BoE RFCs best-ever results (their record read: P.27, W.21, D1, L.5) under the able leadership of pre-war players E.J. ‘Babe’ Reynolds and Vice-Captain H.M. ‘Stairs’ Bannister. The fixture list now included some of the best Clubs in London including Blackheath, Catford Bridge, Saracens, Sidcup, Steatham and Upper Clapton. 1921 also saw the 1st XV play abroad for the first time when the Club took on the Bank of France in Paris, winning 25-11.
| The ‘20s were the first BoE RFC ‘Golden Era’ and six XVs were being fielded by 1924. The 1926-27 season saw the BoE Rugby Section’s best ever results. The combined record of the six Bank XVs was: P. 134, L.34. During the course of this outstanding season the BoE 1st XV, led by the talented Surrey County full-back E.W. Geipel, beat Bedford, United Services, RNC Greenwich, the Royal Military Academy and Wasps (twice).
The ‘30s brought a slight drop in standards due to retirements and injuries. On the up side, 1935 did bring with it the first of many hugely popular BoE RFC Easter Tours – Sussex being the first destination. The Club were once again ‘on the up’ in the last full season before World War Two, however, with highly encouraging results throughout the six Bank XVs and a record number of Members (playing 429, non-playing 688). |
Despite the sad loss of 21 Members to the war (and the Roehampton pavilion to incendiary bombs) the Club restarted in 1947 with four XVs.
The late ‘40s saw mixed results, not helped by the fact that perhaps the Clubs best-ever player, Brian Edwards (right), left to play for Blackheath. Edwards, following in H.C. Mitchell’s illustrious footsteps of 35 years earlier, was picked to play for the London team – this time against the touring Wallabies. Edwards was also picked for England as a reserve, but unfortunately didn’t get on to the field. Even though he returned to play for the Bank again in 1951, results throughout the rest of the ’50s were poor, again mainly due to retirements and injuries.
After some very lean times (only four games were won in the whole of the 1958-59 season) the corner was well and truly turned in the mid-’60s. Under the astute leadership of H.C.E. Harris the 1st XV of 1963-64 and 1964-65 put together the Banks best-ever run of results. Their record reads: P.61, W.54, D.1, L.6. They scored 1016 points in the process (including no fewer than 248 tries), and had only 292 points scored against them. |
B.P. Edwards (c. 1950) |
The 1970s brought another dip in fortunes, however, and the Bank were having great difficulty fielding three XVs. Some enthusiasm was put back into the Club when, in 1973, the Bank undertook their first tour of the United States – basing themselves in Washington. So popular was it that another successful American tour was undertaken in 1979 – this time to California.
 | Even though some talented Bank empoyees still occasionally came through to play for the Club in the mid-’80s (including Chris Oti, a young Cambridge graduate who later found fame with the Lions and England) the Bank just couldn’t compete anymore against the semi-professionalism of the big sides. Having already lost most of their better fixtures against the bigger London-based Clubs, it was no surprise to find themselves placed near the bottom of the pyramid in Middlesex 4 when League Rugby was introduced in the 1987-88 season.
Since those days this proud but friendly Club has experienced a resurgence. Not only have they climbed up to near the top of the London Leagues, but in 2000 they also battled through to their first ever Twickenham Final.
The nickname of the Club is ‘The House’. In their own words: ‘...it conveys the idea of a family or a community with strong ties of blood or business...’ – exactly the ethos that is putting them back near the top again.
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The Bank of England RFC history is taken from 'London's Oldest Rugby Clubs' authored by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . The book features the history of London's 50 oldest rugby clubs and is due out in late November, 2007.
