Pelham von Donop

Lieutenant-Colonel Pelham George von Donop (28 April 1851 - 7 November 1921) was an officer in the Royal Engineers and later Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways. He represented the Royal Engineers at association football, appearing in two FA Cup Finals, and made two appearances for England.

Career

Early life

Von Donop was born in Southsea, Hampshire,Citation
title = Player Report: Pelham George von Donop
year = 2008
url = http://www.englandstats.com/playerreport.php?pid=998
accessdate = 2008-01-11] the eldest of four sons (and three daughters) of Commander (later Vice-Admiral) Edward Pelham Brenton von Donop, RN. [Citation
last =
first =
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = British Upheld by German Court
newspaper = New York Times
pages =
year =
date = 1917-05-26
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00EED8123AE433A25755C2A9639C946696D6CF] He was educated at Royal Somersetshire College, Bath, before entering the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1869. [Citation
title = Royal Military College
newspaper = The Times
date = 1869-07-26] He represented the academy in the annual cricket match against Sandhurst at Lord's on 23–24 May 1870 [Citation
title = Cricket: Woolwich v Sandhurst
newspaper = The Times
date = 1870-05-25] and played against the MCC at Lord's a year later. [Citation
title = Cricket: Marylebone Club v Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
newspaper = The Times
date = 1871-05-26] He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 15 December 1871 and the following April was posted to the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Kent. Von Donop continued playing cricket while serving with the Royal Engineers: in one match, against the Harlequins at Chatham in June 1884 he scored 91 runs out of his side's total of 224. [Citation
title = Cricket: Royal Engineers v Harlequins
newspaper = The Times
date = 1884-06-30]

Football career

As well as playing cricket, von Donop was soon selected to represent his regiment at football, [Citation
last = Betts
year = 2006
page = 247] and was in the Royal Engineers' team which reached the 1874 FA Cup Final. In the final, at Kennington Oval on 14 March 1874, von Donop played at inside left. The Engineers lost 2–0 to Oxford University. [Citation
last = Gibbons
year = 2001
pages=41 42] The following year, the Engineers defeated Oxford University in the semi-final to set up a second consecutive appearance in the final, this time against the Old Etonians. The final was played at Kennington Oval on 13 March, with von Donop now playing at centre half for the Engineers. The game ended in a goal-less draw. In the replay, at the same venue on 16 March, the Engineers won 2–0. [Citation
last = ibid
pages=44 45]

Von Donop also gained two caps for England in friendly matches against Scotland. He made his international debut on 8 March 1873, in the second official match played between the two countries, which England won 4–2. Von Donop, playing in the centre of the defence, was described as a "stalwart of the Royal Engineers team". [Citation
last = ibid
pages=37 38] He made his second international appearance two years later, on 6 March 1875, in a 2–2 draw.

Von Donop continued to represent the Royal Engineers until he was in his mid-30s: in November 1886, he scored three goals in a game against the Royal Military Academy [Citation
title = Football: Royal Engineers v Royal Military academy, Woolwich
newspaper = The Times
date = 1886-11-19]

Later career

Von Donop was promoted to Captain in December 1883. In September 1884, as a member of the Royal Engineers' 8th Railway Corps Company, he was posted to Egypt to take part in the Nile Expedition. While in Sudan, his Company constructed 87⅓ miles of railway track, from Sarras to Akasha, to facilitate the transport of provisions and stores to and from the fighting front. He returned from Egypt in June 1886. [Citation
title = The Royal Engineers
newspaper = The Times
date = 1886-06-16] Between January 1889 and February 1894, he served as Inspector of Submarine Defences at Bombay, India, [Citation
title = Naval and Military Intelligence
newspaper = The Times
date = 1889-01-03] [Citation
title = Naval and Military Intelligence
newspaper = The Times
date = 1894-02-06] where, on 15 March 1890, he married Ethel Farran Orr, the daughter of a Bombay barrister. [Citation
title = Marriages
newspaper = The Times
date = 1890-04-16] He was promoted to Major in May 1890 [Citation
title = From the London Gazette
newspaper = The Times
date = 1890-05-10] and to Lieutenant-Colonel in December 1897. [Citation
title = From the London Gazette
newspaper = The Times
date = 1897-12-15]

He continued to play cricket at club level and in January 1890 he made two appearances for G F Vernon's XI in matches against local sides at the Gymkhana Ground, Bombay. [citeweb|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/251/251027/Other_matches.html| publisher = cricketarchive.com|title=Other matches played by Von Donop|accessdate=January 23|accessyear=2008] In 1899, von Donop left the Royal Engineers to become an Inspecting Officer of Railways for the Board of Trade's Railway Inspectorate. He was promoted to Chief Inspecting Officer in July 1913 and held that position until his retirement in 1916. During his time with the Board of Trade he investigated numerous railway accidents, such as those at Witham, Essex in 1905 [Citation
title = The Witham Railway Accident
newspaper = The Times
date = 1905-12-05] and at Ilford,Essex, in 1915, [Citation
title = Ilford Collision Inquiry
newspaper = The Times
date = 1915-01-05] and also carried out safety inspections of tram services, such as that at Warrington, Lancashire. He died on 7 November 1921 and is buried in Mortlake. [Citation
title = Funeral of Colonel von Donop
newspaper = The Times
date = 1921-11-11]

Von Donop acted as godfather to the writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was named Pelham in his honour. [Citation
last = Phelps
page = 37
year = 1992 ] His youngest brother Stanley served in the Royal Artillery, achieved public recognition when he led a column during the Second Boer War, served as Master-General of the Ordnance and as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and ended his career as Major-General Sir Stanley von Donop KCB KCMG. [Citation
title = Maj-Gen Sir Stanley von Donop
newspaper = The Times
date = 1941-10-18]

porting honours

;Royal Engineers
*FA Cup Final winner: 1875
*FA Cup Final finalist: 1874

External links

*Englandstats|id=998|name=Pelham von Donop
* [http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php?id=1005 England football career]

References

Citation
last = Betts
first = Graham
title = England: Player by player
place =
publisher = Green Umbrella Publishing
year = 2006
isbn = 1-905009-63-1

Citation
last = Gibbons
first = Philip
title = Association Football in Victorian England: A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900
place = London
publisher = Upfront Publishing
year = 2001
isbn = 1-84426-035-6

Citation
last = Phelps
first = Barry
title = P G Wodehouse: Man and Myth
place = London
publisher = Constable
year = 1992
isbn = 0-09-471620-X

Footnotes