George Cotterill George Huth Cotterill ( 4 April 1868 – 11 October 1950 ) was an English amateur footballer who made four appearances for England as a forward in the 1890s , captaining the side on his last two appearances . Career . Education . Cotterill was born in Brighton , Sussex and was educated at Brighton College where he first showed his all - round athletic ability . He began his football career with the college in 1882 and was appointed team captain two years later , retaining this position for three years before going up to Trinity College , Cambridge in 1887 . At Cambridge University , he was awarded his football blue in each of the years from 1888 to 1891 ( including being captain in 1890 ) . Corinthians and England . He first played for Corinthian aged 18 in 1886 , making his debut against Derby County on 6 November 1886 , when he scored in a 3 – 2 victory . His appearances were infrequent until 1888 – 89 , when he made six appearances , scoring three times including two against Preston North End on 9 March 1889 . He also put two goals past Sheffield United on 6 January 1890 . His performances for both Corinthians and Cambridge University ultimately led to a call - up to the England team . He made his international debut against Ireland on 7 March 1891 , while still at Cambridge University . For the second year running , England played both Wales and Ireland on the same day , and , for the match against Ireland played at Molineux , Wolverhampton , England selected a predominantly Midlands based team , with five players making their debut . Cotterill played at inside right and was amongst the scorers as England , who were " too skilfull for the Irish " won 6 – 1 . This match was Tinsley Lindley ' s final appearance for England , and he marked the occasion with two goals . On 19 December 1891 , Cotterill played for England in an " unofficial " match against Canada , when he scored in a 6 – 1 victory . Fellow Corinthian , C . B . Fry also played for England in this match . During the 1891 – 92 season , Cotterill made six appearances for Corinthian scoring seven goals including a hat trick in a 4 – 4 draw with West Bromwich Albion on 20 February 1892 . On 5 March 1892 , England again played simultaneous matches against Wales and Ireland . This time , Cotterill was selected as part of a predominately amateur team ( most of the players were members of the Corinthian club ) to play against Wales at the Racecourse Ground , Wrexham , and was one of only three players in the side who had previous international experience . England were " a little too skilful for the Welsh " and ran out 2 – 0 winners with goals from Arthur Henfrey and Rupert Sandilands . In April 1892 , Corinthians played a multi - sport tournament against the Barbarian s rugby club . Cotterill played at inside right in the soccer match which Corinthian won 6 – 0 , with Tinsley Lindley scoring a hat - trick . Cotterill also played in the rugby match , which Corinthian won 16 – 13 , although the match was not a very serious encounter and was described by The Times newspaper as " a very amusing game " . The rugby match was followed by an athletics meeting in which C . B . Fry was prominent , winning both the long jump and high jump , with Cotterill winning the " Putting the Weight " with a distance of 34 ft 1in . Finally , the two clubs met a few weeks later in a cricket match in which Cotterill played alongside several other prominent Corinthians , including Fry , Lindley and Charles Wreford - Brown , with the Barbarians winning by four wickets . By now Cotterill had left University and his primary registration was now with Old Brightonians , although he continued to turn out on a regular basis for Corinthian . He started the 1892 – 93 season with goals in each of the first three matches for Corinthian , including a hat - trick in a 4 – 2 victory against Sunderland on 12 November . For the first time , Cotterill was able to join a Corinthian tour of northern England and Scotland , when he played five games in eight days in December and January against professional teams scoring five times . Cotterill was appointed team captain for the 1893 British Home Championship matches against Ireland and Scotland . For the match against Ireland , played at Perry Barr , Birmingham on 25 February 1893 , the selectors again called up a predominately amateur , Corinthians dominated eleven with another seven débutantes . Amongst the débutantes was Walter Gilliat of Old Carthusians who scored a hat - trick in his only appearance in an England shirt . England " won the game with ease " as further goals from G . O . Smith , William Winckworth and Rupert Sandilands enabled England to run out convincing 6 – 1 victors . For the next match , against Wales , the England selectors chose an entirely different , professional eleven players . Cotterill was restored for the final international match of the season at Richmond , London on 1 April 1893 against Scotland who were hoping to avenge their defeat in each of the two previous seasons . England selected a strong eleven , with only Cotterill ' s fellow Old Brightonian , Leslie Gay making his debut in goal . Cotterill scored England ' s second goal to bring the scores level after 58 minutes , with England eventually running out 5 – 2 victors , thus enabling them to claim the championship for the third consecutive season . In 1893 , he again started the season well for Corinthian with a hat - trick in a 11 – 0 defeat of The Army ( Rupert Sandilands scored six ) . He repeated this on 13 January 1894 in a 4 – 6 defeat against Aston Villa . Villa had taken a three goal lead before Cotterill ' s hat - trick brought the score to 3 – 4 . He finished the 1893 – 94 season with 16 goals from 13 appearances . Over the next few seasons , he was only able to make a handful of appearances for Corinthian and he bowed out at the end of the 1897 – 98 season , having played 65 matches , scoring 53 goals in his thirteen seasons with the club . In his football career , he also played for Weybridge and Burgess Hill , and represented Surrey and Sussex . Cricket . He played seven matches for Cambridge University in 1888 – 89 , but did not obtain his Blue . He also appeared in ten matches for Sussex between 1886 – 90 . In his total first class career , he played 17 matches and scored 305 runs at an average of 10 . 16 . As a right - arm slow bowler , he claimed three wickets at an average of 38 . 33 . His father , George Edward Cotterill , also played cricket for Cambridge University ( 1858 – 1860 ) , Cambridgeshire ( 1858 ) and Sussex ( 1869 – 1874 ) , and his uncle , Joseph Cotterill played for Sussex ( 1870 – 1888 ) . Other sports . He was an all round athlete , rowed for Weybridge Rowing Club , played rugby for Richmond and Surrey , and at university he was a member of the track , field and rowing teams . Military career . On 24 July 1886 , aged 18 , he was appointed to the rank of Lieutenant in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion , the Queen ' s ( Royal West Surrey Regiment ) . On the outbreak of the First World War , he enlisted in the 11th Battalion , The Lancashire Fusiliers , being temporarily promoted to the rank of Captain on 22 September 1914 . He subsequently achieved the rank of Major . He died at Llandaff , Glamorgan , Wales on 1 October 1950 , aged 82 .