Nettie Honeyball

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Nettie HoneyballAlthough the exploits of the British Ladies' Football Club were regularly reported in the national and local press during 1895, surprisingly little personal information was given about the club's founder, Nettie Honeyball. The few facts which were reported are summarised below:

  1. Her name was invariably reported as "Nettie Honeyball" or "Nettie J. Honeyball."
  2. At the time of the club's first public appearance in 1895 her address was given as "Ellesmere", 27 Weston Park, Crouch End, N. London.
  3. She had a brother, who accompanied the ladies on their UK tour and acted as an organiser and occasional spokesman.
  4. Photographs of her show a young woman aged about 24-30, of above average height, and (as she revealed in an interview with the Daily Graphic), scaling eleven stones. There is the suspicion of a defect in her left eye - possibly even an artificial eye.

Sadly, even this limited information appears to be unreliable. The information concerning her brother comes from the Sporting Man (Newcastle upon Tyne) of 22nd April 1895. It describes him as an "enterprising young man, who conducts the tours of the ladies." However, the following week the Kentish Mercury, in the aftermath of the Greenwich fiasco, disclosed that the manager of the club was named Alfred Hewitt Smith.

Nettie's address in Crouch End was revealed in an interview given by Lady Florence Dixie to the Pall Mall Gazette, which was published on 8th February 1895. This address also appeared on the posters advertising the club's first public appearance. However, in 1895 the occupant of 27 Weston Park was Arthur Tilbury Smith, a carpenter. Living with him was his son, Alfred Hewitt Smith.

This evidence raises a number of possibilities:

  1. Was Alfred Hewitt Smith the brother of Nettie Honeyball?
  2. Was he her brother-in-law?
  3. Was he her husband?

We can probably discount the first of these propositions. Arthur Tilbury Smith married Mary Watford in Q3 of 1868, and their first child, Frederick, was born in 1870, followed by William in 1872, Alfred Hewitt in 1873, and George in 1877. A daughter, Phoebe, was born in 1882, but she would have been only 13 in 1895. (It is possible, however, that another daughter was born between Alfred and George)

We can probably discount the second proposition too: Frederick Smith's wife was named Jessie and William's was named Alice.

We can certainly discount the last proposition: Alfred Hewitt Smith married another of the lady footballers, Hannah Oliphant, in 1896. (Interestingly, the female witness to the ceremony was a Violet Heffernon, who may have been another member of the club - the "Miss Hoferon" who captained one of the teams at Leek on 25th October 1895)

So - was Nettie Honeyball actually living at 27 Weston Park in 1895, perhaps as a boarder, or was this merely an address which she used for correspondence?

Efforts to learn more about her from the usual genealogical sources have proved frustrating. Nettie is clearly a diminutive; probably derived from Annette, Antoinette, Janet, Jeanette, and such like, or possibly Henrietta. A promising and tantalising lead is found in the 1891 census, where "Janetta Honeyball," age 21, is recorded as boarding at 155-159 Lambeth Walk. This was the grocery shop of Joseph R. Hazelton, and Janetta was employed as a cashier. Her place of birth was given as Pimlico1. She seems to be an ideal candidate for the Nettie Honeyball of the British Ladies' Football Club. However, she is missing from other censuses before and after this date, and I have found no record of her marrying between 1891 and 1901, or dying between 1896 and 1901. She appears to have vanished without trace.

The 1881 census lists a Nellie Honeyball, born London c.a. 1874, and it has been suggested2 that this person may have been Nettie. I find this unconvincing for the following reasons:

  1. Firstly, both Nellie and Janetta appear in the 1891 census. If we accept Nellie as being Nettie Honeyball then we must reject Janetta, which seems too great a step to take without further evidence.
  2. Secondly, in 1895 Nellie would have been only 21 years old, which seems rather too young.
  3. Thirdly, Nellie Honeyball's residence in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses was at 36, Tachbrook Street, Westminster, and her background was solidly working class. I think it unlikely that in 1895 she would have been living in a middle class area such as Crouch End, with sufficient spare time on her hands to organise a football club, and would then have returned to the family home. However, in view of the doubt as to whether "Nettie" actually lived at Crouch End, this must still be considered a possibility.

Another possibility, though disappointing from a historian's viewpoint, is that "Nettie Honeyball" was simply a pseudonym or stage name. This proposition too is not without difficulties, for if we believe that the Janetta of the 1891 census was Nettie Honeyball, then why would a 21 year old woman working as a cashier in a grocery need an alias? Furthermore, before she was appointed to such a position, the owner of the store would surely have taken up references! Evidently further research is required to solve this intriguing mystery.

1. The registration district for Pimlico at the time was St George Hanover Square; only 11 female Honeyball births were registered there between 1865 and 1875, and none bore names with any resemblance to Janetta or Nettie.

2. "The Lady Footballers" by James F. Lee, published by Routledge 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-42609-1

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