Robert Cunliffe GoslingDL, was a Victorian-era footballer who played as a speedy inside forward for the renowned amateur clubs Old Etonians and the Corinthians. He captained the England team on one, possibly two, occasions and scored two goals. Described by Sir Frederick Wall, the long-serving Secretary of the Football Association, as "the richest man who ever played football for England", Gosling was the scion of a wealthy Essex family and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. The oldest of seven brothers, four of whom played cricket for Eton against Harrow, he was, recalled the early sportswriter JAH Catton, "the most aristocratic-looking man I ever saw", a view concurred in by his England internationalcolleague C.B. Fry, who described him as "the best-looking man of my acquaintance" and one of the players whose presence in the Corinthians' side contributed to "their reputation up North as a team of toffs". Gosling's bearing lent him an imposing presence on the football field. He looked, Wall recalled, "every inch the high-born... carriage and gait would have done credit to a court Chamberlain at a levee", and was admirably built, being merely "bone and muscle, not soft flesh". His play, the F.A. man added, Edward Grayson, the historian of the early amateur game, was another admirer of the England captain. "Well over six feet in height," he wrote, Gosling was, moreover, invariably sportsmanlike in his approach to the game, and entirely lacked malice. It was this quality that led "Nudger" Needham, the Sheffield United and England professional, to describe him as "a heavy, but a gentle player". Having played football for Cambridge against Oxford in the Varsity Match of 1890, Gosling was awarded a total of five England caps between 1892 and 1895, and showed himself – according to his contemporary G.O. Smith – one of the outstanding international forwards of the day: a shade less talented than Steve Bloomer, perhaps, but far less inclined to keep the ball, and so easier to play with. Gosling also played first-class cricket for Cambridge and Essex between 1888 and 1896. After his retirement from sport, Cunliffe Gosling served as a Justice of the Peace in his home county, Essex, and in 1902 was appointed as High Sheriff of Essex and a deputy lieutenant of the county. He died in his bed, recorded Catton, leaving a fortune proved at over £700,000.
