West Ham Charity Cup


The West Ham Charity Cup was an annual amateur football tournament which was contested by teams from West Ham and the surrounding area, an area of Essex that is now part of London. Only players that lived locally were eligible to compete. The competition was founded as the West Ham Hospital Cup in 1885 by George Hay, Mayor of the County Borough of West Ham, to raise funds for the local hospital, and ran until 1931.
In March 1893, Castle Swifts faced Barking Woodville in the final, held at Clapton's Old Spotted Dog Ground in Upton Lane. The Swifts were two goals down before coming back to win the tie 4–2, with the goals coming from outside-right Grundy, inside-forwards Mitchell and Taylor and an own goal. A local newspaper made the following account of the final:
Three of the teams in the 1895–96 tournament were Barking, Park Grove and Thames Ironworks, who would later become West Ham United. In a semi-final in Plaistow, Thames Ironworks beat Park Grove 1–0. Park Grove protested a technicality and forced a replay at Beckton Road, which The Ironworks won 3–0. Thames Ironworks faced Barking in the final on 21 March 1896 at the Old Spotted Dog Ground, drawing 2–2. They rematched a week later, and again drew, 0–0. The final was replayed a final time on 20 April 1896 and the Irons won 1–0.
Three of the teams in the 1896–97 tournament were Manor Park, West Ham Garfield and the defending champions, Thames Ironworks, who beat Manor Park in the semi-final, and lost the 20 March 1897 final 0–1 to Garfield. Thanes Ironworks later became West Ham United.
In April 1902, Clapton Orient won the tournament by beating Clapton 1–0.
Clapton have won the competition six times.
The tournament was not held between 1915 and 1918.

Tournament history