Henry Wace

Henry Wace (21 September 1853 – 5 November 1947) was an English amateur footballer who made three appearances for England and played for Wanderers, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1877 and 1878. By profession he was a lawyer who specialised in bankruptcy law.

Football career

Wace was born in Shrewsbury, and educated at Shrewsbury School and St. John's College, Cambridge. He won blues in both association football and rugby in 1874 and 1875.

In the 1875 Football Annual, Wace was described as "a very good and dangerous 'centre' (who) plays pluckily and sticks to the ball; at times (he) gets a little too far forward".

He made his debut for Wanderers on 18 March 1871, when aged only 17, in a 2–0 victory over the Forest Club, when he played as the twelfth man. It was until the 1876–77 season, however, that he became a regular member of the side and went on to make a total of 38 appearances at centre-forward scoring 18 goals, including a hat-trick against Gitanos on 15 November 1876.

In 1876–77, Wace played in all four matches in the FA Cup, when Wanderers reached the final for the second consecutive year (and the fourth since the competition was inaugurated in 1871), where they defeated Oxford University 2–1 in extra time.

The following year, Wace again appeared in all six FA Cup matches including scoring twice in each of the victories over Panthers and High Wycombe. In the final against the Royal Engineers, Wace and the team captain Arthur Kinnaird were soon creating problems for the Engineers' defence, resulting in an early goal when Jarvis Kenrick converted "an excellent pass" from Wace. The game finished 3–1 to the Wanderers who thus claimed the cup for the fifth time in the first seven years of the competition.