Eton Manor Boys' Club

Eton Manor Boys' Club takes its name from Eton College, which from the 1880s had run a Christian mission to raise living standards in the Hackney Wick area of the East End of London, and from the Manor Farm, bought in 1912 to build a new sports clubhouse. The Mission Church, St Mary of Eton, is still the parish church, but combined with the bombed St Augustine after the Second World War. It is now called St Mary of Eton with St Augustine. In 1973 the connections with Eton College were severed.

In 1909 four Old Etonian philanthropists founded Eton Manor Boys' Club to provide sporting facilities separate from the Eton Christian Mission.[1] They were Gerald V. Wellesley; Arthur Villiers, the second son of Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey; Edward Cadogan, the sixth son of George Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan; and Alfred Wagg of the City of London Wagg banking family.[1] Gerald Wellesley passed on the leadership of the club to Arthur Villiers after the Great War; Villiers remained the primary guiding force behind the club until its closure.[2] He lived at Eton Manor Boys' Club from 1913 until his death in 1969.[1]

The club only accepted boys who had been members of the Eton Mission Boys' Club.[1] Additionally, under the club rules only boys between the ages of 13 and 16 could join.[1][3] The club attempted to restricted some boys from interacting with girls through the short lived Junior Bachelors Society.[1]

The club's coaches included well-known sportsmen such as Douglas Jardine and Alf Ramsey.[3] Boys who passed the age of 18 were entitled to join the "Old Boys" club.

In 1920 an old rubbish tip site at the eastern end of Hackney Marshes was converted into the Club's new sports ground; it became well known as "The Wilderness".[3] Facilities included nine football pitches, two rugby pitches, cricket pitches, six tennis courts, a bowling green, a squash court and a running track.[3]

In the 1950s, the club had a reputation as an elite boys sporting club as well as incorporating career advice to the club's list of activities.[4]

At its peak the Club had become a leading member of the London Federation of Boys' Clubs, with success in many sports. It produced double Olympic Gold Medal middleweight boxer Harry Mallin,[3][5] successful at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and 1924 Paris Olympics; and welterweight boxer Nicholas Gargano, a bronze medallist at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.[3][6] A news article in 2010 stated that Gargano would strengthen his arms by chopping wood at the clubhouse[7] and also learned how to box at the club.[5] The 1948 London Olympic athletics track transferred to the Eton Manor Boys' Club on The Wilderness playing fields for continued legacy use.[3][8]

In the mid 1960s, Arthur Villiers decided to close the Eton Manor. The reasons were unclear, although both costs and the changing nature of the surrounding population have been cited as possible explanations.[2]

The playing fields at Eton Manor fell into disuse by 2001, before being selected as part of the London bid for the proposed London 2012 Olympic Games. The site became the venue for the 2012 Summer Paralympics tennis venue Eton Manor.[9] Eton College has a second connection to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as the rowing event venue was the College's own facility, Dorney Lake.[10]

The surviving archives of the Eton Manor Boys' Club are held at the Bishopsgate Library.[3]

The charity's headquarters are in Foxton, Cambridgeshire. Their activities are delivered both at their residential site in this location, and regionally by staff in multiple UK areas.

The Scholars Programme was established in 2009 and has expanded to run in seven areas across the UK. The Programme supports highly-able less advantaged students aged 14 to 19, with the aim of helping them reach their full potential. The Programme provides a four-year course of enrichment activities for each student, focusing on raising aspirations, confidence and motivation. The programme aims to build essential skills and behaviours that empower young people to succeed.[12] The University of Lancaster, UEA, and the University of Suffolk are all lead partners in the Villiers Park Scholars Programme.[13][14][15]

The Inspiring Excellence programme is a series of five-day subject-specific residential courses designed to introduce highly-able A-level students to university level study. The programme aims to inspire state school students to pursue higher education at a leading university. The charity runs approximately 32 courses each academic year, supporting over 800 students.

• The 2011 Alexandra Boyd short film You Don't Have to Fight to Win is set at Eton Manor Boys' Club.[21]
• The 2018 Alexandra Boyd feature film The Wilderness tells the story of Eton Manor Boys' Club from 1912 to 1924 and its star Olympian boxer Harry Mallin.

The Wilderness

• The Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, was commissioned by the Olympic Development Authority to write a poem about the history of the Eton Manor Boys' Club. This was first performed in February 2012 at the Eton Manor Rugby Club.[22][23]