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Vol12.8 The Teck Cup

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 5:45 pm
by Les1949
HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 8 THE TECK CUP
Won by Hampton FC on several occasions

The Teck Cup is a competition that features quite often in Hampton’s history. In the period up to World War 2, it is known that Hampton was successful on a number of occasions…

1925/26 v Sunbury OB 2-1 (in front of 4,500)
1930/31 v Hampton Hill Rangers 7-0 (2,000)
1931/32 v Molesey 6-2 (3,000)
1936/37 v Malden 8-3
1937/38 Feltham Sports 2-0

The Teck Senior & Junior Cups were run by Kingston & District League and I recall that the Senior Cup Final was often held at Beveree on a Good Friday in the 1990s.

But who or what was Teck? The Cup was named after Prince Alexander of Teck, 1st Earl of Athlone, who for a time was stationed with his regiment at Hampton Court and apparently took a keen interest in local sport. The first Teck Charity Cup Final was played at the end of March, 1910 between Teddington and Molesey St Pauls, Teddington winning 6-0. Local charities were to be the beneficiaries , the first final produced £96 (worth over £11.000 today).

Major General Alexander Cambridge (1874 – 1957) was a British Army commander who also served as Governor General of South Africa and also of Canada. The Teck names comes from a region of Germany, Wurttemburg, with Teck Castle at his core. Descendants of the family moved to the United Kingdom and married into the Royal Family.


Alexander was the son of the Duke of Teck and married Princess Alice so becoming brother-in-law to George V. He saw service during WW1, rising through the ranks. In 1917 he resigned his German titles and was elevated to the peerage as Earl of Athlone. After WW! Retiring from the army, now Earl of Athlone, he took up posts in the civilian world mainly connected with Middlesex Hospital. In 1921 he led the Athlone committee which resulted in the creation of post-graduate schools for medical education and research.

After returning from Canada in 1946, Athlone largely retired from pubic life, however he was involved in the arrangements for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.

Athlone died in 1957 and was interred in the Royal Burial Ground in Frogmore, the last great-grandchild of George III.

The Teck Cups are still competed for by clubs in the Kingston & District League.


The Old Historian