Clarence F.C. (England)

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Clarence Football Club, often called The Clarence, was an English football team from Battersea. It was founded in 1876 by Henry Morton-Carr, who later started the Belgrave Harriers. The club took its name from a hotel on Winstanley Road near Battersea Park. It was not an aristocratic club; players included goalkeeper Thomas Bockmaster, a stonemason, and goal-scorer Thomas Wilmshurst, a schoolteacher.

Their first recorded match was a 1–0 win at home against Trojans in 1876. In the early years they played mostly small, unreported matches. Clarence first entered the FA Cup in 1879–80, losing 5–2 at Pilgrims F.C. They had pulled level to 2–2 early on, but Pilgrims dominated the second half. In 1880–81 they were beaten 6–0 by Marlow in the first round, having turned up with only ten men. After that, the club seems to have wound down; four players joined Morton Rangers for 1881–82, and Clarence was not a member of the London Football Association when it was founded in 1882. The last record has them listed as a member of the Football Association in 1883.

Clarence is not related to another Clarence club, founded in 1875 for Maple & Co., which wore an all-black kit from Willesden Green. The Battersea club played at Battersea Park and used The Crown on York Road for facilities. Colors were blue with red stripes in 1876–77, then blue and black the following season.