Tiverton Preedy

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Tiverton Preedy (1863–1928) was an English clergyman who used sport to help the poor, first in Barnsley, Yorkshire, and later in London. He founded a football club for Barnsley that became the modern Barnsley Football Club and also ran a boxing club and dances as part of his ministry.

Preedy was born on 22 January 1863 in Hunstanton, Norfolk, the second son of a local estate agent. He went to Bloxham School and trained to be a priest at Lincoln Theological College. He was ordained a deacon in 1887 and became Assistant Stipendiary Curate at St Peter’s Church in Barnsley, where the church had grown from a poverty-focused mission into a parish.

While at university he became interested in “muscular Christianity,” using sport to teach moral values. He helped start a football club in September 1887, Barnsley St Peter’s F.C., and he served as its main fundraiser and even played in the first match. He insisted on high standards of behavior and once prevented a match because of supporter conduct. He also helped secure the Oakwell land for the club after appealing to the wife of a brewery owner. In 1891 he helped form the Barnsley Charity Football Association and the Barnsley Charity Cup. St Peter’s reached the first final but were beaten by Ecclesfield. In 1893 he moved to London to become curate of St Clement’s Church in Islington, and the Barnsley club later became simply Barnsley F.C.

In London, Preedy ran a mission in a very poor area, which started in converted cowsheds and had little furniture. He again used sport as part of his work, opening a boxing club at the mission. The club trained boxers who would become notable, including future world champion Terry Allen and future British champion George MacKenzie. He also organized dances for the flower girls who sold on the streets. He remained connected to Barnsley F.C.; in 1912 he was a guest of honor at the FA Cup Final when Barnsley beat West Bromwich Albion, and the team gave him the match ball, which he kept in his study.

In 1926 Preedy was made a prebendary of St Paul’s Cathedral in recognition of his work in Islington. Around the same time he began to suffer heart problems and died in his sleep on 26 April 1928 in London. He was buried at Islington Cemetery. His obituary praised him as “a generous friend to the poor,” and the Bishop of Stepney called him “a wonderful parish priest” who used sport in his ministry. In the 1990s, Barnsley supporters found his grave and restored it, and it is still cared for by fans who visit each summer.