Edmund Creswell

Col. Edmund William Creswell (7 November 1849 – 1 May 1931) was a British soldier, who played for the Royal Engineers in the 1872 FA Cup Final. As a soldier, he was engaged mainly in administrative work and never saw active service.

Creswell was born in Gibraltar on 7 November 1849, the son of Edmund Creswell (1800–1877) and his wife Mary Margaret née Fraser (1826–1892). His father had been appointed postmaster of the colony of Gibraltar in 1831; in 1857, he secured funding from London for building a new post office, and amalgamated the two previous postal services, thus founding the Royal Gibraltar Post Office.

Creswell was educated at Bruce Castle School, Tottenham, London followed by the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich until 1870.

Creswell's brother William (1852–1933) became a vice-admiral and is known as the "father" of the Royal Australian Navy. Another brother, Frederic (1866–1948) was a Labour Party politician in South Africa, who was Minister of Defence from 1924 to 1933. A sister, Mary Catherine (1857–1892) married one of Creswell's team-mates from the 1872 FA Cup Final, Hugh Mitchell in 1878.

Creswell represented Bruce Castle School and the RMA at football. He was Secretary of the Royal Engineers Association Football Club, which, in November 1871, was among fifteen teams who entered the inaugural FA Cup competition, and were allocated a home match in the first round against Reigate Priory. Reigate Priory, however, withdrew from the competition, sending the Engineers through to the next round on a walkover. In the second round, the Engineers beat Hitchin 5–0 on 10 January 1872. At the quarter-final stage, the Engineers beat Hampstead Heathens 3–0, setting up a semi-final against Crystal Palace which was won 3–0 after a replay.

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