author
Montague Shearman
1857–1930
A Victorian sportsman, legal figure, and writer whose life bridged the playing field and the courtroom. Best known for co-founding the Amateur Athletics Association, he also wrote lively, informed books about athletics and football.
1 Audiobook
Foot-ball : its history for five centuries
by Montague Shearman, James Edmund Vincent
About the author
Born on April 7, 1857, Montague Shearman was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St John's College, Oxford. He stood out early as an all-round athlete, competing in sprinting and other events, and he became one of the founders of the Amateur Athletics Association in 1880.
Alongside his sporting life, Shearman built a distinguished legal career. He became a King's Counsel, later served as a judge of the King's Bench Division, and was eventually sworn of the Privy Council. Accounts of his life often note how his athletic fame sometimes overshadowed his later judicial work.
As an author, he is chiefly remembered for writing about sport, especially Athletics and Football, a substantial late-19th-century work that reflects both his practical experience and his deep interest in the organization and history of games. He died on January 6, 1930.