The fled former player who created ‘El Corte Inglés’

The amount that was to be used to build a new site for the cricket team of the Derby County and for the signings of the newly founded soccer club, it reached Madrid in 1890 inside a suitcase. Sam Richardson, manager of the club’s cash, was ready to start a new life with his family away from the rainy England. He would become a distinguished English citizen and, changing his name to John Roberts, would offer his tailor services at the court of Alfonso XIII, the Spanish monarch.

He opened a little shop on the street Preciados, corner with the street Carmen Y Breakthrough and it grew until the turn of the republican events forced ‘Spanish Sam’ (as they counted by Derby his story) to sell the store to Ramon Areces, founder of ‘The English Court‘that we know today.

Founding member and first captain

Sam Richardson lived by and for the sport from the fledgling beginnings of the cricket club of Derbyshire in 1870. Located within the triangle formed by the cities of Sheffield, Manchester Y Birmingham, Derby was a flourishing city in the practice of sport and Richardson he was no stranger to it. Born in Derby On May 24, 1844, he began playing cricket in his twenties on the team of South Derbyshire until the union of three clubs gave way to Derbyshire County Cricket Club combining it with the tailor’s trade and a clothing store in the center of Derby. He was the captain of the team from the first season that came into play in 1871-1875. Sam He continued to play until 1878 but his appearances were sporadic and his careers not very showy. In 1880 he was appointed undersecretary and began managing the club’s money for 10 years.

The irruption of football

In the late 1883 season for the cricket team of Derbyshire it had been disastrous losing 10 championship games. It was then when it was proposed to create within the club the section of winter sports to compensate for the losses of cricket: football. This new sport was becoming the favorite pastime of the working classes. Officially announced to the press, the Derbyshire County FC It was founded on May 7, 1884, although it adapted its current name because it was too long, Derby County FC, on the 13th.

The Derby County FC became one of the 12 founding members of the soccer league of England, the Football League on September 8, 1888.

Manager on the run

The strength of soccer overshadowed cricket. Attendance at Racecourse Ground To see the new sport went up every month and so did the income. Richardson managed the club’s cash at will and the acquisition in 1889 of John Goodall from Preston North End, known for ‘The Invincibles’, put the economy of the Derby County. In the 1890-91 season, the soccer team finished in seventh place and the cricket team was not raising its head.

An audit of the club’s accounts carried out by the team’s Australian player Frederick Spofforth discovered a fraud that pointed to Samuel Richardson. Cornered by allegations of embezzlement, Sam He admitted to stealing small amounts from the club over ten years and having diverted funds from cricket and football interchangeably.

Richardson he was publicly humiliated. With his wife Mary Ann Archer and his six daughters traveled in 1890 until Madrid with the money he had accumulated from the club. Knowing that the extradition agreements did not apply between the two countries, Richardson and all his family adapted the surname Roberts to make it harder to keep track.

Tailor of Alfonso XIII

At 46 years old and in a Madrid eager to go international, he founded a store that he called ‘The English Court‘, which he managed until 1935, when he was 91 years old. The 30s were complicated in the capital of the kingdom: in April 1931 and after the elections that determined the Second Spanish Republic, the king Alfonso XIII He left the country and with him all the distinguished customers who frequented his store. It lasted four years but the business was in the doldrums.

At 93 years old, Richardson/Roberts, died in the Anglo-American Hospital from Madrid on January 18, 1938 and the Spanish press called him “the oldest British inhabitant of Madrid.” His burial must have been made in the British Cemetery of San Isidro but it was in the middle of the defense line of the city before the advance of Franco’s troops. Rest in some cemetery of Madrid under another name to continue dodging history.

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