Preface
The history of our club needs to be seen in the context of the Regent Street Polytechnic (later the Polytechnic of Central London), which was created during the second half of the nineteenth century by the vision and patronage of Quintin Hogg (1845–1903). In 1873, Hogg developed his vision to provide educational, sporting and social opportunities for young working men by establishing the Youths’ Christian Institute, initially focusing on the poorest in society, street urchins, mudlarks, orphans and illiterate young boys and girls. In 1882 this moved into 309 Regent Street and gradually became known as the Polytechnic. Mark Clapson’s book (An Education in Sport) provides a terrific history of the Polytechnic’s commitment to the fulfilment of Quintin Hogg’s vision and describes the culture of the various sports clubs and the close links between them.
This Water Polo History, and the supporting Archive on the website, focuses on the men’s Water Polo Club, principally because that is what survives today. While it started out as a Swimming and Water Polo Club, systematic records of swimming results were not maintained, and water polo gradually became the dominant activity of the club. At various stages in the past, Poly has had vibrant water polo sections for women as well as men. Women’s water polo featured quite strongly in the early part of the 20th Century, was revived for a few years in the 1950s and again in the early 1990s, when the men were much more supportive of the women’s section than had been the case in the 1950s. However, sadly this revival did not persist and no attempt has been made to track activities of women’s water polo in the archive.
The archive is dominated by material from the Polytechnic Magazine (later the Polytechnic Members Newsletter), obtained through University of Westminster’s on-line archive, which provides every club report up until 1960, and through personal visits to the UoW’s Archives department for later years reports. We are grateful for their support in facilitating the production of this history. Other records have been gathered from Swim England who provided access to their Swimming Times archive, and photographs and other material have also been provided by members of the club, past and present. And we have had terrific summary contributions from Jez Sherman, Luke Jones and Chris Icely covering the years after the Poly Magazine stopped.
The Highlights section is intended to signpost the way to detailed material in the archive. As well recording the club’s successes and failures, the aim is to give some insight into the many characters who played and administered the sport over the last 150 years. Two other reports have been produced - one on our Leading Marksmen and one about our crazy goalkeepers. These reports are just a bit of fun, and are not to be taken seriously, but much of the joy in Poly’s history lies in the detailed stories in the Polytechnic Magazine, and especially the descriptions of the personalities involved.
The highlights are personal favourites and are not comprehensive. I got particularly bogged down in the inter-war years and may well have missed some gems. So, if anyone is interested in looking for more detail, the original Poly Magazines up until 1960 are still online in the UoW website.
As no-one ever reads a preface, and certainly not as far as this, I can say what I like at this point. But all I would like to do is to quote something from Ted Barrington, who once wrote “It is not given to us all to do the big things in the Poly, but we can all do something, and we can all do our best. That is all the Poly wants.” I hope I have done that, and I do hope the history brings some enjoyment to club members past and present.
Michael McCartney June 2024