Thomas H. Coleman sat down in his home in Littleton Villa, Brook Street, Tredworth and wrote a letter to the Editor of The Citizen on Saturday 27th January 1883 wondering why there was no football club playing under Association Rules in the City of Gloucester.

As a result of the letter, thirty-seven days later the club was officially formed on March 5th 1883 as Gloucester Association Football Club and Thomas H. Coleman became the club’s first ever captain in the inaugural season of 1883-84.

Although formed on March 5th 1883, Gloucester AFC did not play their first game until 9th February 1884 when a match was advertised as the first in the city under Association Rules to be played at Budding’s Field against Warmley losing 1-3. Unfortunately, the first venture was to last only three seasons and folded in 1886.

Announcement of the formation of a football club in Gloucester in 1883

Match report from the first ever game versus Cheltenham

A group of players keen to have a major team in Gloucester played eight fixtures in 1888-89 under the leadership of Algernon S. King and called themselves initially ‘A.S. King’s XI’.

After two games they were known as ‘Gloucester Nomads’ due to the lack of a home venue. It was these players who passed the baton on to two enthusiasts of the game who re-formed the club in September 1889 as Gloucester AFC they being the Reverend Henry Lloyd Brereton, Headmaster of the new County School in Hempsted and Charles Poole, Assistant Headmaster at the Crypt Grammar School.

Gloucester’s first competitive game was on Saturday 26 October 1889 in the 1st Round of the Gloucestershire FA Junior Challenge Cup beating Clifton Association Reserves 10-0 at Budding’s Field.

The oldest known team photograph of Gloucester City taken in 1889

The club became members of the Bristol and District League, which subsequently became the Western League. The recommendation that led to the idea of establishing the Bristol and District League was on the suggestion of Gloucester AFC player and future Gloucester and England Rugby Union international player, Percy Stout.

Although Gloucester AFC did not participate in the inaugural season of 1892-93, Percy was a member of the Gloucester team that played in that historic first league match the following season away to Bedminster on Saturday 30 September 1893 losing 2-3. During this era the club was noted as ‘The Gloucestrians’ and ‘The Citizens’ in local media. In 1897 Gloucester AFC entered the Gloucester and District League.

The first time ‘City’ was officially added to the Gloucester title was in 1902, although the first mention in The Citizen of the team being called Gloucester City was when the team was printed on Friday 16 November 1900.

In 1906 the club amalgamated with the Hempsted team of St. Michael’s prior to the start of season 1906-07 and entered the North Gloucestershire League in 1907. The club disbanded in September 1910 but coincidentally, the Gloucester YMCA was formed at the same time and many of the players who had been with City joined Gloucester YMCA.

The YMCA club continued in the lesser Gloucester and District Thursday League until 1913 when it was decided to enter a team in the North Gloucestershire League. Based on the criteria of a continuous link on a seasonal basis the current club could claim they were formed in 1910. However, the link with all clubs going back to the 1883 formation is irrefutable.

By 1925 they had assumed the name of Gloucester City once more and become founder members of the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. In 1934-35, after winning both the Cup and League, City turned semi-professional, joined the Birmingham Combination and moved to a new stadium in Longlevens in which the club stayed for the next 26 years.

They won the Tillotson Cup for being the best club in the Combination, and then had former Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Reg Weaver blow away all records with his stunning tally of 67 goals in the 1937-38 season.