Twickenham RFC is one of a handful of clubs which can trace its heritage back to the formative years of rugby. As far back, in fact, as 1867 when the members of Wellesley House, a young men's academy, were to be found playing against the towering giants of rugby football, Richmond.

By 1873 Twickenham Football Club had a core membership of old boys of the academy which had by then closed. The fixture with Richmond was maintained, and an intriguing advert appeared in the local press at the time under the heading, 'Twickenham Football', advertising for boys with a maximum age of seventeen, the sons of gentlemen only, to form a boys football club. Press reports began to appear mentioning the Twickenham 'Lightweights' (no doubt the Twickenham junior football club) as well as Twickenham 'Proper' and Twickenham 'Seconds'. All these sides were playing 'Rugby' rules. Match reports appear regularly in the local press through to 1884, then come to an abrupt end. It then seems that the rugby tradition in Twickenham was carried forward by the Young Men's Friendly Society through to the end of the decade. They played at least two games in 1889 as Twickenham FC.

Records are then patchy until 1893 when a meeting of local footballers was held in the 'Prince Blucher' off Twickenham Green to 're-form' Twickenham Football Club. The first item on the agenda was to decide which rules should be played, association or rugby. The vote went 21-13 in favour of rugby, the rugby football rules were adopted and a decision to play in black jerseys with a white TFC was also agreed. A photograph of that team exists today, and is the club's oldest artifact. The following year the club changed to the now familiar red and black hoops maintained by the present side.

As a note of interest, red and black, together or singly and plain white were almost universally adopted as the colours of early rugby sides, due to the ease of the dye process on the cloth. Hence Manchester (1860), Blackheath (1858), Wasps (1867) and Civil Service (1863) amongst others, show their heritage in their current kit design. Civil Service remains Twickenham's longest existing fixture.

At the turn of the century Twickenham were strong enough to be playing most of the senior clubs and supplying a number of players to the Middlesex team. They played games initially on Twickenham Green and used the Prince Blucher, together with the Royal Albert, as their spiritual homes.

The early history of the Club has now been published - to obtain a copy please send £6.50 to Jim Peters, 1 Chestnut Avenue, Hampton, Middlesex, enclosing a stamped, addressed, A4 envelope.