William Calder
In 1906 Krakow and with it in 1908 Cracovia, the doyen of today's Polish football clubs, albeit that the city was then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, saw the arrival of William Calder, said to be William Benjamin Calder. He came, it is said, as an English English-teacher. But he seems also to have been a military man, said by some to have been a Lt. Colonel and by others a Squadron Leader, and also something official in the British civil service. He might well have been a military attache, was the Bank of England's representative in the city and also already a member of British intelligence; the spy he would openly be known as later. He certainly was a footballer, a right-back, again by repute an ex. Fulham player.
Now no William Benjamin Calder could be found either as a Briton or a Fulham player. But there were William Calders. There was even a William B. Calder, who in 1901 as a fifteen year old been living in London, where he shared a house with his father, Augustus, his elder sister, Lila, his younger brother, John and an Irish servant. It meant that in 1908 he would have been twenty-two and at an age where football might have been an interest. But the Krakow Calder was clearly more than just an enthusiast. He was noted for his long, throw-in, a lack of real pace but "like all native Englishman" he passed on footballing knowledge, organised the team, that is coached, and organised the club itself. He clearly had a passion for the game.
And then there were other coincidences. The house the Calders shared was at 652, Fulham Road, which would explain the Fulham connections as Polish confusion between club and place. In addition, William B. was William Barclay and his brother was John Muir. Moreover, there was an explanation for the passion. Although Augustus, Lila, William and John might have been residing between Craven Cottage and Stamford Bridge each and every one of them had been born elsewhere. Father Augustus was a doctor, born in Leith, Scotland. Lila and William had been born in Perth and John in Glasgow, again both Scotland. And it was really in Perth that the story began.
In 1881 Augustus Calder, already qualified as a doctor, was working in and boarding in the city on the upper Tay. In 1884 still in St. John's town he married local girl, Eliza Miller. Lila was born there that same year, William on 14th January 1886 before the family moved to Glasgow, where John was born and Eliza, aged just twenty-eight died shortly after childbirth. It was then or over the next decade that the Calder family moved south but, if Perth and Fulham's William B. Calder was Krakow's William B. then he was, as so often round the World, Scots not English with a passion for football similarly explained.
After his stay in Krakow and twenty-seven appearances for Cracovia William Calder is said in 1911 and for three years to have moved on to Warsaw, indeed to have changed country. Today's Polish capital was then in the Russian Empire. And there he is also said to have been involved in the development of football. Polonia Warsaw, the city's oldest club, was, coincidently or not, founded that same year. Legia was formed in 1916, by which time Fulham's William Calder was back in England, seemingly for good. Presumably he returned at the outbreak of the Great War. Certainly he had in 1915 in West London married Agnes Conti or Corte, then in 1917 1918, and still in 1919, as a Lieutenant, was until 1922 serving as a Naval reservist. And further after the First War he seems to been the "Director" of a "General Merchants" and for the next twenty years at least to have lived in West London particularly, more generally around London and may have remarried, to Marjory Wenman in 1945, and died there too, in Hatch End in Middlesex in 1958. "
Much of the above was written the best part of a decade earlier but in July 2025 out of the blue a an email arrived from Poland. It pointed out that once Cracow and Warsaw were in different countries but perhaps the quotation of it in its entirety best serves to illustrate how first enquiry and then feedback promotes the best in historical enquiry.
"I am a journalist and author of books about football, and for several years I have been working on a book about the history of Polish football. While researching its beginnings, I came across the figure of William Calder, who played a significant role as a footballer, coach and referee both in Kraków, in the years 1906-1911, and later in Warsaw, in the years 1911-1914. Until recently, he was unanimously presented as an Englishman - which is not surprising in this part of Europe, as this was the case at the time for all visitors from the Isles - but you present him as a Scot, which is of fundamental importance, considering the role that the Scots played in teaching the rest of the world how to play passing game.
Apart from the information you provide here: https://www.scotsfootballworldwide.scot/williamcalder, do you perhaps have any other information, and if so, would you be willing to share it with me? Do you have any sources, accounts that would allow you to present the character in more detail? Do you know what happened to him after he left Poland? In the memoirs of Polish soldiers and diplomats from World War II, Major or Lieutenant Colonel Calder appears, establishing contact with them and recalling the times when he played football in Krakow. Do you know anything more about that time in his life, or could you advise me where to look for information?
I would be very grateful for any advice and tips, and I would be happy to share my findings about Calder's stay in Warsaw and Krakow,
Warmest regards and respect,
Michał Okoński"
We replied we would do our best to do what we can but what do you know in addition, the response to which was as follows:
"In the Kraków Address Book for 1907, but published in 1906, "Calder W. B, Teach, English Language." he lives at Jagiellońska 9. Pioneers of Kraków football recall that he invited them to his home and told them about football from the Isles.
The Kraków press from 1908-1911 mentions him in many match reports as a Cracovia player, playing in defence. The club's first players recall that he introduced himself as a forward, but was too slow for this position. He played better with his right foot, had accurate, long passes, and made raids with the ball. He trained with the team three times a week. He helped design the badge and write the Cracovia statute. In 1908, he organised the team's trip to a match in Opava, where he had an English teacher friend. In addition to playing for Cracovia, he refereed Wisła's matches. Of the young guys who formed the club, he clearly had the most experience.
In November 1911, he was already living in Warsaw (so he changed countries - Krakow was in Austria-Hungary, Warsaw in Russia). He placed an ad in the local newspaper that he gave lessons, translated and helped with correspondence in English. He gave the address "at the English consulate". He played in the local team in a match against a team from Łódź. In the following years, he was active at meetings of the Warsaw Sports Association (Warszawskie Koło Sportowe) and regularly refereed. The last information about him in the Warsaw press appeared in the summer of 1914: on Wednesday, July 1, he refereed the match of the Warsaw Sports Association team against Sparta Prague.
In the book „Na skrzydłach huraganu", Stanisław Karpiński - one of the commanders of the Polish air force in Great Britain during World War II - recalls meetings with "Lieutenant Colonel Calder", who "turned out to be sociable and very pro-Polish", because "he had once been to Poland and had great sympathy for Poles". According to Karpiński, who travelled with Calder for several hours to Gloucester, his interlocutor was a British intelligence officer in Kraków (of course, it is hard to believe that he was an officer) and served as an official at the Bank of England, "he became intimate with the local community and was universally liked", he was even called a Polish Englishman.
He is presented as a major in the book „W sojuszniczym Londynie”, a diary from 1939-45, by Edward Raczyński, who at that time was, among other things, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government in exile. On 23 May 1944, Calder comes to him for breakfast and brings him a photograph from a carnival party organised in a Kraków cabaret from before World War I. In the photograph, Raczyński recognizes his brother Roger (both Raczyńskis played in the second team of Cracovia around 1908)."
And to that we could add very little. What there was has now been added to our side of the story except that again in 1917 he appears to have been serving in Murmansk in Northern Russia as a "Military Control Officer", whatever that may be.