John Charles Thring (11 June 1824 – 3 October 1909), known during his life as "Charles Thring" or "J. C. Thring", was an English clergyman and teacher, notable for his contributions to the early history of association football. Early life Thring was born 11 June 1824 in Alford, Somerset, the fifth son of the rector, Rev. John Gale Dalton Thring and Sarah . He studied at Winchester College, Shrewsbury School and St John's College, Cambridge, graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1847. The next year, he was appointed as an assistant curate to his brother Godfrey Thring at Alford-with-Hornblotton, Somerset. He was ordained deacon in December 1849. From 1855 to 1857, he served as curate in Cirencester, then from 1857 to 1859 at Overton and Fyfield, Wiltshire. He married Lydia Meredith in May 1858. In 1859, Thring was appointed assistant master of Uppingham School, joining his brother Edward who was headmaster there. Sportsman Shrewsbury At the time Thring attended (1836–1843), Shrewsbury School played its own distinctive code of football, of which Thring later provided one detail: "the goals at one end of the field were marked on a wall". According to a description of the game dating from 1863, it disallowed all handling of the ball except for catching, and used an exceptionally wide goal of 40 feet, with a goal allowed to be scored at any height. No record exists of football matches from Thring's time at Shrewsbury, but he is known to have played on the school cricket team in 1842 and 1843. Cambridge While at Cambridge, Thring's involvement in football continued. According to N. L. Jackson, in 1846 "two old Shrewsbury boys, Messrs H. de Winton and J. C. Thring, persuaded some Old Etonians to join them and formed a club. Matches were few and far between, but some were played on Parker's Piece. Unfortunately, the game was not popular at the 'Varsity then, and the club did not last long". According to Thring's own account, written in 1861: This was among the first of several known attempts to formulate a set of "compromise" rules of football at Cambridge between alumni of different schools. In his History of the Football Association, Geoffrey Green describes it as "the first positive step to create an identity of views and a common code of laws [of football] acceptable to as many as possible", and laments the absence of a