Having come to London to train as a teacher, Liverpudlian Charlie Tyson signed for Southern League Crystal Palace, but was unable to get a first-team game. He came into his own, however, at Isthmian League Dulwich Hamlet, where he won a fistful of medals, in London or Surrey Cup competitions, between 1909 and 1912.His annus mirabilis was 1911, when he won his only amateur international cap, as England beat France in Paris; joined Alleyn’s School in Dulwich as a French teacher; and signed amateur forms for Southampton.

Dual-registered, Charlie continued to play for Dulwich in 1911-12, as they reached both London and Surrey Cup Finals, and would not make his Southampton debut until September 1912.

With his strong personality and powerful physique, he was, at over 6 feet tall, a commanding centre-half – “more robust than the average amateur,” as the Echo put it.

He had not played for the Saints, the following season, when an affected lung ended his football career, on doctor’s orders. But he was fit to go to war – as a Quartermaster and Captain with the 105th Field Ambulance Corps. He served in France and received a Croix de Guerre, a French award for gallantry. The details of his bravery are unknown, but it is not difficult to imagine the courage demanded of stretcher-bearers retrieving the dead or wounded from between the lines.

Shortly after his return to Alleyn’s, two new houses were created, one of them named after him. During the Second World War, he established and organised the South London Emergency Secondary School, based in Alleyn’s buildings. He retired in 1947, as joint-second master at the school. His brother Tom played for Bolton, Chester and Exeter.