Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club ("GKT") is the name given to the modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having all been founded in the nineteenth century. The teams from Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital were the first to merge following the union of their respective Medical Departments. When King's College Hospital also merged in 1999 the King's College Hospital Rugby Football Club opted to remain separate and in so doing became an open rugby club that no longer represented the Hospital Medics. GKT is notable for having been part of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union (the Guy's team), and across its joint history has produced many international players.
History
The history of GKT is the combined history of three older sides, and their joint history from the point of merger:
Guy's Hospital Football Club
The Guy's Hospital Football Club, representing the medics of Guy's Hospital, in Southwark, London, is accepted by the Rugby Football Union and the Guinness Book of Records as being the oldest rugby club in the world and therefore the first football club, with a foundation date of 1843. Despite the acceptance by these two bodies of Guy's foundation date, the claim to be the oldest club is contested. The major reason for doubt is that no contemporary documentation survives. The date of 1843 is based on circumstantial evidence predominantly in the form of a fixture card from 1883/4 referring to Guy's 40th season and the submission of distinguished officials in 1863 and 1864. There are clubs with a longer documented history because they have contemporary documentary evidence, the oldest being Dublin University Football Club, which also plays rugby, formed at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, in 1854, with the oldest in England being Blackheath FC founded in 1858. The club Barnes R.F.C. (originally known simply as the Barnes Club), claims to have been founded in 1839, but this has no contemporary documentation and its circumstantial evidence is neither as abundant nor as compelling as that of Guy's Hospital.
The club played football using a modified form of the Rugby School code. They originally played on Blackheath and after the formation of Blackheath FC in 1858, (the club of the old boys of Blackheath Proprietary School), Guy's shared a dressing room with them in the Princess of Wales hotel from 1862. On 26 January 1871, they sent representation to a meeting of twenty-one London and suburban football clubs that followed Rugby School rules assembled at the Pall Mall Restaurant in Regent Street. E.C. Holmes, captain of the Richmond Club assumed the presidency. It was resolved unanimously that the formation of a Rugby Football Society was desirable and thus the Rugby Football Union was formed. A president, a secretary and treasurer, and a committee of thirteen were elected, to whom was entrusted the drawing-up of the laws of the game upon the basis of the code in use at Rugby School. Guy's Hospital was represented on the founding committee by J. H. Ewart, one of thirteen places on that original committee.
In the nineteenth century Guy's did produce some international players, including Alan Ayre-Smith, W. W. Pinching, A. W. Pearson, and A. H. Jackson, and they did have some success in the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup. However, it was in the 1920s and '30s that Guy's reached its zenith and was arguably the most formidable team in the land especially when under the captaincy of the Ireland international and Irish national captain W.D. Doherty. In total Guy's has won the United Hospitals Challenge Cup 32 times, a record that stood for many years until St. Mary's/Imperial Medics overtook it.
St Thomas' Hospital Football Club
St Thomas' Hospital Football Club was officially established in 1864. They first played on Clapham Common, using the Clock Tavern as their changing room. They later moved to the Lambeth Palace Grounds and in 1897 moved to Chiswick, where they stayed for over half a century until in the 1950s they moved to Cobham. The club's success in the United Hospitals Cup came early on in 1878 and they went on to win it a further 15 times. Between 1892 and 1897 they were undefeated in the competition. In 1892 the team was regarded by contemporaries as "the only hospital which has so far mastered a scientific game, or which has been able to hold its own in first-class company."
Eleven international players have won their caps whilst playing for St Thomas' from J H Dewhurst in 1887 to M A Smith in 1970. A further 18 club members have played for the Barbarians.