Colonel Charles Doland Crisp OBE 1864-1956
Charles was our 3rd Club Chairman and had a very distinguished life in Football, The Military and in Public Life in Lewes Sussex. The funeral was held in St Annes Church, Lewes. The internment was then held at Lewes Cemetery.
This article comes from the Lewes History Group
Charles Doland Crisp was chosen Mayor of the Borough of Lewes on eleven occasions – more than anyone else. He was elected to this post in 1923-1925, 1938-1944 (so in office right through World War II) and finally in 1949. When he retired as Mayor in 1950 he was in his mid-eighties. He was a Conservative councillor who also represented Lewes on East Sussex County Council for many years following his first election in 1925. Who was this remarkable public servant, remembered today primarily by a road named after him on the Borough Council's Landport estate?
A basic biography is available. He was born in Hammersmith on 18 February 1864. His father, also called Charles Crisp, was a piano tuner. He had an elder and a younger sister. He followed the example of his elder sister, and trained as a teacher at the Anglican Culham College in Oxfordshire. In 1886 he married Alice Kemp, a Whitstable oyster merchant's daughter, whose brother was also a teacher, and they had a daughter and a son born in 1887 & 1889. In the 1891 census he was a certificated school master at Shere in Surrey, where he was headmaster. By 1901 he had changed his career to become a superintendent in a life insurance office. He joined the Norwich Union in 1906 and worked for them for the rest of his working life, retiring as a director on New Year's Eve 1937. He returned to London, living at Melrose Gardens, Hammersmith, in 1901-2, Wexford Road, Clapham, from 1903-1905 and Whitehall Park, Islington, 1909-1912.
His son served as a Royal Navy officer before, during and after the Great War, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Charles Doland Crisp was 50 when the war broke out, but nevertheless served first in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later in the army, rising rapidly through the ranks to become a Lieutenant-Colonel and deputy commandant of the cadets in the County of London Territorial Force. In recognition of this work he was awarded an O.B.E. in 1920.
In 1920 Lt-Col Crisp and his family moved to Lewes, with their home at 'Franche', 2 De Warenne Road. He lived there until his death. He was elected to the Borough Council in 1921 to and the County Council in 1925. As mayor he became a local magistrate. His wife Alice died in January 1935, after which his married daughter served as his Mayoress. He was in his late seventies by the start of World War II, but in addition to serving as mayor he also acted as Town Clerk and sub-controller for the Lewes A.R.P. wardens. He was said to have been on duty for every one of the town's 1,051 air raid alerts. In 1940 he was made a Freeman of the Borough. The Duke of Norfolk chaired a public dinner given to mark his 90th birthday. He died in 1956, a few days before his 92nd birthday.
However, this impressive career is only one aspect of Charles Doland Crisp's life. He was an active freemason but his passion was for sport, in particular football. In his youth he embraced a number of sports, playing in goal as an amateur first for Oxfordshire and then for the London Hotspur team. He was also played cricket, golf and tennis, swam, was a good middleweight boxer and ran the 100 and 200 yards for Ranelagh Harriers. In the 1940s he chaired the Sussex branch of the Amateur Athletics Association and in later life he took up bowls.

He also became deeply involved in the organisation of football as it became more professional. He was a founder-member of the football referees union in 1908, becoming its London regional organiser and serving as an official at the London Olympic Games football tournament in 1908. He was chairman of the Middlesex Football Association for several decades, before and after he moved to Lewes. He was the Middlesex F.A. representative to the national F.A., where he served on the disciplinary and refereeing committees, and on the committee that revised the game's rules. In 1912 he helped establish the Athenian League, for amateur football clubs in the London area. In 1913 he became the first new director of the Arsenal F.C. after they moved to Highbury stadium and remained in that role for more than a decade.

He resigned after a disagreement with the chairman (who had made his chauffeur a member of the Arsenal ground staff). He transferred his allegiance to Chelsea F.C., where he was a director through the 1930s and became chairman. He resigned from the Chelsea board in 1940, to focus on his wartime duties in Lewes. He was also involved in the development of football in other European countries, especially Belgium. Later in life he was a director of the Lewes Wanderers and president of the East Sussex League. He was much in demand as a speaker and writer on football topics, owning his own sports newspaper at one period. In 1923 he gave a talk entitled 'Humours of Football' on BBC Radio, the first recorded broadcast BBC feature on football. He contributed football columns to several newspapers including the Sussex Express.

Colonel Charles Doland Crisp OBE 1864-1956
Charles was our 3rd Club Chairman and had a very distinguished life in Football, The Military and in Public Life in Lewes Sussex. The funeral was held in St Annes Church, Lewes. The internment was then held at Lewes Cemetery.
This article comes from the Lewes History Group
Charles Doland Crisp was chosen Mayor of the Borough of Lewes on eleven occasions – more than anyone else. He was elected to this post in 1923-1925, 1938-1944 (so in office right through World War II) and finally in 1949. When he retired as Mayor in 1950 he was in his mid-eighties. He was a Conservative councillor who also represented Lewes on East Sussex County Council for many years following his first election in 1925. Who was this remarkable public servant, remembered today primarily by a road named after him on the Borough Council's Landport estate?
A basic biography is available. He was born in Hammersmith on 18 February 1864. His father, also called Charles Crisp, was a piano tuner. He had an elder and a younger sister. He followed the example of his elder sister, and trained as a teacher at the Anglican Culham College in Oxfordshire. In 1886 he married Alice Kemp, a Whitstable oyster merchant's daughter, whose brother was also a teacher, and they had a daughter and a son born in 1887 & 1889. In the 1891 census he was a certificated school master at Shere in Surrey, where he was headmaster. By 1901 he had changed his career to become a superintendent in a life insurance office. He joined the Norwich Union in 1906 and worked for them for the rest of his working life, retiring as a director on New Year's Eve 1937. He returned to London, living at Melrose Gardens, Hammersmith, in 1901-2, Wexford Road, Clapham, from 1903-1905 and Whitehall Park, Islington, 1909-1912.
His son served as a Royal Navy officer before, during and after the Great War, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Charles Doland Crisp was 50 when the war broke out, but nevertheless served first in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later in the army, rising rapidly through the ranks to become a Lieutenant-Colonel and deputy commandant of the cadets in the County of London Territorial Force. In recognition of this work he was awarded an O.B.E. in 1920.
In 1920 Lt-Col Crisp and his family moved to Lewes, with their home at 'Franche', 2 De Warenne Road. He lived there until his death. He was elected to the Borough Council in 1921 to and the County Council in 1925. As mayor he became a local magistrate. His wife Alice died in January 1935, after which his married daughter served as his Mayoress. He was in his late seventies by the start of World War II, but in addition to serving as mayor he also acted as Town Clerk and sub-controller for the Lewes A.R.P. wardens. He was said to have been on duty for every one of the town's 1,051 air raid alerts. In 1940 he was made a Freeman of the Borough. The Duke of Norfolk chaired a public dinner given to mark his 90th birthday. He died in 1956, a few days before his 92nd birthday.
However, this impressive career is only one aspect of Charles Doland Crisp's life. He was an active freemason but his passion was for sport, in particular football. In his youth he embraced a number of sports, playing in goal as an amateur first for Oxfordshire and then for the London Hotspur team. He was also played cricket, golf and tennis, swam, was a good middleweight boxer and ran the 100 and 200 yards for Ranelagh Harriers. In the 1940s he chaired the Sussex branch of the Amateur Athletics Association and in later life he took up bowls.

He also became deeply involved in the organisation of football as it became more professional. He was a founder-member of the football referees union in 1908, becoming its London regional organiser and serving as an official at the London Olympic Games football tournament in 1908. He was chairman of the Middlesex Football Association for several decades, before and after he moved to Lewes. He was the Middlesex F.A. representative to the national F.A., where he served on the disciplinary and refereeing committees, and on the committee that revised the game's rules. In 1912 he helped establish the Athenian League, for amateur football clubs in the London area. In 1913 he became the first new director of the Arsenal F.C. after they moved to Highbury stadium and remained in that role for more than a decade.

He resigned after a disagreement with the chairman (who had made his chauffeur a member of the Arsenal ground staff). He transferred his allegiance to Chelsea F.C., where he was a director through the 1930s and became chairman. He resigned from the Chelsea board in 1940, to focus on his wartime duties in Lewes. He was also involved in the development of football in other European countries, especially Belgium. Later in life he was a director of the Lewes Wanderers and president of the East Sussex League. He was much in demand as a speaker and writer on football topics, owning his own sports newspaper at one period. In 1923 he gave a talk entitled 'Humours of Football' on BBC Radio, the first recorded broadcast BBC feature on football. He contributed football columns to several newspapers including the Sussex Express.