William Charles Cuff

  General Notes:

William Charles Cuff was born in or about the year 1870 and brought up in the City of Liverpool. He practiced the law there for nearly fifty-five years. He was admitted as a solicitor in March 1894 and was still in practice when he died on 6th February 1949.
Cuff belonged to that generation which survived the Second World War but was too old to fight in the First World War. He practiced on his own account, or in partnership, at Goodison Road, Lord Street and Castle Street, Liverpool. From the early 1 920s, until about 1931, he was a Partner in the firm of North Kirk. A partnership dispute arose and Cuff withdrew from the partnership. Thomas Blackburn Roberts ( TBR ) became articled to Cuff in 1928 and remained Articled to him when Cuff withdrew from North Kirk. TBR was admitted a Solicitor in 1933 and remained with Cuff as an assistant until 1st July 1938, when he became a Partner with Cuff, and the name of the firm was changed from "W.C.CUFF' to "Cuff Roberts & Co's
The Second World War began on 3rd September 1939, and on the 4th September 1939, the Partnership was dissolved upon the advice of Professor W. Lyon Blease of Chancery Counsel. The Partnership was resumed on 1st November 1945.
TBR, an Officer in the Territorial Army, served in the Royal Artillery for the whole of the war; saw action in the Western Desert, and in Italy, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1939 Cuff must have been about Seventy Years of Age, and wishing to take a much less active part in the practice, even if he did not wish to retire completely. Nonetheless, for over six years, he "Nursed" the practice until TBR returned from his war service. The financial accounts for the practice for those years show that Cuff (having made an allowance to TBR and his wife) must have lived off his investment income.
Cuff had a keen mind and personality, which naturally attracted clients. He was, for many years, a Director of Everton Football Club, and became its Chairman. For some years also he held the office of President of the Football League. Cuff married, and survived his wife by a year or two. They had one child only, a son, who emigrated to Australia, where he was still living when Cuff died.

EXTRACTS FROM HISTORY OF EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB.

William Charles Cuff, one of the most influential men in the history of the club and in the development of the game, was at one time the Choirmaster of St. Domingo Church. Like his father before him he was a Trustee of the Church, and George Mahon, organist in 1890 and 1891, was one of the leaders of the group that moved Everton to Goodison Park.
Cuffs association with the club stretched all the way back to Stanley Park, where as a ten year old he had cheered for St. Domingo's, and taken a kick at the ball whenever he could. He played for the Mount and Walton Breck clubs, until injury forced him to turn his energies to encouraging young players to take up the sport.
Cuff was educated at Liverpool College, articled to the Legal profession in 1888 and admitted in 1893. His interest in football was so great that it was inevitable that his influence would spread beyond Goodison Park. Cuff advocated an organised league for reserve teams, and his foresight led to the formation of the Central League in 1911. The demands of his work as a solicitor forced him to resign as the clubs secretary in 1918, but three years later he was persuaded to rejoin the board, was made Chairman, and was one of the game's foremost administrators for the next 27 years. He was Everton's Chairman until 1938, and succeeded Charles Sutcliffe-Footballs Legislative genius'-as the League President.
Sutcliffe like Cuff was a Solicitor from Lancashire. Ivan Sharpe, footballer and Journalist was the last to talk to Cuff about Football, "He told me of his plan to check the rise in transfer fees, as the figure had rocketed beyond £20,000. I asked about the future" "The transfer system he said is absolutely necessary", "lt is the abuse of it we have to consider and the problem is difficult". The alteration Cuff proposed was so drastic that an hour or so later Ivan read to him over the telephone what he had written, "That's correct", Cuff replied in a husky voice, " I wish I could get rid of this cold, Cant shake things off now like when I was under Eighty." Such was Cuffs breezy way, what Ivan wrote Cuff never read, twelve hours later Cuff had died.

Along with his opposition to excessive inflation of transfer fees, Cuff was against the Leagues accepting money from the Pools companies in respect of copyright of the League Fixtures, and it was he who helped James Fay, the Secretary of the Footballers Union, the Professional Footballers Association (which Everton, Iike many clubs, had frowned upon) to win his long battle for a Provident Fund.
No one expressed the ideal of Everton with greater clarity than Cuff as reported in the Liverpool Daily Post of February 2nd 1 946;Throughout its history Everton has been noted for the high quality of its football. It has always been an unwritten but rigid policy of the board, handed down from one generation of Directors to another, that only the classical and stylish type of player should be signed. The kick-and-rush type has never appealed to them. Cuff's early days as Everton's guide were momentous. During 1901 -2,Queen Victoria died and the Edwardian era began with the Peace of Vereeniging and the end of the Boer War. Everton and Liverpool met for the first time in the F.A.Cup. They were drawn together at Anfield in the first round of the competition and both teams left town to prepare for the Confrontation.

By Tom Howell - Consultant at Cuff Roberts Solicitors.1994 ⁵³⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Census: 1901: Walton on the Hill, Lancs. ⁶⁰⁰

William married Jessie Ford, daughter of George Henry Ford and Ann Rebecca Hudston, on 27 Jun 1894 in St Domingo Chapel, Liverpool.⁵³⁰ (Jessie Ford was born in 1868 in Croydon, Surrey ⁶ and died on 13 Feb 1948 in Liverpool ⁵³⁰.)