Lancashire born Arthur Chadwick, an England International during his time with Southampton, was Exeter City's first manager and held the post between 1908 and 1922 when he left for Reading. Recruiting many players from the North West of England, he steered the newly-professional club through its early years in the Southern League - and with the First World War in between - into the Football League in 1920.

Growing up between Blackburn and Burnley, he was working as a cotton weaver at the time of the 1891 census and finding his way in football with clubs such as Church and Accrington. A centre-half, he subsequently started his senior career with Burton Swifts before moving to Southampton in 1897 where he was a member of the team that won the Southern League in 1898, 1899 and 1901. Appearing twice for England against Wales and Scotland, he also featured in Southampton's FA Cup final defeat in 1901 ahead of joining neighbours Portsmouth shortly afterwards. Winning another Southern League title with his new club in 1902, he left Pompey in 1904 to spend two years with Northampton Town prior to heading home to join Accrington Stanley of the Lancashire Combination in 1906.

After a brief spell with Haslingden, the 32-year-old was approached by the directors of the new company that had been formed to bring professional football to Exeter. Taking up the post of player-manager in April 1908 he had four months to recruit an enquire squad of players who would be capable of Southern League football.

Using his contacts in Lancashire and other parts of the country he quickly assembled squad that comprised a dozen players signed directly from clubs in the north of England, three players arriving from elsewhere who had been born in the northern counties, a Scot and two local amatuers who had turned professional. Arthur, for his own part, scored on his debut for City in the 3-2 home win over Norwich City in September 1908. Going on to make fifty-five league and cup appearances (until concentrating on management alone from 1910), the adventure started with City finishing a highly-creditable 6th in the first season of Southern League football. This couldn't quite be sustained as 18th, 13th,,15th, 7th, 12th and 11th place finishes were secured in the seasons leading up to the suspension of football for the duration of hostilities in 1915. Given the circumstances of the club's position this was an admirable outcome considering that there had only been one season of struggle and that there were only half-a-dozen clubs from the south of England playing a higher level than this at the time.

The first eight seasons of Mr Chadwick's time at St James' Park provide two particular matters of historical interest. Firstly, there was the illegal bonus payments scandal of 1912 which resulted in a number of directors (but not chairman Michael McGahey) being censured and the club fined. Secondly, the 1914 tour of Argentina and Brazil which later became famous when it was realised that the Brazilian national team's first-ever fixture was against the touring Grecians.

Once the excitement had died down City - in common with other professional clubs - continued to play football until the end of the 1914/15 before 'official' football shut down for the next four years as the Great War continued to rage. Facing enormous challenges, and with several football careers ended because of the conflict, Mr Chadwick - aided by the sterling efforts of secretary Sid Thomas - was once again in charge of a Southern League team in 1919/20 when the Grecians finished a respectable 10th.

By now Exeter had the firstly 'locally-produced' player in its ranks who was destined to go on to higher things in the shape of goalkeeper Dick Pym. With the former Topsham fisherman leaving for Bolton Wanderers - where he won three FA Cup winners' medals and played for England - City were admitted to the new third section of the Football League along with the rest of the Southern League. Although the level of football was largely unchanged, it still represented a significant landmark in the club's history (with the new status maintained until relegation in 2003). Mr Chadwick could now claim to be City's first manager in the Football League with albeit modest 19th and 21st placings in 1921 and 1922.

But there wasn't to be a completed third season in the competition for Arthur because he was to resign his post in December 1922 with the Grecians again struggling. In what had been a rather disappointing end to Mr Chadwick's fourteen years at the club, his future remained uncertain until he became manager of Reading early in 1923 ahead of a return to Southampton in October 1925. After guiding the Saints to an FA Cup semi-final in 1927, he resigned in frustration in April 1931 over the way the club was selling its best players.

Returning to live in Exeter, where he had kept a house on Pinhoe Road, Mr Chadwick died on 21 March 1936 whilst sat in the grandstand at St James’ Park watching City play Clapton Orient. He is buried in the city's Higher Cemetery alongside his wife Winifred who died in 1949. At the time of Arthur Chadwick's funeral a local football correspondent reflected that often people described him as 'uncompromising' but none questioned his integrity. Chadwick was, he wrote, 'a straight man and a fine manager held in the highest esteem throughout the realms of football'. He then added ‘his views on the game were decided in character. Woe betide the footballer under his charge who banged the ball in the air when he could have kept it along the ground’.

Arthur Chadwick's grave was restored by the Exeter City Museum Trust in 2021 and, on 24 March 2023, a ceremony took place when Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell and Alan Parkinson representing Accrington Stanley laid flowers on the grave.

For more about Arthur Chadwick, together with a local newspaper report written at the time of his departure from Exeter City in December 1922, please refer to his entry on the A to Z of first-team players on this website.