Harry Hinton

Harry Carvelery Hinton (8 January 1857 – 16 April 1948 ) was an industrialist and a football pioneer who is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings of football in Portugal, organizing the first-ever football game in the country in 1875, at the age of 18.

Early life Harry Hinton was born in 1857 in Funchal, Madeira, as the son of William Hinton (1817–1904) and Mary Wallas, and as the heir to a family that dominated the banana trade. Although he studied in London, Hinton defined himself as a fully Madeiran. According to the chronicles, it was Hinton who in the summer of 1875, brought the first ball of football from England to the island. which was played by British only. However, he might have taught young Madeirans how to play the game as well.

In addition to football, Hinton also enjoyed hunting, which he practiced alongside several nobles, such as King Carlos I, Albert I, Prince of Monaco, and the Nicholas Maximilianovitch, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg. Between 1895 and 1919, he held a monopoly on the manufacture of sugar and alcohol in Madeira, which led to extensive discussion in Parliament and in both the local and the national press. He remodeled the house and gardens, opening an access road to Monte Railway, which is located a short distance away.

Hinton had various hobbies that were directly linked with his interest in the culture and history of Madeira, such as acquiring and collecting several literary works about the archipelago, which were transferred to the collection of the . Besides the bookstore, he also enriched the collection of the , by offering it a sword believed to have belonged to João Gonçalves Zarco, which he had purchased from the Cossart family. His keenness for historical artifacts led him to restore, to its original design, the so-called Columbus Window, which was located in the house of João Esmeraldo (demolished in 1876), where it is thought that Christopher Columbus lived. Hinton placed the window in the Quinta das Palmeiras, a property where he received several national and foreign personalities, including D. Carlos I, King of Portugal, of whom he was a close friend, Albert I, Prince of Monaco, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi.

Death During the Second World War, Hinton funded a British military aircraft, which he named "Palmeira" in an allusion to the Quinta das Palmeiras, where he died on 16 April 1948 at the age of 91. His funeral was held on the following day and was attended by several civil and military authorities, such as José Leite Monteiro, interim district governor, and Ernesto Honorato Ferreira, representing the Funchal City Council. His remains were taken to a British cemetery, where they were deposited in the family tomb.

As a sign of grief, several commercial and industrial establishments in Funchal kept their doors half-closed, while several football clubs in the region placed their respective flags at half-mast.

Legacy Following his death, the administrative committee of the Santa Cruz municipality (Camacha's location) decided to erect a monument to perpetuate the memory of the first football match in Portugal. Today there is a small football field in Largo da Achada in homage to the place that provided the launch pad for football in Portugal by Hinton.