Stateside Spurs fan makes Hotspur ancestry discovery

A small bit of research into your family tree can throw up all sorts of hidden gems and wonders in your ancestry, but what about finding out that your lineage could be traced to the man who inspired the name of your beloved football club?

Well that is exactly what happened to Spurs fan Hope Mattson of Maryland in the United States of America who discovered that Sir Henry (Harry Hotspur) Percy – the historical figure behind our world-famous name ‘Hotspur’ - was in fact her 17th great grandfather.

A nobleman, a knight and a rebel of the 14th century. A character immortalised by William Shakespeare. The story of ‘Harry Hotspur’ is certainly a colourful one. He took his nickname from the spurs on his sabatons (boots) and it was from reading of his bravery and valour that our founders elected to have his name adorn their new football club in Tottenham all the way back in 1882.

And it was from watching our journey over the last few years that, across the pond, Hope gravitated to the Club. Excited by the way we played and by watching the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-Son to name a few, she felt a connection with the Club - it was almost like Spurs was in her blood…

Little did she know that was in fact the case as, when the keen genealogist then stumbled across the name Sir Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy in her recent studies of her family’s history, a spark went off in her mind as the connection to the Club became clear.

“It was like the lightbulb moment above cartoon characters’ heads, like, ‘oh wow, I’m related to him and I love the team’. It was really exciting,” Hope explained.

“It was something that I could just see. You could see that I was connected to him and you could see his connection to the team. It then changed from being just a name on a chart, it became more real. I felt more connected to the team and I was proud of the fact that I am related to that man even if it was very many grandfathers back. It made me want to look into him more, read more about him and his character.

“He was quite a character. He was a knight from Northumberland. It was such a detailed history on him; I was amazed. He was a knight of the Garter, written about in Shakespeare, but I’m just a housewife that happened to see a Spurs game one day.

“I try to catch the games when I can. They are on quite early here. We try to get up to watch them, but we do record them when we can. Some of them are on about 7.30am and some are on at 10am. We have a Spurs flag on our flagpole outside our house.

“I can’t recall exactly what game sparked the interest in Spurs. I know we won the game but I’m a big fan of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son. I like all of the team, but those are the players who stand out for me. At some point, it would be nice to see them play in person. I would love to see a game. That would make it even more real.”