In 1896 the Duke of St Albans, previously Lord Burford, who regularly attended matches at Nottingham Forest and Notts County gave a silver cup to be annually competed for by clubs in the Midlands – the Burford Charity Cup.
This competition was played twice to completion – Leicester Fosse appeared in both finals – winning the first and losing the second. The third competition, controlled by Nottinghamshire Football Association, did not progress beyond the qualifying competition.