The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson, and a plaque next to their stadium commemorates him to this day. Dulwich's greatest ever player was Edgar Kail, who scored over 400 goals for the club. An amateur footballer, he won three full caps for the England team against France, Belgium and Spain in 1929, and shunned 'big money' moves to professional clubs to play for his beloved Dulwich
Hamlet. Bert Coleman also won an England cap while playing at Dulwich in 1921. At that time, they had attracted crowds of up to 20,000 - though now they have around 300 supporters on match day. The club has produced some professional players such as George Ndah, Simeon Jackson, Albert Jarrett, Carl Asaba, Leon Cort, George Elokobi and Marlon King. Chris Dickson is most recent pro to come out of the club, moving to Charlton Athletic F.C. in January 2007
In recent years, Dulwich's Isthmian League triumph of 1948-1949 has been the highest point in 60 years. The club remained in the Premier Division until 1973, when a second division was formed into which they were relegated. They soon, however, won promotion back to the Premier Division, and a highlight was finishing 3rd in the league in 1980. After relegation to the Division One in 1990, the club were promoted in 1992, and remained there until 2001, with a fifth place finish in 1995 the highest position. In 1998-99, Dulwich saw off Deal Town, Thurrock, and Newport IOW, to reach the first round of the FA Cup, where a record attendance of 1,835 saw them lose 1-0 to Southport. Since relegation from the top flight in 2001, the club have failed to regain their place, with the most heart breaking moment a play-off penalty shoot-out defeat to Wealdstone in 2004. The most recent highlight was an appearance in the Isthmian League Cup Final in March 2011, although the game ended in a 0-2 defeat to Wingate & Finchley from Division 1 North of the Isthmian League. In May of the same season, Dulwich came again within touching distance of the Ryman's Premier League, losing in the play-off final, this time to Leatherhead, 4-3 after extra time.
