Northwich Victoria FC is a former English League football club based in the town of Northwich, Cheshire.  Founded in 1874, the club was named Northwich Victoria in honour of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. The club initially played only friendly matches but graduated to a loose association of clubs called the Combination. Northwich became founder members of the Second Division of the Football League in 1892. Two seasons were spent in the league but the financial burden of professionalism saw the club resigning league status at the end of the second year. The club returned to the Combination until 1898 when it joined the newly formed Cheshire League where it stayed for two years. A spell in the Manchester league followed before the club became members of the Lancashire Combination in 1912/13. Organised football came to a halt at the outbreak of the Great War but when hostilities ceased, the club joined the newly formed Cheshire League. Although a top ranking club, the title was captured just once in a memorable 1956/57 campaign. In 1968, Northwich were one of several members from the Cheshire County League to leave and become founder members of the newly created Northern Premier League. They were founder members of the Conference (then Alliance) in 1979 and have been there ever since - quite an achievement when you consider their seemingly-permanent financial problems and crowds averaging rather less than 1,000 for most of that time.