Kidderminster

Kidderminster Harriers were formed in 1886 from a highly successful athletics and rugby union club that had existed since 1877. In July 1880 the Athletics club amalgamated with the local Clarence rugby club to become 'Kidderminster Harriers and Football Club'. Matches were played at White Wickets on the Franche Road in Kidderminster. 1885-6 was the last season played as a rugby club and the Harriers switched to Association rules for the next season.

Olympic and Kidderminster F.C.

Playing games at Chester Road (the current cricket ground) Harriers' first game was 18 September 1886, away to Wilden, winning 2–1. The town saw a rival team start up as Kidderminster Olympic in 1887, rapidly becoming one of the best sides in the area. In 1887–88 the club started playing its matches at Aggborough.

Both Olympic and Harriers were founder members of the Birmingham and District League in 1889, Olympic won the league in 1890, with Harriers runners-up. Both sides regularly attracted crowds of 2,000–4,000 with the local derbies seeing over 7,000 attending. Owing to their success soon after both Olympic and Harriers were subject to allegations of 'professionalism' and illegal payments to players, although the League Committee let off both clubs with a warning about future conduct.

In 1890, the two clubs amalgamated as Kidderminster F.C. on a full professional basis, the new club being admitted to the Midland League which had been formed in 1889. The club became the first from the town to enter the FA Cup and after winning 4 qualifying-round games, reached the first round proper (last 32). They lost 3–1 away to Darwen but protested the result because of the poor state of the pitch. Their protest was upheld and the tie was replayed a week later, again at Darwen, where Darwen won 13–0. However the club found things difficult financially as a fully professional club, and, with debts of £369, resigned from the league and was wound up in March 1891.

Birmingham League

The club reverted to amateur status in the Birmingham and District League the following season as Kidderminster Harriers. The club again reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1906–07, losing to Oldham Athletic away 5–0. In 1910 the then current England international full-back Jesse Pennington signed for Harriers after a dispute with his then club West Bromwich Albion. He played one game before the dispute was resolved and he returned to Albion.

The twenties were hard going for the club as poor form on the pitch and financial problems off it took their toll. Harriers did manage a League runners-up place in 1924–25. In this season Harriers made national headlines by signing Stanley Fazackerley, who had been the first £5,000 transfer in English football and scorer of the FA Cup Final winning goal for Sheffield United in 1915. After a pay dispute, he had been given 14 days notice by his then club Wolverhampton Wanderers and had returned to the public house he managed in the city, where a Harriers fan drinking there overheard the news and quickly contacted the Harriers Secretary. The then Wolves captain George Getgood, also in contractual dispute at the time, also signed for Harriers in a double swoop.

The 1927–28 season saw an accusation of bribery against secretary Pat Davis by Cradley Heath. During an investigation Davis admitted he had offered Burton Town players a ten shillings bonus if they managed to beat Worcester City in the last match of the season. The match was drawn so the bonus was never paid. The case made the national newspapers and Pat Davis was temporarily suspended from all duties.

Harriers proved a rich source of young quality players picked up by professional football clubs at this time, those moving to bigger clubs including full back Billy Blake (Crystal Palace), winger Fred Leedham (transferred to West Bromwich Albion for £300), Dennis Jennings (to Huddersfield Town for £600) and forward Norman Brookes (to Walsall for £70). In 1935–36 a new scoring record for the club was set, with Billy Boswell scoring 64 goals in a single season.

Southern League

Harriers did not win the West Midlands League until 1938, finishing the season undefeated. They moved to the Southern League the following year, but played just two games because of the onset of World War II.

They rejoined the Southern League in 1948. Their first game was a 1–1 draw with Chingford Town in front of 3,889. Future Football Association General Secretary Ted Croker was a Harriers player during the early 1950s, as was future England international striker Gerry Hitchens(1953–55). Harriers became the first team to host a floodlit FA Cup match, when on 14 September 1955 they played Brierley Hill Alliance in a preliminary round replay, which Harriers won 4–2. By 1956–57 the club was again in financial difficulties and after several seasons of struggle in 1960 the club voluntarily dropped back down to the Birmingham League.