Charles Wreford Brown (9 October 1866 - 26 November 1951) is usually credited with inventing the word soccer.

He was born in Bristol and attended Charterhouse School before going on to Oxford University. He keen amateur sportsman and played both football and cricket for the university. He also played cricket for Gloucestershire and football for the Old Carthusians and captained the English national football team several times between 1894 and 1895.

He was first appointed to the council of The Football Association to represent the Old Carthusians in 1892 and later served as representative of Oxford University. He served as a Vice-President of the association from 1941 till his death in 1951.