The club was founded in 1875 under the name Reading St Lawrence, based at the Abbey Institute, an organization for young men affiliated with St Lawrence's Church;[1] its earliest recorded matches are from the 1877–78 season.

The club also played Reading for the only time, in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup second round, losing 2–0.

in a replay in the first, thanks to a very late goal by full-back Maxwell (who was "playing well up"),[9] but its defeat (again at the Reading Cricket Ground)[10] to the Hotspur club of Battersea was its last appearance in the competition.

This seems to have caused the club to forgo membership of the Football Association after 1882, and, therefore, not be able to enter the FA Cup.

in 1883,[11] but the Abbey Institute closed during the 1883–84 season, and the club played very few matches during it.