Two Lancaster based clubs, Skerton F.C. (1897–1900) and Lancaster Athletic F.C. (1905–11) had competed in the Lancashire Combination but both clubs folded without completing their final season's fixtures, with Lancaster Athletic playing their final season in the West Lancashire Football League. The present club was then founded in the spring of 1911 as Lancaster Town F.C. and were admitted to Division Two of the Lancashire Combination for the start of the 1911–12 season after proving to the league and the Lancashire FA that they had no connection with the previous two clubs.