Answering the call...
SOLDIERS
Ronnie Poulton (England): Impossibly talented and dashing England captain who led his team to the Grand Slam in 1914 and scored four tries in Paris in the last international rugby game before the War, against France in Paris. Enlisted with the Royal Berks but was killed by an enemy sniper on May 5, 1915 while repairing a trench in the vicinity of Ploegsteert. Dave Gallaher, below right, (New Zealand): The Irishborn Kiwi credited with creating the template for the All Blacks with his disciplined and commanding captaincy during their historic European tour of 1905. Previously fought in the Boer War and, aged 41, pulled strings to ensure he could join up with the 2nd Battalion Auckland Regiment up for the Great War. Killed at Passchendaele on October 4 1917. Richard Garnons Williams (Wales): Colonel Williams was capped, against England, way back in 1881 and retired from regular Army life in 1892 only to volunteer again 12 years later at the age of 58 on the outbreak of War. He was posted with the 12th Royal Fusiliers. Killed on September 27, 1915 while leading his Regiment in battle in the Loos region.
AVIATORS
Cyril Lowe (England) MC
DFC: Phenomenally quick England wing who scored 18 tries in 25 Tests either side of WW1. His stats would have been off the Richter scale had War not intervened. Transferred from the Army Service Corps to the Royal Flying Corp in 1916, trained as a pilot and claimed nine ‘victories’ as the RFC preferred to call them. The model for WE Johns’ Biggles. John George Will (Scotland): The original Flying Scot on account of pre-War performances for Scotland. Served for a year in the Army on the Western Front but then joined the Royal Flying Corp. Shot down and killed on March 25, 1917 by Lothar von Richthofen who was patrolling with his brother Manfred, the Red Baron. Buried with full military honours behind German lines by the Germans.
Max Boyau (France): Dashing French wing and France captain in the 1913 Five Nations who played for Dax where the stadium is still named after him. Fighter pilot who claimed 14 victories and also shot down 21 barrage balloons, a dangerous occupation as the Germans defended then with heavy artillery. Shot down and killed on September 18, 1918
NAVY
Arthur Harrison (England) VC: The only rugby international to win the Victoria Cross
during World War 1, Harrison was a burly forward who played for England before the War and saw service at the Battle of Dogger Bank and Jutland before commanding a raiding party at Zeebrugge on April 23, 1918. Initially knocked unconscious, with his jaw broken by shrapnel, before leading the attack on a vital machine gun encampment.
Charles Taylor (Wales): The first Welsh international to be killed in the War, Taylor had originally been a member of the Blackheath club but in 1885 become one of the founding members of London Welsh. A lifelong Navy man he was serving as an engineer captain on HMS Tiger when he was killed, along with ten other crew members, during the Battle of Dogger Bank in the North Sea.
Cecil Abercombie (Scotland): A standout player for US Services Portsmouth and Scotland and accomplished Hampshire batsmen with a first-class average of over 40. Was serving on HMS Defence at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1915 when the ship’s magazine exploded resulting in the death of all 900 crewmen with the ship sinking in minutes.
MEDICS
Major Robert Smyth MD
(Ireland): Originally from Banbridge County Down, Smyth was a Dublin Univeristy medicine graduate who played centre for Ireland and three Tests for the British Lions in South Africa in 1903. Served in the RAMC and was posted to France with the Expeditionary Force. Invalided home in 1915 after being gassed, recovered and hurried back to the front only to be gassed again in March 1916, dying a month later
Thomas Crean (Ireland) VC: Legendary Irish and Lions forward from the end of the 19th century, Crean had already won a Victoria Cross during the Boer War but quit his job as a surgeon to join up again at the age of 41 in 1914. Commanded the 44th Field Ambulance on the Western Front, twice mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the DSO in June 1915.
John Huggan (Scotland): Brilliant wing and medical student who starred in the final Calcutta Cup match before the War. Huggan joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and died on September 16, 1914 in extraordianry circumstances, repeatedly entering a blazing barn to rescue injured German soldiers who had been housed there after capture. Many felt his ‘conspicuous bravery’ warranted the VC.
DIED AFTER HOSTILITIES
Reggie Schwarz MC: Played Rugby for England and Test cricket for South Africa – he was a noted early exponent of the googley – and served throughout the War with the Kings Rifle corps only to die seven days after the Armistice from the Spanish flu epidemic that swept through Europe.
Fred Perrett: Played in five Tests for Wales before turning professional, badly injured while serving with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in June 1917 and finally died from those wounds in December 1918.
Henry Brougham: Olympic medallist at rackets who only turned to rugby halfway through his time at Oxford, quickly being capped by England. Broughman served with the Royal Artillery suffered horribly when being gassed in 1917 and contracted TB while commanding a battery in Northern Ireland the following year. Died on February 18, 1923 in France.