Western Front was ‘meeting mates on tour’

Brendan Gallagher describes how rugby played such a tragic part in the Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was the biggest Battle of World War One and Rugby Union’s involvement was absolutely massive.

On arriving on the Western front Aussie Test cap George Pugh, who died at Ypres in 1916, wrote home: “Have met lots of old friends including rugger men. It puts you in the mind of a football tour as they all seem to be here. No omissions by the selectors on this trip!”

Former Scotland and Cambridge University captain Rowland Fraser, a hard tacking forward, perished on that very first day. A captain in 6 Rifle Brigade he was initially badly injured by machine gun fire but managed to crawl to a bomb hole where his orderly started to dress his wounds. Fraser might conceivably have survived but was then killed instantly by shrapnel from an exploding shell.

Another early fatality was legendary Cardiff and Wales wing Johnny Williams – 17 tries in 17 internationals and three Triple Crown titles – who died of his wounds on July 12, five days after leading the charge at Mametz Wood in which the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division were deeply involved. Also killed at Memetz Wood was Williams’ former Wales colleague Richard ‘Dick’ Thomas the police constable at Mountain Ash until joining up in 1915.

Blackheath’s Lawrence Pillman was the younger brother of renowned England star ‘Cherry’ Pillman but was beginning to make his own mark on the game when war broke out having made his Five Nations debut against France in Paris in April 1914.

He was quickly promoted to lieutenant in the Tenth Battalion of the Queens Own where he was effectively the bombing officer, one of the most perilous jobs of all. Pillman was shot by a sniper returning from a night operation on July 9 in the Armentieres area and died a few hours later.

Maesteg’s David Watts was a member of the “Terrible Eight”, the Welsh pack which earned a reputation in 1914 for its uncompromising play. He joined the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry and rose to the rank of corporal before being killed in fierce fighting at Bezentine Ridge.

Another killed in July, at Delville Wood, was former Scotland scrumhalf Eric Puss Milroy who toured with the Lions in 1910. Milroy was a lieutenant in the Black Watch and like scores of thousands of soldiers involved in battle there were no remains to bury, no closure for loved ones. For years his mother would leave a light on in the front room of the family house to guide her son home. Just in case.

The small village of Guillemont witnessed some of the most savage fighting and on August 9 two England internationals and firm friends – John King and Noel Slocock – were killed in the same attack. King was a flinty Yorkshire farmer and regular hooker for England –12 internationals in three seasons – who joined up immediately with the Yorkshire Husars, reportedly leaving his three sisters to get the crop in.

Frustrated at a lack of action he used his friendship with the well-connected Slocock to engineer a transfer to the London Scottish Regiment and then the Liverpool (Scottish) Regiment and it was while fighting with the Scottish that he was killed in action.

Slocock, who had captained England in 1908 as a 21-year-old, was 29 when he died leading his men in attack.

On September 3, the fight for Guillemont claimed Wales fly-half Horace Thomas, a choral scholar and Cambridge Blue. Thomas had become something of a cause celebre in 1912 when he was picked for Wales to play against the Springboks. The policy at the time was that no Welsh player outside of the principality be allowed to play unless they were a member at London Welsh. Which Thomas wasn’t.

The remarkable Rev Rupert Inglis was an army chaplain and an England rugby international of 30 years standing when he found himself at the Somme. At the age of 51 he had volunteered feeling it was morally unacceptable for him to preach from the pulpit asking young men in his Basingstoke parish to step forward unless he was willing to do likewise. So he served as a stretcher bearer, one of the most hazardous jobs of all. Inglis met his end near Ginchy on September 18 recovering wounded colleagues from noman’s land.

The following day saw All Blacks wing Frank Wilson lose his battle for life and a second New Zealander was lost when Stanley ‘Bobby’ Black was killed in action serving with the Canterbury Regiment.

Another antipodean made the ultimate sacrifice as the battle finally drew to a close in November when Herbert Jones was killed at Flers where the Allied troops unveiled their new secret weapon, the tank.

The final Test player to be killed at the Somme was Alfred Maynard, a Naval man, who was killed at Beaumont Hamel on November 13. Maynard, England’s hooker in the 1914 Five Nations, had survived the Gallipoli campaign but his luck ran out when Naval detachments were drafted to the Western Front to help the war on land.

“Rev Rupert Inglis decided he could not preach to young men unless he was willing to join them”