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Rugby historian Gwyn Prescott, the author of Call Them To Remembrance, pays tribute to the 13 Welsh rugby internationals who gave their lives during The Great War.

The First World War came in the wake of Welsh rugby's first Golden Era, which included the first Grand Slam by any country and historic wins over New Zealand as Wales remained unbeaten between March 1907 to January 1910.

Over 40,000 Welshmen died in the First World War. Thirteen of them shared a common experience of having worn the famous red jersey of the Welsh International Rugby team. They included Richard Thomas, John Lewis Williams, David Westacott, Horace Wyndham Thomas, Richard Davies Garnons Williams, Charles Gerald Taylor, Louis 鈥淟ou鈥� Augustus Phillips, Charles Meyrick Pritchard, Philip Dudley Waller, Brinley Richard Lewis, William 鈥淏illy鈥� Purdon Geen, Fred Leonard Perrett and David Watts.

Rugby did not take long to respond to the catastrophic news that war had broken out between Britain and Germany on 4 August 1914. Only three weeks later, the Welsh Rugby Union issued a circular to clubs calling on all players to answer 鈥渢he urgent call of their King and Country鈥� and there was an immediate response. With players across the country enlisting and clubs like Cardiff announcing they had cancelled fixtures, on 4 Sept 1914, the WRU officially suspended all fixtures for the duration of the war and strongly recommended that clubs should give up their grounds for use by the army.

Rugby continued to be played throughout the war by military teams and, in November 1914, the WRU even agreed to allow other matches, provided they were arranged for charitable or recruiting purposes, but rugby, as it had been organised in previous years, ceased. Throughout Britain, this remained the position until shortly after the Armistice in November 1918, when clubs were at last permitted to play again. No reliable records exist of the total number of Welsh rugby players or even internationals who answered the WRU鈥檚 call. But it is known that thirteen Welsh international players who did, paid the ultimate sacrifice. It is a remarkable characteristic of Britain鈥檚 participation in the First World War, that, for the first seventeen months of that dreadful conflict, the country was able to rely entirely on volunteers to supply its armed forces. Conscription, was not introduced until January 1916 and before then, all thirteen had volunteered for active service.

The English, Irish and Scottish International players who died in the war were predominantly middle or upper class. However the thirteen Welshmen reflect the much more socially varied nature of rugby in Wales. Working-class players as well as those from the professional and commercial middle class and even the landed gentry are all represented. Amongst the thirteen can be found a collier, a docker, a policeman, a steelworker, an engineer, a wholesaler, a coal exporter, a shipping agent, an architect, lawyers, a royal naval officer, and a Regular Army officer. Some were educated at elementary school others at grammar or public school, while four studied at Oxford or Cambridge.

They include players from mid and north Wales as well as the south. One, like many other Welsh internationals of this era, had been born in England. Their clubs at the time they were capped included Cardiff, London Welsh, Maesteg, Mountain Ash, Neath, Newport, Swansea, Blackheath, Cambridge University and Oxford University: while at other periods in their careers, they all played for Aberaman, Aberavon, Brecon, Bridgend, Briton Ferry, Ferndale, Maesteg Quins, Merthyr, Penygraig, Pontardawe, Rhymney and Whitechurch, amongst others.

Location: Millennium Stadium, Westgate Street, Cardiff, CF10 1NS
Images courtesy of Welsh Rugby Union and Liz Jones
Presented by rugby historian and author of 鈥楥all Them To Remembrance鈥�, Gwyn Prescott

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