大象传媒

Harry Wallace was born in North Shields and learned to play rugby at Percy Park Football Club, one of the oldest clubs in the region.

He went on to play for Northumberland and England despite being very small for a rugby player. According to his military record he was just five foot, one inch tall and weighed just over eight stone.

He tried many times to join the army before being accepted by the Durham Light Infantry.

Before being sent to the trenches he wrote in a letter to another rugby player: 鈥淚 am training for the greatest game of my life, where they do not take the dummy nor is there a blind side to the scrum.鈥�

Sadly it was a game he did not win. He was killed on 8 May 1917 in the Battle of Arras.

He was one of three brothers from the same family killed in World War One.

Location: Percy Park RFC, Preston Avenue, North Shields NE30 2BE
Image of Harry Wallace, courtesy of Shields Gazette, and a Roll of Honour at the Club, courtesy of Percy Park RFC