WW1: Heroes with SA connections
It is a century since the start of World War I in which nine international rugby players with strong South African connections died – nine amongst many rugby heroes.
It was perhaps the most ghastly war ever in which over 10 million soldiers died and more than twice that number of civilians. The suffering was intense.
Apart from the nine South Africans there were several others who had had South African connections. In all roughly 140 rugby internationals died in the war, of whom Scotland had most casualties with 31 followed by England with 27 and France with 22.
The war started on 28 July 1914. The first rugby international to die was infantryman Alfred Mayssonnié, who was killed in action at Osches in the Battle of the Marné on 6 September 1914, aged 29. His body would have been lost, were it not for Pierre Mounicq, a medical doctor who had also played for France and Toulouse. Mounicq buried Mayssonnié under enemy fire and marked the grave.
Others followed in that early stage of the war – Emmanuel Iguinitz killed at Craonne on 20 September 1914, aged 24; François Poeydebasque killed at Craonelle on 21 September 1914, aged 23; Gaston Lane, who had captained France, killed at Lironville on 23 September 1914, aged 31; and Joé Anduran at Bois-Bernard died on 2 October 1914, aged 32 who had just one cap for France, chosen to fill in in 1910. France were to play Wales in Swansea and when they gathered at Gare Saint-Lazare they had only 14 players because Hélier Tilh had been confined to barracks. They rushed off and got Anduran who was an art dealer, setting up for a show. He answered his country's call
Before we deal with the nine South Africans there are many with South African connections, including this sample of three.
Dave Gallaher, the Donegal-born captain of the 1905 touring New Zealand team, the first team to be called the All Blacks, fought in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War and played rugby in South Africa for a team called New Zealand. He was killed at the horrific Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium. Two of his brothers had been killed in action before him.
Ronnie Poulton-Palmer scored a brilliant try for England against the Springboks at Twickenham in 1913 and nearly got a second but Boet McHardy pulled him down just short of the line. It was the only Test try scored against the Springboks on that tour when they became the first team to beat England at Twickenham. Ronnie Poulton changed his name to Poulton-Palmer in 1913 to inherit a fortune which he did not enjoy because a sniper killed him in Belgium in 1924. There is a story that Poulton-Palmer's last words were 'I shall never play at Twickenham again.' It has also been said that he was killed instantly.
Basil Maclear scored a try for Ireland in 1905 after playing in a trial for England but was not chosen. He played for Ireland and scored a magnificent try in the match. Captain Basil Maclear of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers was the grandson of Sir Thomas Maclear who was the astronomer royal at Observatory in Cape Town. The highest point on Table Mountain is Maclear's Beacon, named after Sir Thomas because of the cairn he built there. Basil was a serving soldier and fought in the Anglo-Boer War. He was killed by shrapnel at the Battle of Ypres in 1915.
Of the nine Reggie Hands and RO Schwartz played for England, Mike Dickson and Beak Steyn for Scotland. Hands, Steyn and Dickson were Bishops Rhodes Scholars. Schwartz, who was born in England, and Hands both played cricket for South Africa. And then there is Ronald Lagden who was born in Maseru in what was then Basutoland. He was killed in action at St Eloi on 1 March 1915. He played for England.
Reginald Harry Myburgh Hands, two of whose brothers also played cricket for South Africa, joined the South African Heavy Artillery and saw action in German South West and also France where he died of his wounds on 20 April 1918, aged 29.
Reginald Oscar Schwartz, MC, joined up in South Africa and saw active service in German South West Africa before going to England to join the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Major Schwartz was wounded and died of his wounds in France on 18 November 1918, a week after armistice.
Walter Michael Dickson was a lieutenant in the Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders, killed in action in Gallipoli on September 1915, aged 30. Like Hands, he joined up from South Africa. Dickson was deaf. When Scotland France at Parc des Princes in 1912, there was a riot of sorts. He did not work out the ire of the French crowd and said to a team-mate as he waved to the crowd: 'It's awfully sporting of them to take their licking like this, isn't it.' He was persuaded to leave in haste.
Stephen Sebastian Leonard Steyn went from Bishops to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he read medicine. He was at Oxford when he joined up and was killed entering Jerusalem with the Royal Field Artillery on 8 December 1917, aged 28.
The others were Springboks, all volunteers. South Africans did not see action only in Europe's but also in German South West Africa (Namibia) and German East Africa (Tanganyika, now Tanzania).
Adam Francis Burdett was born in Oudtshoorn, went to Bishops and played in two Tests on Paul Roos's tour of 1906. He saw service in Tanganyika where he contracted malaria and was repatriated, dying in Pretoria on November 4, 1918, aged 36.
Septimus Heyns Ledger was born in Kimberley and went to Kimberley Boys' High. He played in four Tests in the 1913 tour. In world War 1 Sep Ledger was in the 2nd Battalion SA Infantry. At the Battle of Arras in France he was reported wounded and missing on 13 April 1917 and accepted as dead on 30 January 1918, aged 26.
One of the famous Somerset West family, Jan Willem Hunter Morkel, known as Jackie, was one of 272 rugby players from the Western Province who died in World War 1. He was a trooper in the 1st Mounted Brigade Scout Corps (Van Deventer's Scouts). There he contracted dysentery and died at Mimic in East Africa on 15 Mat 1916, aged 25. He was an outstanding centre, playing in all five Tests on the 1912 tour.
Gerald Thompson, a son of the Karroo, was educated at Paarl Gim and Rondebosch Boys' High, a tough forward. He played in the front row in three Tests on the 1912 tour. In World War 1 he served in East Africa in 5th South African Infantry and was shot and killed in Kanguta in East Africa on 20 June 1916, aged 29.
Just when we fondly believe that this sort of thing will not happen now, we see the horrors of warfare in so many, many parts of the world.
