76 Thursday November 8 2012 | the times

Sport

Mark Soustermeets anauthor whose missionto honour oneclub’s wardead has ledto a fittingtribute

Recognition atlast for bravemen who heardthe final whistle

When the nationstops to re-member at11am onSunday, thethoughts ofthe Rosslyn

Park club, one of the oldest in England,will turn to themembers lost in the twoworldwars, in particular those from the1914-18 conflict.Seventy-two of them were killed inthe FirstWorldWar, including some ofthe finest players of their generation.That bare, cold statistic is contained ina yellowing press report from theRichmond and Twickenham Times ofthe club’s annual general meeting of1919. No names are listed, no memorialexists andnowhere is there recognitionof their exploits. It was an omissionthat struck Stephen Cooper, an author

and a former head of youth rugby atthe club, as strange. So he set out on atwo-year odyssey to discover thestories — both in a sporting andmilitary context — that lay behind thefaces in the team photographs thatadorn the clubhouse walls. He did notset out to write a book, but that hasbeen the welcome result.His intention was merely to collateon a website the fruits of his extensiveresearch, a project made easier by thedetailed records kept by theCommonwealthWar Graves Commis-sion. The overwhelming reaction to itchanged his mind. Memories werestirred, family members got in touch,photographs, diaries, letters andpriceless snippets of information wereprovided. It became his own personalmission. In turn he has discovered 85names of those who died, 13 more thanthe official initial estimate. All but twowere officers.The Final Whistle: the Great War in

Fifteen Players is his fitting tribute notsimply to 15 individuals cut down intheir prime, but a paean to all thosewho died in the First World War. AsFergal Keane, the Irish writer andbroadcaster, says, the book is not justthe story of men from one club but a“universal narrative of heroism andloss”. Their individual portraits act as alens on the war itself, covering as theydo each branch of the services, each

theatre of war and each corner of theEmpire.“The catalyst was discovering therewas no First World War memorial atthe club,” Cooper told The Times yes-terday. “There is to the Second, withnames such as [Prince] Obolensky.This was clearly an oversight.”The theory is that one did exist butwas somehow lost when the club,formed in 1879, moved from Old DeerPark to Roehampton in 1956. Cooperbecame an historical detective, follow-ing up clues, cross-referencing leads,collating amountain of information. Inthe end 15 stories selected themselves,recounting not just tales of rugby andRosslyn Park but also of interconnect-ing lives. “It makes you realise howthese men were part of a relativelysmall group connected partly by educa-tion, partly by rugby, partly by theirplace in society,” Cooper said.The chapters chronicle the lives ofsome men who died heroically andwere decorated; others whowere killedsimply doing their duty. They includethose about Guy du Maurier, a play-wright and the uncle of Daphne, thenovelist; John Bodenham, a perfumer,and of a poet, NoelOxland.Two focus on Arthur Harrison, aRoyal Navy hero who won twoEngland caps, and Jean-JacquesConilh de Beyssac, a France second-row forward and tank commanderwho

played five times for his country.Besides being members of the club,they played against each other in thelast international before the GreatWar, when the countries met at Stadede Colombes, near Paris, in April 1914.England won 39-13 and took the grandslam. Theywere opponents on that daybut only a few years later were to die ina common cause. In all 11 of the 30players never returned, six Englishmenand five Frenchmen.In any company Harrison wouldstandout, not least byhis sheer size andhis lantern-jawed profile. A careernaval officer whowas renowned for hisfitness, He committed himself to theSenior Service and to rugby with zeal.He was described as “strong and tire-less”, with his game of the “sturdy, bus-tling type”. His accolades did not stopat winning two caps, the first against

Ireland on Valentine’s Day in 1914,when, according to a report in TheTimes, “he stiffened the English scrum-mage”, the second in Paris. More perti-nently he remains the only Englandrugby international to have beenawarded the Victoria Cross.The course of his life changed whenhe answered a call for volunteers for a“show” that specified all who did mustbe single and athletic.The 1,000-plus volunteers calledthemselves, in typically morbidhumour, the “Suicide Club” or the“Death or Glory Boys”. Their missionwas an assault on Zeebrugge to counterthe threat posed byGermanU-boats intheir pens in Bruges; the plan was tolock the entrance by scuttling shipsladenwith concrete. To succeedmeantfirst taking a two-mile long and heavilyfortified jetty. To provide cover WingCommander Frank Brock, scion of theeponymous fireworks family, wasasked to create a smokescreen. How-ever, as the Allied force approached, agust of wind cleared the smoke,exposing them to withering gunfireand bombardment.One senior officer, EngineerCommander William Bury, describedthe scene as a “bloody massacre”. Hereferred to the length of time that“several lived who had had large piecesof their heads blown away”. The menstruggled desperately to climb up on to

the jetty to charge the gun emplace-ments. Harrison, who had been hit inthe jaw, rounded up several of his menand, at their head, charged along theparapet only to be cut down by amachinegun. Despite attempts to res-cue his body, he was never seen again.Captain Carpenter, the commanderof the cruiser,HMS Vindictive, wrote in1921: “Harrison’s charge down thenarrow gangway of deathwas aworthyfinale to the large number of charges,which, as a forward of the first rank, hehad led down many a rugby footballground. He played the game to theend.” The final toll was 188 killed, 384wounded and 16 missing. The raidsucceeded in asmuch as two shipsweresuccessfully scuttled. Itwas apropagan-da triumph more than a strategic one,thoughWinston Churchill described itas an “episode unsurpassed in thehistory of the Royal Navy”.A photograph exists of Harrison andDe Beyssac at a lineout. Harrisonstands at the back while the French-man’s face is partly covered by the out-stretched arm of a team-mate compet-ing for the ball. De Beyssac, who wasdescended fromoneofNapoleon’s gen-erals, came to Rosslyn Park in 1910. Aphilosophy student who embraced theBritish sense of fair play, he had playedlock and prop for Stade Bordelais, whohad won the 1911 French champion-ship, then a tournament renowned for

its brutality. He was reputed to be themost complete French forward of theprewarera, described as a “a skilful drib-bler, a good lineout technician and asound scrummager”.During his wartime service he wentfrom the Transport Corps to tanks. In1918 he had been mentioned in dis-patches and was photographed beforetaking part in a wartime match be-tween a FrenchmilitaryXV and a com-binedAnzac XV. In June he was part ofa tank-led counter-attack at Méry, in

France, when his primitive Schneidervehicle took three direct hits to its leftflank, which had no escape hatch. Forthe crew who had to lie flat on theirbellies in less than ametre of space, thetank earned its sobriquet as a mobilecrematorium. De Beyssac was rescuedbut died of his wounds on June 13. Thewhereabouts of his grave is not known.Frédéric Humbert, a leading rugbyhistorian, said De Beyssac epitomisedthe best qualities of French forwardplay. “Hewas very tall and athletic,” he

said. “The close association betweenFrance and Britain as allies strength-ened the relationship between us andthe home unions. French rugby gotstructured.”As a direct result of Cooper’s work,an individual has approached theRosslyn Park committee to provide amemorial.“Rosslyn Park has such a greathistory but we do not have a memorialof any public record of thosewho died,”Chris Ritchie, the chairman, said. “Thebook is important in helping us to ap-preciate and highlight what these guysdid. Looking at the photographs on thewall you can feel part of it. It adds toour understanding of history and thesacrifices those youngmenmade.“It helps our younger generation toappreciate what this club stands forand its past. We are trying to re-establish through a new generationthat it is not about money, it is aboutthe club meaning something to themand breeding loyalty again.”

6The Final Whistle: the Great War inFifteen Players is published by Spell-mount, priced £14.99, and is also avail-able through The Times Bookshop atwww.thetimes.co.uk/bookshop. Theauthor’s royalties are being donated totwo charities, the Rosslyn Park InjuredTrust Fund and Prostate Cancer UK inmemory of the late Andy Ripley.

The catalyst wasfinding there

was no First WorldWarmemorial atRosslyn Park

HAlexander 7 1900-02 kia 17/10/15 HulluchHBerry 4 1910 kia 9/5/15 FestubertA JDingle 3 1913-14 kia 22/8/15 GallipoliLHaigh 7 1910-11 died 6/8/16 WoolwichRHMHands 2 1910 died 20/4/18 FranceALHarrison 2 1914 kia 23/4/18 ZeebruggeHAHodges 2 1906 kia 24/3/18 NrMonsRE Inglis 3 1886 kia 18/9/16 GinschyPDKendall 3 1901-03 kia 25/1/15 YpresJ AKing 12 1911-13 kia 9/8/16 GuillemontROLagden 1 1911 kia 1/3/15 St EloiDLambert 7 1907-11 kia 13/10/15 LoosGEBDobbs 2 1906 died 17/6/17 PoperingheAFMaynard 3 1914 kia 13/11/16 BeaumontHamelERMobbs 7 1909-10 kia 29/7/17 ZillebekeWMBNanson 2 1907 kia 4/6/15 El KrithiaFEOakeley 4 1913-14 kia ?/11/14 At SeaRLPillman 1 1914 died 9/7/16 ArmentièresRWPoulton-Palmer 17 1909-14 kia 5/5/15 PloegsteertWoodJ ERaphael 9 1902-06 died 11/6/17 RémyROSchwarz 3 1899-01 died 18/11/18 FranceLANSlocock 8 1907-08 kia 9/8/16 GuillemontFNTarr 4 1909-13 kia 18/7/15 YpresAFTodd 2 1900 died 20/4/15 YpresJHDWatson 3 1914 kia 15/10/14 At SeaCEWilson 1 1898 kia 17/9/14 RiverAisneA JWilson 1 1909 kia 1/7/17 Flanders

englandrugbyroll ofhonour

“Formost conspicuousgallantry at Zeebrugge onthe night of the 22nd-23rdApril, 1918. This officerwas in immediatecommand of theNavalStormingParties

embarked in ‘Vindictive’.Immediately before comingalongside theMole,Lieutenant-CommanderHarrisonwas struck on the head by afragment of a shell which brokehis jaw and knocked himsenseless. Recoveringconsciousness he proceeded on totheMole and took over commandof his party, whowere attackingthe seaward end of theMole. Thesilencing of the guns on theMoleheadwas of the first importance,and though in a position fullyexposed to the enemy’smachine-gun fireLieutenant-CommanderHarrisongathered his men together and ledthem to the attack. Hewas killedat the head of hismen, all ofwhomwere either killed orwounded.Lieutenant-CommanderHarrison, though already severelywounded and undoubtedly ingreat pain, displayed indomitableresolution and courage of thehighest order in pressing hisattack, knowing as he did that anydelay in silencing thegunsmightjeopardise themain object ofthe expedition, i.e.,the blocking of theZeebrugge-BrugesCanal.”

Yearsplayed

Capswon

Date ofdeath

Place ofdeath

“

Special reportSpecial report

harrison’s vc citation

”

Harrison, second from right, waskilled leading his men into battle

Friendly rivals:Harrison, top leftin the back rowof the 1913-14Rosslyn Parkteamphotograph,and De Beyssac,played togetherfor their club butwere opponentswhen France andEngland met atthe Stade deColombes inApril 1914, right.Both died in theFirst World Warand are nowremembered inCooper’s book

AGENCE ROL / BNF GALLICA