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George
Eric Burroughs Dobbs was born on July 21st 1884 in Castlecomer,
County
Kilkenny
the son of Joseph and Mary. Initially he was educated at St Stephens Green
School in
Dublin
before winning a mathematical scholarship to
Shrewsbury
. Whilst at school he captained their association football eleven, but by the
time that he passed into the
Royal
Military
Academy
at Woolwich he had converted to the fifteen a side game of Rugby Union.
Completing his studies in March 1904 he was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in
the Royal Engineers.
Rugby
was a love that he would take with him through the early
part of his career. At times he would play for Plymouth Albion, Devonport
Albion, Llanelli and
Devon
. By 1906 his skills as a versatile forward, playing as often as not on the
flank, had come to the notice of the national selectors and his Irish heritage
aside he was picked to play for England gaining his debut cap against Wales at
the Athletic Ground in Richmond on January 13th of that year. This
was a period where
England
as a side were far from the decisive force in International rugby as they still
struggled to overcome the schism with the
Northern Union
in 1895, since which their prowess and results had been far from spectacular.
Bar a draw in 1904 they had not beaten the Welsh since 1898. In these days
before
England
found their home at Twickenham the side was unsettled and the Welsh, who would
go on to share the title this year, a stern challenge. Fro the kick off this
prove to be a difficult match for the men in white as they spent almost the
first half of the game lodged in defence in their own half and as often as not
in their own twenty five. England were playing a conventional eight man pack
with seven backs whilst the Welsh had converted to the New Zealand style seven
man scrum allowing the extra man in attack. Even with this numerical advantage
in the tight the
England
forwards were sorely pressed, their underperforming backs outclassed by the
sharp Welsh halves and three quarters. With the Welsh fullback playing a canny
tactical kicking game that gave his own pack some respite whilst forcing the
English to retreat in defence the result never really looked in doubt, even
though in the second half the English pack, Dobbs included, threw everything
that they had into the common cause. After the game, which resulted in a sixteen
points to three win for the Welsh, there was some controversy about the referee,
A Jardine of Scotland, and it was considered, in the English press at any rate,
that at least two of the four Welsh tries could have been disallowed which would
have made the score more representative of the play, but even so the Welsh would
have remained worthy winners.
Dobbs
retained his place for
England
’s next match against the Irish, also a ‘home’ fixture but this time
played at
Leicester
on February 10th. In front of a ten thousand crowd the weather for
the crowd was awful, rain turning the pitch into a quagmire. Ireland, also
playing with seven men in the forwards adapted to the conditions far better than
the English and played a far more cagey game, keeping the ball in close and only
passing it wide when they absolutely had to. Again the England backs were far
from what may have been hoped for and the forwards, although more competitive in
the tight then against the Welsh and winning the shove on occasions, were
outpaced by the lighter more agile Irish pack who were supreme in the lose. As
with the Welsh game there was never any real doubt as to the final result, at
one point the Irish led by sixteen points to nil, and although the English did
manage a mini comeback to leave the final score a sixteen points to six they
were again well beaten.
This
was Dobb’s final international, his cap tally for England remaining frozen at
two, although he was shortly after invited to join the Barbarians for their
Easter tour to Wales. As with his England career this was an unhappy tour for
Dobbs in terms of the results at least as he played twice for the Barbarians,
loosing to Penarth by five points to nil on April 13th 1906 and to
Cardiff by a far larger thirty eight points to nil whitewash the day after.
Dobbs
final major representative honour came the year after when he was selected to
represent the Army against the Royal Navy. At this time there was as yet no
annual fixture between the two services, this would not start until 1909, and
the Army had only founded its own Rugby Union in 1906. The only previous meeting
between the two sides had been in 1878 when the Navy had been victorious by
eight points to five. Today’s match, held at the Queens Club in Kensington was
to be a close affair. The Army boasted in its side several players who were
capped internationals, Dobbs included, but the Navy had picked its team almost
entirely from the United Services club in
Portsmouth
, whose experience of each others play allowed them to combine far more
effectively than the more scratch nature of the Army side. Both teams played
well in an exciting game and at half time the Army led by seven points to five.
In the end the Army missed a kick in the final minute that would have stolen
victory, but as it was they lost by a single point by fifteen points to
fourteen. It was generally accepted that this was a fair result, the Navy more
fluent n their play.
After
serving both in the
United Kingdom
and
Singapore
by the outbreak of war in 1914 Dobbs went to
France
as a lieutenant. During the retreat from
Mons
in the first months of the conflict he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of
Honour by the French for his work, and was soon after promoted to Captain
following his with a brevet Majority in 1915. He was now serving in the Royal
Engineers Signal Service, a branch that would later become the Royal Corps of
Signals and was an area of warfare that was undergoing a rapid change as motor
cycle despatch riders, radio and telephone communications made direct links
between the troops at the front and their commanders to the rear far more direct
than had been previously possible. Dobbs served with distinction, being
mentioned in despatches on three occasions before being appointed assistant
director of signals and receiving the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in
November 1916. During a brief lull in the fighting between the battle of
Messines Ridge and the third battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele,
Dobbs was hit by a shell whilst prospecting a new cable trench in the front line
on June 17th 1917 near Poperinge in
Belgium
. He died from his wounds later that day and was buried at Lijssenthoek, close
to the front line but also at the extreme range of the German artillery which
led to its use as a medical clearing station.
Sources
"The
Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals", R Maule,
Breedon 1992
The
Times Online Digital Archive
Wikepedia
www.1914-18.net
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The
Rugby History Society