|
The son of W. J. Maynard, the probate
registrar of
Durham
, and his wife Annie, Alfred Frederick Maynard was born in Croydon on March 23rd
1894. Educated at
Durham
School
, the North East of England was to become Maynard’s home. He was later to play
for both
Durham
City
and
Durham
County
. Despite this Maynard was to move south in order to continue his education at
Cambridge
University
as an undergraduate at
Emmanuel
College
, also joining the Harlequins whilst at
Cambridge
.
A large man, full of
vitality, humor and life, Maynard customarily played in the second row, where he
soon established something of a reputation. This was soon recognised by his
university who selected him for a debut blue against
Oxford
on December 10th 1912 in a match played against the Prince of Wales
at the Queens Club. The
Cambridge
team played well as an entity and overwhelmed their dark blue opponents
spending three quarters of the match in their half. Their eventual ten points to
three victory was
Cambridge
’s first in the annual fixture since 1903.
The following year
Maynard again played for the Light Blues during his final year at
Cambridge
. Again held at Queens Club on December 9th 1913 his
Cambridge
side were technically sound rather than brilliant, playing a conservative game
that ground out a thirteen points to three win as they closed down the
Oxford
backs. During the match Maynard was to score one of the fixture’s most
improbable tries. After receiving the ball near halfway Maynard, not noted as
the fastest of locks, began to lumber towards the
Oxford
line desperately searching for a better placed and faster
Cambridge
player to pass to. The
Oxford
defence also expected Maynard to offload and raced to cover all his open team
mates, forgetting In the process to cover Maynard himself, who was eventually
left with little option but to go for the line himself. Testament to his
strength, if not his speed, was provided by the Times, “At any rate the Oxford man who finally ran a him full tilt, in order
to push him over the line a foot away, bounced off him without causing him any
inconvenience or preventing him from scoring a try in the corner.”
On the back of this
victory it was unsurprising that further representative honors were to follow
and Maynard was picked to represent
England
for the first time just a month later on January 17th 1914 in a
match against
Wales
at Twickenham. During a close and hard fought game the
England
team pulled off a ten points to nine victory with dogged determination and
persistence, tackling hard at every opportunity. The match was won largely by
the English backs who outplayed their Welsh opponents in a reversal of the usual
form, something that could also be said of the Welsh pack who outplayed, but
never routed, their English opponents. Despite this Maynard himself had a good
game, playing with pace, dash and resource. As the Times put it “To…
AF Maynard go the scanty laurels of the English forwards.”
For the following match
Maynard returned to Twickenham on February 14th to play the Irish in
front of both the King and Prime Minister. The Irish started at a frantic pace,
as is often their way, overwhelming the English defence to score early points.
It was only later in the match as they tired that the English were able to dig
in and score enough points to take the fixture by seventeen points to twelve.
Maynard’s final match
in his all too short international career came on March 21st 1914,
this time travelling to Inverleith to take on the Scottish. The English pack
looked stale in this game as their backs raced to a good lead with twenty
minutes to play. Indeed so engrossed in attack that they almost forgot to defend
allowing the Scots to fight their way back into the game for what would be a
nail biting sixteen points to fifteen victory for England that gave them the
Calcutta Cup as well as the triple crown. Although Maynard was not to travel to
Paris
for the
England
victory that secured their second successive grand slam he certainly played his
part in this rare achievement.
With the outbreak of war
Maynard joined the Royal Navy and was commissioned a Sub Lieutenant on October
18th 1914. It is unlikely that he anticipated serving in the
infantry, but with some twenty five thousand men surplus to seagoing
requirements this manpower was enough to form a naval division of fighting men
and Maynard was posted to the Howe Battalion. Initially poorly trained and
almost totally unequipped for land warfare the naval division was non the less
soon sent into action, despatched to
Belgium
to defend the strategically vital
port
of
Antwerp
in October 1914. Facing overwhelming odds they fought a fighting withdrawal
that soon became a confused rout. Maynard returned to
Britain
, although many in his unit were killed, injured or interned as they fled across
the border into neutral
Holland
. It was far from an auspicious start for Maynard and the Royal Naval Division.
After this there was at least a lengthy period of training for their infantry
role before they again embarked on active service.
Maynard and the Howe
Battalion were next ordered to Egypt to protect the Suez Canal, which at this
time was controlled by the British and provided a vital link with it’s
colonies in the East. In February 1915 it was attacked by a Turkish
expeditionary force of some twenty five thousand men. The attack failed largely
due to the stout defence of the canal by the allied forces as well as the
logistical problems facing the Turks of keeping their troops supplied as they
advanced over two hundred miles of desert. The attack did however have the
effect of tying up allied forces that could have been put to far better use
across the
Mediterranean
at Gallipoli. Later this is where Maynard and the Royal Naval Division would
sent.
The
Dardanelles
campaign was also tactical in nature. The allies required a safe means of
resupplying
Russia
on the eastern front and this was the only real alternative with the northern
approaches closed either by ice or the German Navy. The campaign was originally
planned to be a purely naval affair using old battleships too decrepit to take
on the German high seas fleet. With the failure of his gambit a land campaign
was started against a by now forewarned and prepared Turkish defence. Quickly
the landings became entrenched in much the same way as the allied forces serving
in
France
and
Belgium
, which was the last thing that the Admiralty had planned or wanted. Maynard and
his division went ashore to assist in the assaults on the Turkish positions.
Fierce fighting and blistering sun soon began to take their toll and on May 19th
1915 Maynard received a gunshot wound to his leg and was evacuated to
Alexandria
. Eventually the campaign in the
Dardanelles
was to fail with a huge casualty list and cause the fall of Winston Churchill,
its prime instigator, from influence for the rest of World War One.
Recovered from his
wound, promoted to full Lieutenant on July 11th 1915 whilst remaining
with the newly retitled 63rd (Royal Naval) Division which had now
been transferred from the Admiralty to the War Office, Maynard was sent to
France
and arrived in Marseille on May 19th 1916. The 63rd
Division soon moved to the frontline where it took part in the Battle of Ancre,
the final act in the
Somme
campaign of that year. This advance was largely planned with political rather
than military objectives in mind as General Haig required positive news to
impart to his French allies. An attack was planned on either side of the river
Ancre, with the Royal Naval contingent being part of the Northern attack,
advancing towards the villages of Beaumont Hamel and
Beaumont
sur L’Ancre, a sector that had not seen concerted action since the opening of
the
Somme
offensive in July 1916. The attack, launched on November 13th 1916
was largely successful. The objectives to the south of the river were easily
taken, with the 63rd Division taking Beaucort the following day. Haig
may have been happy with the result, but Lieutenant Alfred Frederick Maynard
fell the first day of the attack, doubtless showing the same resolve on the
battlefield that he had on the rugby pitch.
Sources
"Harlequin
Story", HBT Wakelam, Phoenix House Ltd 1954
"The
Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals", R Maule,
Breedon 1992
The
Times Online Digital Archive
Wikepedia
|
The
Rugby History Society