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Arthur
James Wilson was born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
on December 29th 1886 the son of Henry and Emily Wilson. After
attending the Glenalmond School Wilson, not uncommonly for a young man from that
area, decided to become a mining engineer, a decision that would take him to the
South West of England as he entered the Camborne School of Mines to begin his
professional education. Although at times he was to play for Northern, most of
his rugby talents were lavished on his new home in
Cornwall
. Whilst there he would play for
Camborne, Camborne School of Mines and Camborne Students. It was also not long
before
Cornwall
itself looked to his services, a county for whom he would eventually be capped
seventeen times in all.
It
was whilst in
Cornwall
’s colours that some of
Wilson
’s most memorable matches occurred.
Cornwall
’s 1908
County
Championship
campaign culminated in their reaching the final for the first time in the
counties history. Their opponents on the day came from close to
Wilson
’s North Eastern roots as
Durham
continued an impressive run of form in the championship during what was to be
their ninth consecutive appearance in the final. The match itself was played on
March 28th 1908 at Redruth,
Cornwall
at least having the benefit of a home fixture if not enjoying the pedigree of
their opponents. A good crowd of seventeen thousand turned out to watch the game
that was held on a fine spring day.
During
the first half of the game the
Durham
forwards were able to hold their own against their Cornish counterparts, but
their backs were playing far below their usual standards, passing poorly and
letting many scoring opportunities go to waste. In contrast the Cornish backline
were playing well and took every opportunity offered to them, even whilst
playing behind a pack that were unable to provide much in the way of clean ball
and indeed both of the Cornish tries in the first half were due to the clever
interplay that the Cornish backs managed to manufacture. With the change of
ends, and with
Cornwall
now having the advantage of a gentle slope on the pitch their forward play
improved. From this point on there was very little remaining doubt as to who
would take the title, with
Cornwall
eventually romping home by seventeen points to three.
1908
also saw the Olympic Games held in
London
. Rugby Union was hardly to be the gala event at the games to the point that
even
New Zealand
and
South Africa
had declined to field sides for the event. With bickering going on between the
home unions as to the composition of a Great Britain team, and whilst also not
wishing to disrupt the domestic international season, the event ran the very
real risk of descending into farce as the holders of the Gold medal, France,
withdrew at the last moment leaving the very real possibility that the
Australians would claim the Gold by default. To avoid this, and possibly with an
eye on England’s own international season, the Rugby Football Union approached
Cornwall as the incumbent County champions but at the same time not overly
endowed with current international players, to take on the challenge. Ironically
enough this offer was made the day after they had lost to the touring
Australians at Camborne by five points to eighteen.
With
little real prospect of success Cornwall accepted the challenge and with Wilson
in the side travelled to London and the waiting Australians with an almost party
atmosphere, stopping in Plymouth on their way and taking a tour of London on the
morning of the match. They were also to dine with the Cornish members of the
House of Commons after the final had been played. It was almost, perhaps, with
some air of inevitability that they arrived on October 26th at an
almost empty
White
City
stadium on a dark, miserable afternoon for the Olympic Final. Conditions were
far from ideal, not least due to the swimming pool that ran down one side of the
pitch and inevitably acted as a sort of magnet for the match ball which
frequently required fishing out. The game itself was as one sided as may have
been feared as the Cornish side failed to find their stride against the dominant
Australians. Despite some good rushes by their forwards the Cornwall backs were
generally lethargic and handled the ball badly, making mistakes that their
opposition were all to happy to capitalise on as they cantered to an easy thirty
two points to three victory and the Olympic Gold.
Despite
the disappointment of the Olympic final there was one prize that Arthur Wilson
was to be awarded the following season that had thus far eluded him in the form
of an international cap. Picked to play for
England
on February 13th 1909 against
Ireland
at
Lansdowne Road
this was to be
Wilson
’s only international recognition during a fast match played in ideal
conditions.
Ireland
had the better of the game, at least territorially, and such was the strength
of their pack for the first twenty five minutes that their victory seemed
assured. With
England
defending poorly it was only the equally dismal form of the Irish backs that
kept the visitors in the game. With the start of the second half Wilson and his
fellow forwards at last settled into their task and gained ascendancy at the set
piece, keeping Ireland on the back foot for much of the rest of the game and
allowing England to sneak a not particularly accomplished or well deserved win
at Lansdowne Road, their first there since 1895, by eleven points to five.
With
his studies at Camborne completed Arthur Wilson travelled the world, working as
a mining engineer in
South Africa
and a tea planter in
India
before returning home to do his bit for King and Country and enlisting in the
Royal Fusiliers as a Private during World War One. He met his fate in Flanders
on July 3rd 1917 as the third battle of
Ypres
, more commonly known as Passchendaele, raged. Strategically the battle was
supposed to serve several purposes. If successful it would cause major German
casualties and hinder both their Submarine and air campaigns against the allied
forces. In any case it would tie up enough German troops to prevent their
exploitation of severe French moral problems in other sectors. So was the plan.
In reality despite several massive attacks the allied forces never managed to
gain much advantage as they struggled through the mud. Despite this the damage
caused to the German forces meant that it could be claimed as a victory of
sorts, but one that came at the cost of Arthur Wilson and almost countless
thousands of his comrades in arms.
Sources
"The
Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals", R Maule,
Breedon 1992
The
Times Online Digital Archive
Wikepedia
www.telegraph.co.uk
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The
Rugby History Society