MORE than a hundred Barbarians players from clubs and countries around the globe were killed during the World Wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45.
The fallen 103 are listed in full below and include some of rugby’s great names like Edgar Mobbs and Prince Alex Obolensky.
But there are poignant stories that are much less familiar.
One of those is the New Zealander Henry John Innes Walker, an outstanding sportsman and captain in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
Captain HJI Walker
Walker joined the British Army in 1911 and starred in athletics and rugby, playing for Blackheath and Kent before making his three appearances for the Barbarians in 1913.
He featured against Penarth, Newport and Cardiff alongside some of that period’s greats in Mobbs and ground-breaking England flanker Cherry Pillman.
Mobbs, who represented Northampton and England, fell at Passchendaele in July 1917.
Walker died two years earlier in the second battle of Ypres in April 1915 and his body was lost until rediscovered by battlefield archaeologists in 2016.
The 2018 burial of Captain HJI Walker. Picture: Eric Compernolle
A Belgian documentary touchingly records their work in excavating and identifying his remains. Walker was duly buried in a moving ceremony at the New Irish Farm Cemetery in 2018.
Walker’s story is further brought to life by the vivid letters he wrote to his family from the trenches, including a rare eye-witness account of the 1914 Christmas truce.
He writes: “At midnight I hopped on to the top of the trench and called for three cheers for the King, and then we sang the National Anthem. I’m blowed if the Germans didn’t join in. I turned in about 1am and they were still at it.
“Next morning the most farcical affair took place. Our men and the Germans met half-way between the trenches, shook hands, exchanged cigars and cigarettes, and talked matters over… They gave us photos of themselves and we gave them bully beef, jam, etc., which they were mighty pleased to get.”
The headstone at the New Irish Farm Cemetery. Picture: Eric Compernolle
Probably the most revered rugby name on the list was Obolensky, who played seven times of the Barbarians after scoring two tries on his England debut against New Zealand in 1936. He was killed during training in Suffok in March 1940.
Another pilot, Donald Cobden, was capped by New Zealand, then moved to England to join the RAF and went on to play for the Barbarians. A Spitfire pilot, he was killed in action in the Battle of Britain in August 1940.
The full list of fallen Barbarians is below. The seasons listed indicate the ones in which the players made their debuts for the club.
One Barbarians player also passed away in the Boer War.
Albert Elliott was a surgeon who volunteered to serve in field hospitals in South Africa and died of enteric fever in Middleberg in December 1900. A former Cambridge Blue, he was capped by England in 1894.
FIRST WORLD WAR
1898-99 C. Y. ADAMSON Durham City
1905-06 H. ALEXANDER Birkenhead Park
1892-93 C. D. BAKER Blackheath
1914-15 C. F. BATTY Mill Hill School
1909-10 S. H. BEATTIE Wanderers (Dublin)
1909-10 W. J. BEATTY North of Ireland
1902-03 D. R. BEDELL-SIVRIGHT West of Scotland
1896-97 M. A. BLACK London Scottish
1910-11 L. C. BLENCOWE Richmond
1913-14 G. E. BRADSTREET Dublin University
1913-14 R. B. BURGESS Dublin University
1908-09 G. M. CHAPMAN London Hospital
1907-08 W. P. COWPER London Scottish
1911-12 W. M. DICKSON Blackheath
1914-15 A. J. DINGLE Richmond
1905-06 G. E. B. DOBBS Devonport Albion
1911-12 W. M. DODDS Northern
1898-99 A. H. DU BOULAY Blackheath
1892-93 R. F. EASTERBROOK London Scottish
1908-09 E. G. EDE United Services
1899-1900 H. G. GARNETT Liverpool
1910-11 W. P. GEEN Newport
1904-05 V. F. GIBBS United Services
1910-11 R. M. GOODMAN Richmond
1908-09 R. H. M. HANDS Blackheath
1910-11 L. HAIGH Manchester
1919-20 C. F. G. T. HALLARAN United Services
1905-06 E. HERSCHELL Birkenhead Park
1907-08 F. W. HININGS Headingley
1913-14 R. R. JACKSON Liverpool
1899-1900 P. D. KENDALL Birkenhead Park
1913-14 J. A. KING Headingley
1911-12 R. V. KNIGHT Bedford
1905-06 D. LAMBERT Harlequins
1912-13 B. R. LEWIS Swansea
1911-12 A. S. LIEBSON Guy’s Hospital
1914-15 R. LUMB Headingley
1906-07 B. MACLEAR Blackheath
1911-12 E. R. MOBBS Northampton
1910-11 D. L. MONAGHAN Rosslyn Park
1913-14 A. L. W. NEAVE Richmond
1898-99 T. A. NELSON Edinburgh Academicals
1913-14 F. P. O’REILLY United Services
1913-14 A. B. READ Richmond
1901-02 J. ROSS London Scottish
1913-14 J. E. ROSS Liverpool
1906-07 F. W. C. SAWYER Blackheath
1896-97 R. O. SCHWARZ Richmond
1901-02 R. S. SMYTH Dublin University
1913-14 H. R. SOMERVILLE Old Edwardians
1910-11 S. S. L. STEYN London Scottish
1912-13 G. L. STOKES Blackheath
1911-12 H. W. THOMAS Cambridge University
1894-95 A. F. TODD Blackheath
1911-12 D. O. H. TRIPP Harlequins
1914-15 J. L. URQUHART Rosslyn Park
1914-15 C. A. VAUGHAN
1905-06 A. L. WADE London Scottish
1903-04 R. H. WADE-GERY Marlborough Nomads
1912-13 H. J. I. WALKER Blackheath
1913-14 W. M. WALLACE London Scottish
1913-14 L. B. R. WANSBOROUGH United Services
1903-04 R. O. C. WARD Harlequins
1911-12 J. H. D. WATSON Edinburgh Academicals
1908-09 H. WEST London Scottish
1895-96 C. E. WILSON Blackheath
1908-09 J. S. WILSON United Services
1904-05 W. A. B. WREY R.M.C. Sandhurst
SECOND WORLD WAR
1935-36 R. ALEXANDER North of Ireland
1929-30 B. H. BLACK Blackheath
1909-10 H. E. C. BLAGROVE United Services
1932-33 L. A. BOOTH Headingley
1925-26 H.V. BRODIE Harlequins
1938-39 D. G. COBDEN R. A. F. and HSOB, NZ.
1938-39 P. COOKE Richmond
1922-23 V. G. DAVIES Harlequins
1935-36 J. R. EVANS Newport
1929-30 D. ST. CLAIR FORD United Services
1937-38 J. G. S. FORREST Cambridge University
1937-38 H. D. FREAKES Oxford University
1932-33 R. A. GERRARD Bath
1941-42 R. L. HALL St Bartholomew’s Hospital
1919-20 C. F. G. T. HALLARAN United Services
1928-29 E.W.F.deV. HUNT Rosslyn Park
1939-40 I. S. JACKLIN St Mary’s Hospital
1920-21 P. H. LAWLESS Richmond
1936-37 R. M. MARSHALL Oxford University
1941-42 A. W. MASTERS Metropolitan Police
1915 J. B. MINCH Bective Rangers
1938-39 J. S. MOLL Blackheath
1904-05 P. MUNRO London Scottish
1936-37 A. S. OBOLENSKY Leicester
1919-20 R. C. O’CONOR United Services
1934-35 M. F. PEACOCK Richmond
1938-39 W. M. PENMAN United Services
1925-26 H. REW Exeter
1937-38 G. ROBERTS Watsonians
1934-35 H.J. M. SAYERS Richmond
1942-43 J. C. SWANSON Middlesex Hospital
1929-30 C. C. TANNER Richmond
1936-37 D. E. TEDEN Richmond
1934-35 C. THOMPSON Harlequins
1911-12 G. G. N. TINSON Blackheath
1942-43 P. N. WALKER Gloucester
