Whitchurch Superstar

I felt privileged to be asked to take photographs for my father’s book ‘Call Them to Remembrance’, as rugby and history have also been topics of interest for me. I had, of course, read about the tragic loss of life in World War I and felt keen to contribute to this piece as a way to remember those who have fallen.

But what was fascinating about working on this particular project, was learning about the individual stories of these fallen men; fine sportsmen who were struck down in their prime.

This was no more evident than in the case of John Lewis Williams. I was quick to learn that Williams had been born in Whitchurch, where I went to school and spent much of my teenage years. This suddenly struck home the reality of the tragic tale. Williams was, by all accounts, a superb footballer, and a huge loss for Wales and rugby. A true star of the game before his untimely death. Much is made of sportsmen and women today; Whitchurch is lucky enough to boast such sporting greats as Gareth Bale, Geraint Thomas and Sam Warburton, who are regarded superstars. Williams was on par with this at the time.

To emphasise the status that Williams held during his player career, last September, he was inducted into the World Rugby (formally IRB) Hall of Fame.

Whitchurch Memorial -by Sian Prescott

That I had passed this memorial countless times and barely glanced at it, barely acknowledged the names which had, over the years, just become arbitrary text, I felt I had done Williams, and the other fallen men a disservice.

I had been ignorant to the fact a great rugby player was on this memorial; but also what else had the others achieved and done in their short lives. I was struck that any of these names could have been any of the names of people I had known and befriended in Whitchurch over the years.

It is very easy to pass by these memorials and take them for granted. Working on this project made me realise that it is worth the small time and effort to sometimes pause amidst our own busy lives, and acknowledge those who fought so that we could enjoy our freedoms today.

Sian Prescott

The 2015 Passchendaele Commemoration Remembers “Dai” Westacott

At a moving commemoration held on the evening of the 10th November each year, the villagers of Passchendaele honour the memory of the men of all nationalities who died during the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November 1917), perhaps better known as “Passchendaele”. Over half a million men became casualties in the battle but in order to personalise this horrendous human cost, the Passchendaele Commemoration focuses on the lives of just three soldiers who died. This year, one of the three was a rugby international. At least seven internationals died in the battle, including: James Henderson (Scotland), Albert Stewart (Ireland), Alfred Taylor (Ireland), Arthur Wilson (England) and two of the most famous rugby players to fall in the war, Edgar Mobbs (England) and David Gallaher (New Zealand). But it was the less well-known Welsh international, David Westacott, who was honoured at the 2015 commemoration.

This annual ceremony by the people of Passchendaele commemorates the end of the Third Battle of Ypres and the capture of their village by the Canadian Division on the 10th November 1917. This year over three hundred villagers took part, as well as government representatives from Belgium, Canada, New Zealand and Germany. Contingents of the Belgian, Canadian and German military were also present. The commemoration began just outside the village at the Crest Farm Canadian Memorial, with a reflection on the sacrifice of Myer Cohen of Canada, Hinrich Böttcher of Germany and, representing all the British soldiers who died, David Westacott. During a moving ceremony, an account of the life of each was read out and their photographs displayed at the memorial. This was then followed by a torchlit procession through the village to Passchendaele Church.

“Dai” Westacott was a Cardiff docker. A tough and powerful forward, he played for seven seasons for Cardiff during one of the most successful periods in their history. The highlight of his club career was surely his participation in Cardiff’s stunning 24-8 victory over Australia in 1908. He also played once for Wales in the match against Ireland in 1906. Although a thirty-two year-old family man when war broke out, Dai was an early volunteer and consequently he saw much action on the Western Front. On the 28th August 1917, he was serving with the 2/6th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment in the line north-east of Ypres, when he was caught by a random shell and killed instantly. He has no known grave and is commemorated, not far from where he died, on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.

Dai is perhaps not the best known of the many internationals who died in the war, but it is gratifying to realise that his achievements and his sacrifice have been not been forgotten by the people of Passchendaele and Flanders.

This article recently appeared on the World Rugby Museum Blog, December 2015.

Gwyn Prescott

The Origin and Early Years of the Cardiff and District Rugby Union

By the early 1890s, there were over 200 teams playing the game in the Cardiff, Penarth and Barry area and several of these clubs had joined the WRU. However, the Union was becoming alarmed that it might eventually be swamped by junior clubs from Cardiff and elsewhere. As a result, in 1892 the WRU resolved that strict criteria would be applied to all future applications for membership. At the same meeting, the nomination of several Cardiff district clubs for WRU membership was greeted with laughter by the delegates. In response to these rebuffs to the grassroots game in the town, H. W. Wells, a journalist on the Western Mail, suggested that it might be necessary to form a union of local clubs.

Further demands for a new union to control the burgeoning game in Cardiff surfaced shortly afterwards following a fractious and controversial game between Grangetown and Cardiff Rangers. Not only was the match a series of fist fights but the Rangers’ winning try was awarded, even though the scorer evaded tacklers by running behind the spectators on the touchline. Clearly, something needed to be done.