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| Birth name | Frank Gordon Handford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | September 1884 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Eccles, Greater Manchester, England [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 168 lb (76 kg) [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | The Leys School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Frank Handford was an English rugby union international who played on four occasions for his country and was part of the first official British Isles team that toured South Africa in 1910.
Frank Gordon Handford was born in 1884 in Eccles, Lancashire, the son of Joseph Handford, a tea merchant who hailed from Stockport, Cheshire, and his second wife Annie Elizabeth Walker of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England whom he married in 1882. Frank had a number of older siblings from hisn father's first marriage. He lived in Barton upon Irwell before he went to The Leys School [3] in Cambridge as a boarder. [1] In 1906 he enrolled for an agricultural course at the Aspatria Agricultural College, where after two years of theoretical and practical study he left with an award of the Diploma of the College. [4]
Handford played for Aspartria during the 1906/7/8 seasons and for Kersal Football Club (which would later become Altrincham Kersal RFC) in the 1908/09 season and was shown in the Fixture Card as Vice-Captain for the season. [5] He later moved on to Manchester Football Club (later renamed Manchester Rugby Club). [6] He was a stalwart of the Lancashire County side playing from 1906 through till the return season of 1918 after the Great War. During his period of study at the Aspatria Agricultural College he played Rugby union for Cumberland County on four occasions. [7]
Handford made his Test debut for England vs Wales at Cardiff on 16 January 1909. He played in a further 3 matches for his country in that Five Nations championship. His last Test for England was a Calcutta Cup match against Scotland at Richmond on 20 March 1909. [8] In 1910 he was selected for the first official British tour to South Africa (in that it was sanctioned and selected by the four Home Nations official governing bodies). He played on all three tests.
He served in the Cheshire Yeomanry, Machine Gun Corps during the First World War rising to the rank of sergeant. [9]
On 11 November 1915 Frank Handford married Mildred Honor Fiddy in Great Yarmouth. Perhaps due to his earlier Lions Tour in 1910, he is recorded as having emigrated to South Africa at some time after 1919.
James Lomas, also known by the nickname of "Jumbo", was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s and 1920s, and coached in the 1920s. three-quarter, and prominent goal-kicker, he captained the Great Britain national rugby league team. After starting with his home town Maryport's rugby union club, Lomas switched to rugby league, playing for Bramley, Salford, Oldham and York in a career that lasted for twenty-four years from 1899 to 1923, and saw him set new transfer fee and point scoring records. He also played representative matches for England, Lancashire and Cumberland. After retiring from playing Lomas coached Salford.
Francis John Shugars was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Penygraig RFC, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, Wales and Lancashire, and at club level for Warrington, as a forward.
The 1910 British Lions tour to Argentina was a rugby tour of Argentina made by a side made up of 16 English players and 3 Scots. The organisers of the tour named the team the "English Rugby Union team", but the host country advertised the touring team as the British Combined. The 1910 team has been termed as one of the three "lost lions" tours, and is detailed on the British and Irish Lions official website. For Argentina, this tour marked the start of international rugby union and the test against the Combined British on 12 June 1910 was the first test in the Argentine national team's history.
Joseph Ferguson was an English professional rugby league footballer who played between 1899 and 1923. He played at representative level for England, Cumberland and Lancashire, and at club level for Oldham, as a fullback, prop, hooker, or second-row.
Thomas Edwin Holliday, also known as "Tom" or "Tosh", was an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s. He was a dual-code international, playing for the England national rugby union team, British Lions, and the England national rugby league team.
Aspatria Rugby Union Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Aspatria, Cumbria in north west England, not far from the Scottish Border. They are nicknamed the "Black Reds", and have a red cockerel as their logo.
Roger Walker was a rugby union forward who played club rugby for Manchester Rugby Club and international rugby for England. Walker later became the President of the Rugby Football Union, and in that role accompanied the British Isles team on their 1896 tour of South Africa.
The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England, and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881. In addition it is the county that has won the County Championship on most occasions
Broughton Park FC, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in England and was established in 1882, just one year after the Lancashire County Rugby Football Union was founded and eleven years after the formation of the national Rugby Football Union. The first XV played in North 1 West, a sixth level league in the English league system following their promotion as champions of South Lancs/Cheshire 1 at the end of the 2017-18 season.
Peter Denny Strang was a British sportsman who played rugby union at an international level, touring Argentina with the 1910 Combined British rugby union side, an early incarnation of the British and Irish Lions.
North 1 West is a rugby union league at the sixth level within the English league system. The league is made up of teams from north west England and the Isle of Man; principally consisting of the English counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The league was known as North Division 2 when it was first created back in 1987 and was a single division. It has since split into two regional leagues, with North West 1 and its compatriot North 1 East being the longest running versions of the division.
North 2 West is a regional English rugby union league at the seventh tier of club rugby union for teams from Cheshire, Cumbria, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. The division was introduced for the 2019-20 season to form a new league at tier 7 - meaning that Lancs/Cheshire 1 would drop to being a tier 8 league.
Lancs/Cheshire Division 1 was a regional English Rugby Union league for teams from Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, ranked at tier 8 of the English league system. The top two clubs are promoted to North 2 West and the bottom two clubs are relegated to Lancs/Cheshire 2. Each season two teams from Lancs/Cheshire 1 are picked to take part in the RFU Senior Vase - one affiliated with the Cheshire RFU, the other with the Lancashire RFU.
North Lancashire/Cumbria was an English Rugby Union League at the seventh tier of club rugby union for teams from North Lancashire and Cumbria that ran until the end of 2017–18 season. Promotion from this division used to be into North 1 West with the champions going straight up and the league runners up facing the league runners up from South Lancs/Cheshire 1 for their place. Clubs at the bottom of the table were relegated either to North Lancashire 1, South Lancs/Cheshire 2 or the Cumbria League depending on their geographical location.
Altrincham Kersal Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Timperley, Trafford. The club runs three senior men's teams, and mini and junior rugby from age 5. The first XV currently plays in North 1 West, a level six league in the English league system, following the club's promotion as champions of Lancs/Cheshire 1 at the end of the 2018–19 season.
Rugby League in Lancashire refers to the sport of rugby league in relation to its participation and history within the traditional county of Lancashire, England. The county has since been split up for administrative purposes with parts of traditional Lancashire forming parts of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria as well as the current borders of Lancashire.
Lancashire (North), formerly known as North Lancashire 1 was a regional (tier 8) English Rugby Union league for teams from the South Lancashire and Manchester area. The league champions were promoted to North Lancashire/Cumbria while the runners had a playoff against the runners up from the Cumbria League for the final promotion spot.
The Cheshire Rugby Football Union (CRFU) is a rugby union governing body in the historic county of Cheshire and the Isle of Man. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cheshire. The CRFU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county and administers the Cheshire county rugby representative teams.
The Cumbria Rugby Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Cumbria in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cumbria, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Cumbria rugby representative teams.
The County Championship was a representative competition of British counties in rugby league between 1895 and 1983.
