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| Birth name | George Aldwyn Methuen Isherwood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 3 February 1889 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Barton upon Irwell, Lancashire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 1 February 1974 (aged 84) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | St Albans district [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Ramsey Grammar School Dulwich College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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George Aldwyn Methuen Isherwood (1889-1974) was a rugby union international who was part of the first official British and Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1910.
George Aldwyn Methuen Isherwood was born on 3 February 1889 in Barton upon Irwell, Lancashire, England. He was the son of the stone and builder's merchant, Samuel G Isherwood and Annie Methuen (daughter of Scottish chemist Richard Methuen). He also had a younger sister Dorothy. For a time he lived on the Isle of Man whilst boarding at Ramsey Grammar School, but went on to attend Dulwich College in south London where he played both rugby [2] and cricket for the school.
Isherwood went on to play for Cheshire and played regularly for that county side in the 1909 season. [2] Isherwood also played for Sale and was part of the 50th anniversary team that swept to an unprecedented season record of P 26, W 24, D 2. [3] Although P.H. Davies is counted as Sale's first international (having been picked to play for England in 1927), it was Isherwood who was Sale's first representative in an international Test match, [4] when he played in all three tests of the 1910 British tour to South Africa at scrum-half. Isherwood was selected for this first official tour (in that it was sanctioned and selected by the four Home Nations official governing bodies) and took part in twenty out of the twenty four matches played, including all three ‘Tests'. He was said to have played a useful and consistent game at half. [5] Despite playing for the British team, he was never selected for England.
Isherwood fought in the Royal Field Artillery in the first world war, rising to the rank of captain. Amongst the theatres of wars in which he served were Egypt, in September 1914 and in Gallipoli in May 1915.
Francis Edward Cotton is a former rugby union prop forward who played for England and the British Lions. His clubs included Coventry R.F.C. and Sale. After retiring, he remained in rugby administration and founded a clothing company. In 2007, Cotton returned to his former club Sale as a member of the club's board.
The Old Alleynian Football Club is an open rugby union club founded as a team for the old boys of Dulwich College, themselves known as Old Alleynians. Founded in 1898, it is one of the oldest clubs in London and was the last of London's old boys clubs to become a fully open club. It is notable not only for its longevity, but also for the prominence it once attained on the club circuit and for the number of eminent players that have been members of the club, some of whom gained their international caps whilst at the club.
Gary Ross Freeman is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 2000s, who both captained and coached the New Zealand national team. He was arguably one of New Zealand's greatest Test halfbacks and at the time of his retirement he was the most-capped New Zealand test player and also held the record for most consecutive tests for New Zealand with 37.
Charles "Chook" Fraser (1893–1981) was an Australian rugby league footballer and later coach. He was a versatile three-quarter for the Australian national team. He played in 11 Tests between 1911 and 1920 as captain on 3 occasions. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century
Christopher Hobart McKivat was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and the Kangaroos in 5 Tests from 1910 to 1912. He is unique in Australian rugby history as the only man to captain both the national rugby union and rugby league teams. Following his playing career he became the most successful coach of North Sydney in the club's history.
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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.
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John "Johnny" Hammond was an English rugby union forward who, although not capped for England, was part of three British Lions tours, all to South Africa. He gained three caps during the 1891 tour to South Africa and captained the 1896 tour, winning another two test caps. Although not part of the 1899 tour to Australia, he was made the manager of the 1903 tour. Despite captaining the British Isles, Hammond never represented England.
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William Wotherspoon was a Scottish rugby union half-back who was a member of the first official British Isles tour and was also capped for the Scotland team. Wotherspoon played one game in the 1891 Championship, which saw Scotland win all three matches making Wotherspoon a Triple Crown winning player.
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.
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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.
