Oliver Ruck

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Oliver Ruck
Personal information
Full name Oliver Edwal Ruck
Date of birth(1851-05-27)27 May 1851
Place of birth Pennal, Merionethshire, Wales
Date of death 24 July 1934(1934-07-24) (aged 83)
Place of death Aberdovey, Gwynedd, Wales
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1876–78 Royal Engineers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Oliver Edwal Ruck was an association footballer and officer in the Royal Engineers, who played in the 1878 FA Cup final.

Contents

Early life

Oliver Ruck was born at Pennal, Merionethshire, Wales on 27 May 1851, [1] the fifth child and third son of Laurence Ruck (c.1820–1896), a gentleman farmer, originally from Newington in Kent. On his mother's side, he could claim descent from Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welsh native Prince of Wales. [2]

Ruck attended the Royal Military Academy, following in the footsteps of his brother Richard Ruck, and was commissioned as lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in July 1875, having scored the fifth highest marks on passing out for the year; future football team-mate Charles Haynes had beaten him. [3] He also won the RMA Governor's Prize that year for his skill with watercolours, as well as prizes for technical drawing - three of his future team-mates also won prizes in 1875. [4]

Football career

Richard Ruck had played in the Royal Engineers A.F.C. side which won the FA Cup in 1875. [5] Oliver made his debut for the Sappers in goal against the Gitanos at the Prince's Cricket Ground in February 1876, and kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory. [6] He only played once more in goal, and by the end of the 1875–76 season had moved up front; in April both he and Richard scored in a win for the Engineers over the Wanderers. [7]

He made his competitive début in the second round of the 1876–77 FA Cup, playing as centre-forward in a 3–0 win at the Shropshire Wanderers. [8] He was not a regular player - his fourth tie in the competition, and first in the 1877–78 FA Cup, was the "final six" second replay against Oxford University, in which he scored one of the Sappers' goals in a 4–2 win. [9] He played in the semi-final and final as well, all three appearances being on the right wing. He was picked out for his "untiring" play in the final, but it was not enough as the Wanderers took the trophy with a 3–1 win. [10]

Military career

The 1878 final was Ruck's final football match, as his army duties took him away from the game. Ruck was made captain on 28 January 188, major on 3 November 1894, [11] and colonel in October 1904. [12] He served in the First Boer War in 1881 [13] before being sent to Hong Kong and Singapore, [14] and in 1901 he was appointed in command of the Royal Engineers in Liverpool. [15] He retired in 1908, [16] but was brought back to serve for the First World War. [17]

Personal life

On 16 November 1884, at Chatham, he marred Eve Pedley, the daughter of Thomas Pedley (owner of 1847 Epsom Derby winner Cossack), from Stubbing Court in Derbyshire. [18] The couple had one son, Laurence, who was killed at Neuve Chapelle in 1915, [19] and one daughter, Mary. [20]

In retirement, he moved to Aberdovey, where he became an authority on local archaeology. He died suddenly at his home on 24 July 1934. [21]

Related Research Articles

The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the 'Sappers', of the British Army and based in Chatham, Kent. In the 1870s, it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup finalists in three of the first four seasons. The Engineers were pioneers of the combination game, where teammates passed the ball to each other rather than kicking ahead and charging after the ball. With the rise of professional teams, in 1888 the Engineers joined a newly formed Army Football Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1874 FA Cup final</span> Association football match between Oxford University and Royal Engineers in 1874

The 1874 FA Cup final was a football match between Oxford University and Royal Engineers on 14 March 1874 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the third final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup. Both teams had previously reached the final but been defeated by Wanderers. The Engineers had reached the final with comparative ease, scoring sixteen goals and conceding only one in the four previous rounds. Oxford's opponents in the earlier rounds had included two-time former winners Wanderers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1875 FA Cup final</span> Football match

The 1875 FA Cup final was a football match between Royal Engineers and Old Etonians on 13 March 1875 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the fourth final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup. Heading into the final, the Royal Engineers were playing in their third final after losing the 1872 and 1874 finals while the Old Etonians were playing in their first FA Cup final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1878 FA Cup final</span> Football match

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Henry Wace was an English amateur footballer who made three appearances for England and played for Wanderers, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1877 and 1878. By profession he was a lawyer who specialised in bankruptcy law.

Colonel William Merriman was a British officer in the Royal Engineers who played as a goalkeeper in three FA Cup Finals, winning the cup in 1875.

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Brigadier-General William Francis Howard Stafford was a British Army officer who served with the Royal Engineers in various campaigns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Towards the end of his career, he was in command of the South Irish coastal defences.

Colonel Alexander Lechmere Mein was a British Army officer who served with the Royal Engineers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spending the majority of his career in India. The only active service that he saw was during the Anglo-Afghan War in 1878 to 1880. In his youth, he was a keen amateur sportsman and played association football for the Royal Engineers, being on the winning side in the 1875 FA Cup Final.

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Francis Heathcote Wilson was an association footballer and barrister who played in the 1875 and 1876 FA Cup finals.

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James Henry Cowan was an Army officer, who played in the 1878 FA Cup final for the Royal Engineers A.F.C., and represented Great Britain in shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Charles Edward Haynes was an officer in the Royal Engineers and an association footballer, who played in the 1878 FA Cup final.

References

  1. ↑ Warsop 2004, p. 122.
  2. ↑ Brown, William Baker (June 1935). "Memoir: Major-General Sir Richard M. Ruck, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G" (PDF). Royal Engineers Journal. No. XLIX (49). pp. 278–283. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ↑ "The Royal Military Academy". Broad Arrow: 10. 31 July 1875.
  4. ↑ "List of prizes". Evening Mail: 6. 28 July 1875.
  5. ↑ "FA Cup Final: 1875". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  6. ↑ "Royal Engineers v Gitanos". Sporting Life: 1. 9 February 1876.
  7. ↑ "Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Field: 432. 15 April 1876.
  8. ↑ "Shropshire Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Bell's Life: 9. 16 December 1876.
  9. ↑ "Royal Engineers v Oxford University". Sportsman: 4. 13 March 1878.
  10. ↑ "Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Sportsman: 4. 25 March 1878.
  11. ↑ Hart, Lt-Gen H.G. (1898). Annual Army List. London: John Murray. pp. 63–4.
  12. ↑ "Line battalions". Evening Standard: 6. 8 October 1904.
  13. ↑ "The Trans Vaal War". Evening Standard: 5. 17 February 1881.
  14. ↑ "Regimental memoranda". Naval & Military Gazette: 16. 18 July 1883.
  15. ↑ "Royal Engineers". Army and Navy Gazette: 11. 5 October 1901.
  16. ↑ "Royal Engineers". Army and Navy Gazette: 13. 16 May 1908.
  17. ↑ British Army Lists, 1882-1962
  18. ↑ "Marriages". Homeward Mail: 21. 3 December 1884.
  19. ↑ "Lieutenant Laurence Humphrey Ruck". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  20. ↑ "report of marriage". Morning Post: 7. 24 May 1906.
  21. ↑ "Noted archæologist dead". Hull Daily Mail: 10. 25 July 1934.

Sources

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