Proud granddaughter of player in first ever match
Mary Elsdon-Dew (nee Clayton) is the 88-year-old granddaughter of John Henry Clayton, who played in the first ever international rugby match in 1871 and wore the only surviving jersey, which is displayed in Twickenham’s World Rugby Museum.
With his shirt probably the Museum’s most famous exhibit after the Calcutta Cup, and the 150th anniversary of that match against Scotland this weekend, Mary said: “It’s quite amazing that he has a grandchild still alive and I’m very proud that it is me. I suppose it helped that my mother was 20 years younger than my father, who didn’t marry until he was 50.
“John Henry’s England and Rugby School caps hung in a frame in my family home as I was growing up and when my father died they came to me. As a girl I took little notice that both my paternal grandfather, and Wilfred Stoddart, my maternal grandfather, had played rugby for England. My father would go to every Twickenham match, taking my mother, and my husband Robin was a very good sportsman, frightfully keen on games, and he took me too. I haven’t been since he died.
That’s my grandfather’s actual jersey!
“It was probably 15 years ago that we visited the Museum at Twickenham. I had no idea that John Henry’s shirt was hanging there and when I saw it I shouted: ‘My goodness, that is his, that is my grandfather’s actual jersey! We didn’t know anything about it but we took along his caps, which are in quite good condition, to show someone there.
“He played in that very first match, isn’t that something to be proud of? We got very excited about the whole thing and it seemed awful that I hadn’t taken more interest. I’ve collected a few cuttings had one account framed. From that I gather that John Henry was a very big chap, 17 stone or something, and trained on beef and beer, ran four miles every morning before making a four mile journey on horseback to his office in Liverpool.”
When J H Clayton, who was both a Liverpool trader and a director of Lloyds Bank, died in March 1924, The Dark Horse staff magazine said: “Here, indeed, was a man beloved of all with whom he came in contact, that the keynotes of his character were unselfishness and consideration for others, and that absolute sincerity was his outstanding quality.”
Said Mary: “That is such a lovely tribute and would apply equally to his son, my father Gerald. He was the fifth of John Henry’s five sons and had five sisters. He was very keen on rugby but he never boasted about his father, which was typical Clayton. He never told us about fighting in World War I either but I think few talked about it.”
Both grandfathers played for England
Mary’s other grandfather, Wilfrid Stoddart, was awarded three caps in 1897 and, like Clayton, played for Liverpool and Lancashire. Both men were also Captains of The Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake, Clayton for four years during the First World War and Stoddart in the 1920s.
Clayton’s one international rugby match on March 27th 1871, saw him and 19 other Englishmen take on a Scottish Twenty at Raeburn Place in front of 4,000 spectators. Out of the 40 jerseys worn, Clayton’s is the only example known to have survived. The England jerseys were white, in keeping with those of Rugby School where he was educated. A red rose was sewn onto the chest, although the rose on Clayton’s jersey has faded over time.
Discovering the sport at Rugby School in 1861, ten years later he became one of 11 former Rugby School pupils in that first England side and one of 13 never to represent their country again. He was selected for a further match in 1872, but was unavailable.
Said Mary: “It was a completely different world for rugby back then, of course. Those were amateur days and if you play rugby today it is your whole life. John Henry had a job, rugby had to fit in with that. My other grandfather’s second name was Bowring, which I believe is very much a rugby name. While they were both sportsmen, I think Stoddart spent most of his time playing one sport or another.”
Little Boys’ Hero
For Clayton, it all began at Rugby. An article in a scrapbook compiled by C J B Marriott, the RFU Secretary between 1907 and 1927, tells us:
“J H Clayton, one of the directors of Lloyds Bank, enjoys the distinction of having played in the first Rugby International between England and Scotland.
“His first appearance in the football world came about as follows. He was playing in what was called a ‘little side’’ match of the small boys, wearing, as was the custom then, linen duck trousers and a thin cotton jersey. The School Twenty – for in those days the game consisted of twenty a-side – who were playing in the final match for ‘Cock House’, had one of their team injured, and as no good man could be found for a substitute, the captain came to the little boys and asked whether anyone would care to help them. Young Clayton volunteered, and was fortunate enough during the game to get hold of the ball and score between the posts, and secured victory for his side.
“Next year he was in the School House Twenty, and later got his cap, and played in the Old Rugbeian match. At this time he was still far from big, and an old Rug of prodigious size, called Stodger Brown, shouted to him, ‘Come to my arms, my infant,’’ and nearly squeezed the life out of him.”
Clayton later joined a very successful Liverpool FC, and by 1871 was far from the little Rugby schoolboy. The scrapbook excerpt tells of his training schedule for the match:
“By this time, he had grown into a very big, strong fellow of 17 or 18 stone. He says he trained hard for a month before the match – ran four miles or so with a large Newfoundland dog to match the pace, every morning in the dark before breakfast, which he took at 7.15am, got back for a tub and his meal, and then rode on horseback to Liverpool, four miles away. There he was at the office from 8.30am till 8pm, when he rode home again.
“He trained, as was then the custom, on underdone beef and beer, and lived a frugal and strenuous life otherwise, with the result that, in addition to putting on weight, he achieved a superb state of fitness for the match.’’
Umpire’s Decision!
Scotland won that first encounter but years later Clayton attributed the defeat to the fact that the majority of the England side had only met each other for the first time in the Raeburn Place dressing-room. There was also the matter of a debated try.
Even before the days of referees, that first match involved a heated debate about a disputed Scotland try, a device which then only afforded the opportunity to kick for a goal. Any appeal was then decided on by an umpire, later to become a touch judge and today an assistant referee.cThis umpire was Scotland’s Dr Almond, the headmaster of Loretto.
He later said: “Let me make a confession. I do not know whether the decision which gave Scotland the try from which the winning goal was kicked was correct in fact. Where an umpire is in doubt, I think he is justified in deciding against the side which makes most noise. They are probably in the wrong.”
That was a time, however, of playing the game, rather than winning. The Victorian era of fortitude and stoicism was to see Rudyard Kipling write: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same…..”
And those 40 players who took the field 150 years ago certainly did.
Why not come and see the famous Clayton shirt? With current government advice that museums are scheduled to reopen on May 17th, visit the World Rugby Museum website, book your visit and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
