Relatives remember rugby pioneer Jimmy
Jimmy Peters made England rugby union history in 1906 when he ran out at Twickenham as his nation’s first black player.
Those were very different times, and Jimmy’s journey to elite rugby was a very different one from the experiences of his team mates.
All the more reason for his granddaughter, Barbara, now 92, to describe him as her "pride and joy."
"I knew him well because he died when I was 23," says Barbara Dunbar, who lives in Plymouth where her beloved grandad played for Plymouth RFC.
"I have always been proud of him, he was a lovely man, so kind. He spoiled me rotten. He was only 5ft 3 but he was always fit. He walked everywhere and never caught a bus. He had a very tough start in life, but he overcame it and was a friend of anyone and everyone.”
A tough start in life
Jimmy’s start in life was, indeed, very hard. He was born in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1878 but says Barbara: “What I know was told to me by my grandmother, his wife Rosina. Gramps was a very quiet, unassuming man but she told me how his father came over from Jamaica, became a lion tamer and was found dead in the lions’ cage. His mother couldn’t cope with the three children and Jimmy was farmed out to another circus family.”
Training as a child bareback rider, Jimmy fell and broke his arm and Barbara believes he was found by Lord and Lady Portman tied up outside a circus caravan.
“I heard that they sponsored him in a London school and orphanage, providing money and a tuck box and it was there that he was discovered to be a very good athlete, winning all the races on sports day,” says Barbara.
Outstanding sportsman & rugby player
It was in 1890 that Jimmy arrived in London’s Fegan's Orphanage going on to what was then the Little Wanderers Orphanage in Greenwich. Here boys were taught trades and sports and Jimmy, an outstanding sportsman, captained the home’s cricket and rugby teams and in their 1894 sports day won the 100 yards sprint, 1 mile race, long jump, high jump and walking race.
He left the orphanage in 1898 to work as a carpenter in Bristol. After playing rugby for Dings in the Temple Meads area, he represented Bristol FC 35 times before moving to Plymouth, where he played for Plymouth RFC and then both Somerset and Devon.
Onfield partnership with Adrian Stoop
In the days before the positions of scrum half and fly half, Jimmy was described as a half-back, organising the game on the field.
In 1906 he was selected for England alongside Adrian Stoop, the two playing a pivotal part in England’s first defeat of Scotland for four seasons. In his next match he scored a try in England’s inaugural international against France.
The two England team mates had vastly different experiences of life, Stoop attending Dover College and Rugby School before going to Oxford University, where he was captain of the rugby team.
Banned from rugby union
Before Jimmy’s England debut against Scotland, the Western Times wrote that sadly Jimmy Peters wasn’t selected to play earlier against Wales, having been “sacrificed” because "colour was the difficulty". There were reports of racism and, with a touring South Africa team said to be unhappy playing against a black man when taking on Devon, Jimmy was dropped for England's match against the tourists and not included in the next England trials.
He was, however, awarded four more caps, his last at Ashton Gate, Bristol, in 1908, against Wales. At the outbreak of World War One he worked in Plymouth's naval dockyard, where he injured his hand. Given a Plymouth testimonial, he was banned from rugby union as it was deemed professionalism and against the RFU's amateur regulations. When his injuries improved, the ban saw him switch codes to rugby league, playing for Barrow in 1913, before joining St Helens in 1914.
Barbara’s great grandson represented Jimmy
Barbara's great-grandson Liam plays for Tavistock RFC, and was a mascot for England's meet with South Africa in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series where he wore a medal that belonged to Jimmy.
"When I was a little girl I would run alongside him," explains Barbara. "He was never without his dog or a pipe. He always wore a hat, a bowler on Sundays, a cap during the week and he slept in a woolly hat.
"I have got lovely memories of my grandfather and, as a family, we are all very proud of him. I would show his caps to my school pals and later took them to work, my two daughters used to take them to school to show everyone. I am very proud that my great-grandson Liam ran out as a mascot for England in memory of my Gramps Jimmy."
Jimmy married and had a family in Plymouth, becoming a teetotal publican. He died in 1954 aged 74 and was buried in Plymouth Old Cemetery. In 2015 a new headstone was installed paying tribute to Jimmy - England’s first black international rugby player.
Plymouth RFC have now set-up a gofundme page for their proposed Jimmy Peters statue.
