Alfred St. George Hamersley
Encyclopedia
Alfred St. George Hamersley (8 October 1848–25 February 1929) was a nineteenth-century solicitor and entrepreneur of great renown, an English MP and perhaps most notably an English rugby union
international who played in the first ever international match, went on to captain his country and pioneered the sport in the south of New Zealand
and in British Columbia
.
, Oxfordshire
, the son of Hugh Hamersley J.P.
, D.L. (1813–1884) and Mary Anne Phillpa Edwards (d. 1877). Initially living at Haseley House, Great Haseley, he moved to Church Manor House, Pyrton
, Oxford prior to 1861 where his father had inherited the manor that had been in the family since 1781. Alfred was not to inherit the manor. Rather, it passed to his younger brother Edward Samuel in 1884 at which time Alfred was living in New Zealand. Pyrton manor did not revert to the older line of Alfred, but rather in 1909, Edward's widow gave the manor to the son of her husband's sister, Major Hugh C. C. Ducat, who took the name Ducat Hamersley and whose son, Colonel Hugh Ducat Hamersley, inherited in 1945. In the Pyrton parish church are a number of monuments in the nave mostly to members of the Hamersley family. One of these is a brass tablet, designed by Eric Gill, to Col. Alfred St. George Hamersley, M.P.
Alfred was educated at Marlborough College
and at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After finishing his education moved to London where he became a Barrister-at-law in the Middle Temple
in 1872.
In 1874 he emigrated to New Zealand
where he married Miss Isabella Snow of Wellington
. Here he practiced law for about 15 years in South Canterbury. He also took a particular interest in military matters, taking command a battery of artillery and appointed to a command a contingent at Parihaka
on the last outbreak of trouble between Māori and pākehā in the North Island. He is created with introducing the game of rugby to the youth of South Canterbury. He also founded the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase Club.
In 1888 he and his family moved to Vancouver
where he is credited as being the city's first solicitor. He became legal advisor to Vancouver City Corporation and was active in local business and athletics. As in New Zealand his zeal for rugby led to him joining the Vancouver Football (Rugby) Club and he eventually became the first president of the British Columbia Rugby Union
at its inaugural meeting in 1889. His sporting interests went beyond rugby and he also founded the Amateur Athletic Club of British Columbia.
He ceased to practise law in British Columbia when, in the Vancouver Courts an act abolishing the use of wigs in Court was passed. As a strong supporter of everything British, Hamersley’s opinion was that this was an American innovation and one he refused to honour. It was in Vancouver that he became interested in real estate and bought 19500 acres (78.9 km²) of land, sub-divided it and attracted settlers to an area now known as North Vancouver on the other side of the Burrard Inlet. For this reason the first municipal ferry was named ‘St George’ in his honour. He also once sold some Mount Pleasant property to the writer Rudyard Kipling
, a fellow freemason. It is said that on one occasion when Rudyard Kipling paid him a visit he found a note pinned to Hamersley’s door saying ‘Out On Business’, a private joke because ‘Business’ was the name of his horse. Between 1903 and 1905 he had built an estate home in North Vancouver which still stands today having been designated in 1977 by the city as 'Heritage' to recognize its distinguished history.
In 1905, Alfred decided to retire back to England and a banquet was held on the eve of his departure at the North Vancouver Hotel. At the banquet Hamersley's speech was marked out by his professing the virtues of sport and its benefits to both community and the British Empire. He said that "The social side of life and sport were infinitely better than stem officialdom to build up a community. To build North Vancouver as she ought to be money was nothing compared with good fellowship, manliness and the love of sport. Were all brought up in a manly way they could play the game and play it well. If we can in our little community infuse manliness of sport and square dealing we would be helping the empire as a whole."
On his return to England in 1905 he soon became a well known figure in Oxfordshire, due in the main to his electioneering on behalf of the Conservative and Unionist Party, in an attempt to become Member of Parliament for Mid-Oxon. His connections to his home county were emphasised prior to his addressing a public meeting at Alvescot
in January 1908. He was described as "an Oxfordshire man born and bred:- his father was one of the best known County men having been Chairman of the Quarter Sessions and closely connected with all public work. His family had been connected with Oxfordshire for many generations - whatever he had done in different parts of the Empire all his better aspirations were drawn from his own home and his love of Oxfordshire." Alfred Hamersley, after a long promotional campaign, was on 22 January 1910 elected Unionist MP for Mid Oxfordshire, Woodstock which he held until 1918.
In addition to his political aspirations, he remained heavily involved in rugby union and was instrumental in helping to form the Oxfordshire Nomads Rugby Union Football Club in 1909, which would later become Oxford RFC. He stated that when the idea was brought to his notice he was surprised no such club already existed in the city and therefore he determined to do everything he could to forward the project. He acted as Chairman at the inaugural meeting at the Clarendon Hotel, in Commarket, and in so doing immediately gave the club gravitas. When the meeting arrived at the point to elect officers he was unanimously asked to become President of the club, and he accepted the honour, assuring those present that he would take a keen interest in the newly formed club. In his acceptance he said that although in England Association Football had caught the popular fancy, "the soccer game was not to be compared with the Rugby code. There was no better game in the world than Rugby."
At the outbreak of the war Alfred Hamersley was carrying the rank of Colonel. Although 66 years old, he was asked by the Army Council
to form a heavy battery for service during the Great War, the Headquarters of which were taken at Exeter College, Oxford. The battery was started in February 1915 but it was not until March 1916 that they were drafted overseas. Colonel Hamersley, now in his sixty-eighth year gave over the command to a younger man, Major Drought and the Batteries were commended by the authorities for their efficiency in battles such as the Somme
, Arras
and Ypres
.
The Great War claimed twenty-six England internationals but the game bounced back quickly and in the 1921 season, in which England gained their third ‘Grand Slam’, the Scotland-England match at Inverleith provided the opportunity for the English and Scottish Rugby Unions to celebrate the Jubilee of the first ever International in 1871. As one of the sixteen survivors of that first match, Alfred St George Hamersley was invited to the match and the team’s dinner afterwards to join the celebrations.
Alfred Hamersley's commitment to his Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries was unstinting and on October 15, 1926, in the Oxford Times he announced that arrangements had been made for a memorial to be erected to commemorate the services rendered by four Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries in the Great War, and the memory of those who fell. In a very short space of time, on Sunday 28 November 1926, 150 men marched from St Giles, headed by the 4th Battalion Oxfordshire and Bucks Light Infantry Band, to the Town Hall in Oxford where, before several hundred local people and several local dignitaries, Colonel Hamersley invited the Duke of Marlborough to unveil the memorial tablet bearing the inscription: "Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries (128th, 132nd, 135th, 156th) Royal Artillery. These batteries were raised and recruited in the City and County of Oxford for service overseas in the Great War. They served in France from March 1916 until the end of the War with great distinction. Many most gloriously fell. This tablet has been erected to their undying memory."
In his last years Alfred St G Hamersley had been living in Bournemouth where the sea air was felt to be beneficial. There he died on 25 February 1929.
interpretation of rugby school rules and upon leaving education and moving to London, joined the once famous, but then newly established Marlborough Nomads
. He was described as a tall, powerful forward, with a reputation for working tirelessly in the scrum and "first-rate at getting the ball on its being thrown out from touch". He was selected to play in England's first international in 1871 and played in each annual international fixture in the first four years of international rugby. His captain for the first three games was Frederick Stokes
and with his retirement after the 1873 match, Hamersley was made captain in 1874, making him England's second rugby union captain. This proved to be his final appearance for England at international level.
Soon after the match against Scotland in 1874 he emigrated to New Zealand
. There he practised law but continued to indulge his passion for rugby by helping to establish the game in the South Island of New Zealand. He was one of the founders of the South Canterbury Football Club, the Canterbury Rugby Union and then the South Canterbury Rugby Union. Hamersley's pivotal role in the history of rugby in the region was commemorated in 2010 with the introduction of the Hamersley trophy, a 6 foot tall silver trophy, for the winners of the senior rugby competition of South Canterbury. It was commented that his departure for New Zealand "did much towards improving the colonists’ game [but] was a great loss to England".
After fifteen years in New Zealand he moved to Canada in 1889. Once again he proved to be rugby union missionary by helping to found Vancouver RFC and he was the first president of the British Columbia Rugby Union
.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
international who played in the first ever international match, went on to captain his country and pioneered the sport in the south of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
Biography
Alfred St. George Hamersley was born in Great HaseleyGreat Haseley
Great Haseley is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire. The village is southwest of Thame. The parish includes the hamlets of Latchford, Little Haseley and North Weston and the house, chapel and park of Rycote...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, the son of Hugh Hamersley J.P.
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, D.L. (1813–1884) and Mary Anne Phillpa Edwards (d. 1877). Initially living at Haseley House, Great Haseley, he moved to Church Manor House, Pyrton
Pyrton
Pyrton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about north of the small town of Watlington and south of Thame.The toponym is from Old English meaning "pear-tree farm".-Archaeology:...
, Oxford prior to 1861 where his father had inherited the manor that had been in the family since 1781. Alfred was not to inherit the manor. Rather, it passed to his younger brother Edward Samuel in 1884 at which time Alfred was living in New Zealand. Pyrton manor did not revert to the older line of Alfred, but rather in 1909, Edward's widow gave the manor to the son of her husband's sister, Major Hugh C. C. Ducat, who took the name Ducat Hamersley and whose son, Colonel Hugh Ducat Hamersley, inherited in 1945. In the Pyrton parish church are a number of monuments in the nave mostly to members of the Hamersley family. One of these is a brass tablet, designed by Eric Gill, to Col. Alfred St. George Hamersley, M.P.
Alfred was educated at Marlborough College
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800...
and at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After finishing his education moved to London where he became a Barrister-at-law in the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in 1872.
In 1874 he emigrated to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
where he married Miss Isabella Snow of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. Here he practiced law for about 15 years in South Canterbury. He also took a particular interest in military matters, taking command a battery of artillery and appointed to a command a contingent at Parihaka
Parihaka
Parihaka is a small community in Taranaki Region, New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European...
on the last outbreak of trouble between Māori and pākehā in the North Island. He is created with introducing the game of rugby to the youth of South Canterbury. He also founded the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase Club.
In 1888 he and his family moved to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
where he is credited as being the city's first solicitor. He became legal advisor to Vancouver City Corporation and was active in local business and athletics. As in New Zealand his zeal for rugby led to him joining the Vancouver Football (Rugby) Club and he eventually became the first president of the British Columbia Rugby Union
British Columbia Rugby Union
The British Columbia Rugby Union is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in British Columbia. The BCRU consists of nine sub-unions and 65 clubs. It was originally organized in New Westminster in 1889 where Alfred St...
at its inaugural meeting in 1889. His sporting interests went beyond rugby and he also founded the Amateur Athletic Club of British Columbia.
He ceased to practise law in British Columbia when, in the Vancouver Courts an act abolishing the use of wigs in Court was passed. As a strong supporter of everything British, Hamersley’s opinion was that this was an American innovation and one he refused to honour. It was in Vancouver that he became interested in real estate and bought 19500 acres (78.9 km²) of land, sub-divided it and attracted settlers to an area now known as North Vancouver on the other side of the Burrard Inlet. For this reason the first municipal ferry was named ‘St George’ in his honour. He also once sold some Mount Pleasant property to the writer Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, a fellow freemason. It is said that on one occasion when Rudyard Kipling paid him a visit he found a note pinned to Hamersley’s door saying ‘Out On Business’, a private joke because ‘Business’ was the name of his horse. Between 1903 and 1905 he had built an estate home in North Vancouver which still stands today having been designated in 1977 by the city as 'Heritage' to recognize its distinguished history.
In 1905, Alfred decided to retire back to England and a banquet was held on the eve of his departure at the North Vancouver Hotel. At the banquet Hamersley's speech was marked out by his professing the virtues of sport and its benefits to both community and the British Empire. He said that "The social side of life and sport were infinitely better than stem officialdom to build up a community. To build North Vancouver as she ought to be money was nothing compared with good fellowship, manliness and the love of sport. Were all brought up in a manly way they could play the game and play it well. If we can in our little community infuse manliness of sport and square dealing we would be helping the empire as a whole."
On his return to England in 1905 he soon became a well known figure in Oxfordshire, due in the main to his electioneering on behalf of the Conservative and Unionist Party, in an attempt to become Member of Parliament for Mid-Oxon. His connections to his home county were emphasised prior to his addressing a public meeting at Alvescot
Alvescot
Alvescot is a village and civil parish about south of Carterton, Oxfordshire.-History:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter dates from the 13th century. The Perpendicular Gothic bell tower has a peal of six bells....
in January 1908. He was described as "an Oxfordshire man born and bred:- his father was one of the best known County men having been Chairman of the Quarter Sessions and closely connected with all public work. His family had been connected with Oxfordshire for many generations - whatever he had done in different parts of the Empire all his better aspirations were drawn from his own home and his love of Oxfordshire." Alfred Hamersley, after a long promotional campaign, was on 22 January 1910 elected Unionist MP for Mid Oxfordshire, Woodstock which he held until 1918.
In addition to his political aspirations, he remained heavily involved in rugby union and was instrumental in helping to form the Oxfordshire Nomads Rugby Union Football Club in 1909, which would later become Oxford RFC. He stated that when the idea was brought to his notice he was surprised no such club already existed in the city and therefore he determined to do everything he could to forward the project. He acted as Chairman at the inaugural meeting at the Clarendon Hotel, in Commarket, and in so doing immediately gave the club gravitas. When the meeting arrived at the point to elect officers he was unanimously asked to become President of the club, and he accepted the honour, assuring those present that he would take a keen interest in the newly formed club. In his acceptance he said that although in England Association Football had caught the popular fancy, "the soccer game was not to be compared with the Rugby code. There was no better game in the world than Rugby."
At the outbreak of the war Alfred Hamersley was carrying the rank of Colonel. Although 66 years old, he was asked by the Army Council
Army Council
The Army Council was a term first used in 1647 to describe an institution which coordinated the views of all levels of the New Model Army. During the Interregnum it metamorphosed into the Council of Officers....
to form a heavy battery for service during the Great War, the Headquarters of which were taken at Exeter College, Oxford. The battery was started in February 1915 but it was not until March 1916 that they were drafted overseas. Colonel Hamersley, now in his sixty-eighth year gave over the command to a younger man, Major Drought and the Batteries were commended by the authorities for their efficiency in battles such as the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
, Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
and Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
.
The Great War claimed twenty-six England internationals but the game bounced back quickly and in the 1921 season, in which England gained their third ‘Grand Slam’, the Scotland-England match at Inverleith provided the opportunity for the English and Scottish Rugby Unions to celebrate the Jubilee of the first ever International in 1871. As one of the sixteen survivors of that first match, Alfred St George Hamersley was invited to the match and the team’s dinner afterwards to join the celebrations.
Alfred Hamersley's commitment to his Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries was unstinting and on October 15, 1926, in the Oxford Times he announced that arrangements had been made for a memorial to be erected to commemorate the services rendered by four Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries in the Great War, and the memory of those who fell. In a very short space of time, on Sunday 28 November 1926, 150 men marched from St Giles, headed by the 4th Battalion Oxfordshire and Bucks Light Infantry Band, to the Town Hall in Oxford where, before several hundred local people and several local dignitaries, Colonel Hamersley invited the Duke of Marlborough to unveil the memorial tablet bearing the inscription: "Oxfordshire Heavy Batteries (128th, 132nd, 135th, 156th) Royal Artillery. These batteries were raised and recruited in the City and County of Oxford for service overseas in the Great War. They served in France from March 1916 until the end of the War with great distinction. Many most gloriously fell. This tablet has been erected to their undying memory."
In his last years Alfred St G Hamersley had been living in Bournemouth where the sea air was felt to be beneficial. There he died on 25 February 1929.
Rugby union
Hamersley had played football under the Marlborough CollegeMarlborough College
Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800...
interpretation of rugby school rules and upon leaving education and moving to London, joined the once famous, but then newly established Marlborough Nomads
Marlborough Nomads
The Marlborough Nomads was a 19th century rugby football club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as producing a number of international players in the sport's early international fixtures....
. He was described as a tall, powerful forward, with a reputation for working tirelessly in the scrum and "first-rate at getting the ball on its being thrown out from touch". He was selected to play in England's first international in 1871 and played in each annual international fixture in the first four years of international rugby. His captain for the first three games was Frederick Stokes
Frederick Stokes
Frederick Stokes may refer to:*Frederick Stokes , the first captain of the England national rugby union team*Sir Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes, KBE , inventor and civil engineer...
and with his retirement after the 1873 match, Hamersley was made captain in 1874, making him England's second rugby union captain. This proved to be his final appearance for England at international level.
Soon after the match against Scotland in 1874 he emigrated to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. There he practised law but continued to indulge his passion for rugby by helping to establish the game in the South Island of New Zealand. He was one of the founders of the South Canterbury Football Club, the Canterbury Rugby Union and then the South Canterbury Rugby Union. Hamersley's pivotal role in the history of rugby in the region was commemorated in 2010 with the introduction of the Hamersley trophy, a 6 foot tall silver trophy, for the winners of the senior rugby competition of South Canterbury. It was commented that his departure for New Zealand "did much towards improving the colonists’ game [but] was a great loss to England".
After fifteen years in New Zealand he moved to Canada in 1889. Once again he proved to be rugby union missionary by helping to found Vancouver RFC and he was the first president of the British Columbia Rugby Union
British Columbia Rugby Union
The British Columbia Rugby Union is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in British Columbia. The BCRU consists of nine sub-unions and 65 clubs. It was originally organized in New Westminster in 1889 where Alfred St...
.
Personal life
Alfred married Isabella Maud Snow in 1876. Isabella was born 1853, the daughter of Charles Hastings Snow and christened in Winterborne Stickland, Dorset. She lived to be 102, dying on 27 January 1955. They had a number of children including:- Cecil St. George Hamersley (August 12, 1877 to October 13, 1877) died at Timaru, of inflammation of the lungs
- Hugh St George Hamersley (1878–1960), married Eva Sutton, and later Marjorie Scales
- Harold Hamersley (1882–1925), married Martha Carter
- Edward Hamersley (1877- )
- Constance Hamersley (1880–1923)
- Maud D'oyley Hamersley (1888–1971)
- Alfred Hastings St George Hamersley (married twice, i) Violet Lewis; ii)Frances Hamersley)