Matthew Mullineux
Encyclopedia
Matthew Mullineux MC
(8 August 1867 – 13 February 1945) was an English
rugby union
scrum-half who, although not capped for England
, was selected for two British Lions
tours. He gained one cap during the 1896 tour to South Africa
and captained the 1899 tour of Australia
. An Anglican
minister, he later became a chaplain in the British Army
, and was awarded the Military Cross
for his actions during the First World War
.
, Eccles
, Lancashire
, though some sources record his birthplace as nearby Worsley
, to Matthew Mullineux, an insurance-inspector, and his wife Elizabeth Derbyshire. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School
and then Matriculated
to St John's College, Cambridge
. He received his BA
in 1896, and the next year was ordained
as a Deacon at Southwark Cathedral
. The next year he was ordained as a priest and took his orders at the Church of Mottingham
, also becoming the Assistant Master at the nearby Royal Naval School
in Eltham. On the 9 May 1899 he left England for Australia as part of the British Isles rugby tour and left both his posts.
as a student, playing at scrum-half, before turning out for Blackheath. In 1896 he was selected to play in Johnny Hammond
's British Isles team to tour South Africa
; although Mullineux only played in one of the test matches, the opening win over South Africa
at Port Elizabeth. He played in twelve games in total on the tour scoring four tries, including two against Queenstown, and a dropped goal in the win over Grahamstown.
In 1899, the first official British team to tour Australia
was selected, and Mullineux was not only chosen to captain the team, but also to manage it. Mullineux again represented the British team in the opening game, but the tourists lacked cohesion and lost to the Australians
3–13. The British Isles had under-performed in the few invitational games leading up to the first test, and after the defeat to the Wallabies, Mullineux dropped himself from the team for the remaining tests, and brought in Charlie Adamson
as his replacement. The captaincy was given to Frank Stout
, and the tourists play began to improve. After Mullineux's decision the British Isles played far better rugby and won the last three tests to take the series 3–1. Although no longer a part of the test team, Mullineux continued to represent the British team against the invitational and regional teams. He played in ten games on the tour, his only points came from a try in the loss against Queensland
.
A reflection of Mullineux's character was seen during the 1899 tour, when after the third test in Sydney
he undiplomatically embarrassed the Australian hosts at the after-match dinner. After JJ Calvert, the president of the New South Wales RFU, had made a light-hearted excuse for the Australian team's
poor performance, Mullineux responded by lecturing the Australian's on their style of play, and offered suggestions as to how they could refine their play.
Despite only playing in the first test, Mullineux was honoured when bush poet
, Banjo Paterson
wrote a poem about his playing prowess, entitled The Reverend Mullineux.
. In 1902 he became a Royal Navy
chaplain and served on several ships; the HMS Amphion
(1902–04), HMS Terrible
(1904), HMS Albion
(1904–06), HMS Barfleur
(1905–06) and HMS Hogue
(1906–07). In 1907 he became the Assistant Chaplain at Montreaux.
Before the outbreak of First World War
, Mullineux was chaplain to the Flying Angel Mission in America, but travelled by mail boat to New Zealand
in order to proceed on active duty. While in New Zealand he studied medicine, before leaving for Britain as a Chaplain to the Forces
. In May 1918, while posted at a regimental aid post in France, Mullineux took command of the post after the serving medical officer was incapacitated by his wounds. The station came under high-explosive and gas-shelling for 12 hours, during which time Mullineux tended to the wounded and supervised evacuation of the site. For his actions during this time, he was awarded the Military Cross.
throughout Australia, giving public lectures on the war cemeteries of Europe. In 1919 Mullineux set up the St. Barnabas Society, a charity which helped finance those too poor to visit the graves of family members who had died in the First World War. The society also placed wreaths at graves on behalf of relatives, and soon became the most important organisation providing subsidised war grave pilgrimages from Britain. After his military service came to an end, Mullineux became the vicar of Marham
in Norfolk, a post he held from 1935 until his death in 1945.
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(8 August 1867 – 13 February 1945) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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...
scrum-half who, although not capped for England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, was selected for two British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
tours. He gained one cap during the 1896 tour to South Africa
1896 British Lions tour to South Africa
1896 British Isles tour to South Africa was a rugby union tour undertaken by the British Isles, one of the first British and Irish Lions tours. The team toured South Africa for the second time in 1896. Between July 11 and September 5, they played 21 games, including four tests against South Africa...
and captained the 1899 tour of Australia
1899 British Lions tour to Australia
The 1899 British Isles tour to Australia was the fourth rugby union tour by a British Isles team and the second to Australia; though the first tour in 1888 was a private venture, making the 1899 tour the first official undertaking of Australia...
. An Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
minister, he later became a chaplain in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, and was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for his actions during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Early life
Mullineux was born in Barton-upon-IrwellBarton-upon-Irwell
Barton-upon-Irwell is a suburban area of Eccles, Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
, Eccles
Eccles, Greater Manchester
Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, though some sources record his birthplace as nearby Worsley
Worsley
Worsley is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the course of Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. The M60 motorway bisects the area....
, to Matthew Mullineux, an insurance-inspector, and his wife Elizabeth Derbyshire. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...
and then Matriculated
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
to St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
. He received his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1896, and the next year was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
as a Deacon at Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge....
. The next year he was ordained as a priest and took his orders at the Church of Mottingham
Mottingham
Mottingham is a district of south London, England; located at the convergence of the London Borough of Bromley, the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich...
, also becoming the Assistant Master at the nearby Royal Naval School
Royal Naval School
The Royal Naval School was an English school that was established in Camberwell, London, in 1833 and then formally constituted by the Royal Naval College Act 1840. It was a charitable institution, established as a boarding school for the sons of officers in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Many of...
in Eltham. On the 9 May 1899 he left England for Australia as part of the British Isles rugby tour and left both his posts.
Rugby career
Mullineux first came to note as a rugby player when he represented Cambridge UniversityCambridge University R.U.F.C.
The Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club, or CURUFC, is the rugby union club of Cambridge University, and plays Oxford University in the annual Varsity Match at Twickenham stadium every December. CURUFC players wear light blue and white hooped jerseys with a red lion crest...
as a student, playing at scrum-half, before turning out for Blackheath. In 1896 he was selected to play in Johnny Hammond
Johnny Hammond (rugby player)
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...
's British Isles team to tour South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
; although Mullineux only played in one of the test matches, the opening win over South Africa
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
at Port Elizabeth. He played in twelve games in total on the tour scoring four tries, including two against Queenstown, and a dropped goal in the win over Grahamstown.
In 1899, the first official British team to tour Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
was selected, and Mullineux was not only chosen to captain the team, but also to manage it. Mullineux again represented the British team in the opening game, but the tourists lacked cohesion and lost to the Australians
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
3–13. The British Isles had under-performed in the few invitational games leading up to the first test, and after the defeat to the Wallabies, Mullineux dropped himself from the team for the remaining tests, and brought in Charlie Adamson
Charlie Adamson
Charles "Charlie" Young Adamson was an English international rugby union utility back who played club rugby for Durham. Adamson played international rugby for the British Isles team on its 1899 tour of Australia...
as his replacement. The captaincy was given to Frank Stout
Frank Stout
Frank Moxon Stout MC also referred to as Frank Moxham Stout, was an English international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Gloucester and Richmond. Stout played international rugby for England and was selected for the British Isles on two tours in 1899 and 1903...
, and the tourists play began to improve. After Mullineux's decision the British Isles played far better rugby and won the last three tests to take the series 3–1. Although no longer a part of the test team, Mullineux continued to represent the British team against the invitational and regional teams. He played in ten games on the tour, his only points came from a try in the loss against Queensland
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
.
A reflection of Mullineux's character was seen during the 1899 tour, when after the third test in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
he undiplomatically embarrassed the Australian hosts at the after-match dinner. After JJ Calvert, the president of the New South Wales RFU, had made a light-hearted excuse for the Australian team's
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
poor performance, Mullineux responded by lecturing the Australian's on their style of play, and offered suggestions as to how they could refine their play.
Despite only playing in the first test, Mullineux was honoured when bush poet
Bush poet
Bush poets were Australian poets who wrote about Australian rural life during colonial times and about the Australian bush. Many colonial bush poets were illiterate and performed their poems from memory instead of writing them. Bush poetry evolved from the jokes and stories shared by early settlers...
, Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
wrote a poem about his playing prowess, entitled The Reverend Mullineux.
Military career
Mullineux followed a career in the Anglican church from an early age, and was the Reverend Mullineux during the British Isles tours; even preaching at local churches after the matches. After the British Isles tour, he served in the British Army as an acting Chaplain to the Forces during the Second Boer WarSecond Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. In 1902 he became a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
chaplain and served on several ships; the HMS Amphion
HMS Amphion (1883)
HMS Amphion was a second class cruiser of the Leander Class which served with the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard, being laid down in 1881, launched in 1883 and completed in financial year 1885-86, and then lay in ordinary at Devonport. She was commissioned for the 1887 and 1888...
(1902–04), HMS Terrible
HMS Terrible (1895)
HMS Terrible was a ship of the Powerful-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy.-Terrible 1898 Trials:* 60 hours at 1/5 power 5084 ihp = * 68 hours at 2/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/4 power =...
(1904), HMS Albion
HMS Albion (1898)
HMS Albion was a British Canopus-class predreadnought battleship.-Technical Description:HMS Albion was laid down by Thames Iron Works at Leamouth, London on 3 December 1896...
(1904–06), HMS Barfleur
HMS Barfleur (1892)
HMS Barfleur was a predreadnought second-class battleship of the Royal Navy. She was part of the three-ship Centurion class, designed for long-range patrolling of the United Kingdom's far-flung empire. She mainly saw service in the Mediterranean and Home Fleet, along with Service at China Station,...
(1905–06) and HMS Hogue
HMS Hogue (1900)
HMS Hogue was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser in the Royal Navy. Hogue was sunk by the German U-boat U-9 on 22 September 1914.-Service history:...
(1906–07). In 1907 he became the Assistant Chaplain at Montreaux.
Before the outbreak of First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Mullineux was chaplain to the Flying Angel Mission in America, but travelled by mail boat 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...
in order to proceed on active duty. While in New Zealand he studied medicine, before leaving for Britain as a Chaplain to the Forces
Royal Army Chaplains' Department
The Royal Army Chaplains' Department is an all-officer corps that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army.As of 2007, there are about 280 serving regular chaplains in the British Army; these can belong to either one of several Christian churches, or to the Jewish faith, although...
. In May 1918, while posted at a regimental aid post in France, Mullineux took command of the post after the serving medical officer was incapacitated by his wounds. The station came under high-explosive and gas-shelling for 12 hours, during which time Mullineux tended to the wounded and supervised evacuation of the site. For his actions during this time, he was awarded the Military Cross.
Later life
After the war, Mullineux continued his connections with the armed forces and Australaisa, when he toured churches and Red Cross SocietiesInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
throughout Australia, giving public lectures on the war cemeteries of Europe. In 1919 Mullineux set up the St. Barnabas Society, a charity which helped finance those too poor to visit the graves of family members who had died in the First World War. The society also placed wreaths at graves on behalf of relatives, and soon became the most important organisation providing subsidised war grave pilgrimages from Britain. After his military service came to an end, Mullineux became the vicar of Marham
Marham
Marham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. An RAF station, RAF Marham, is situated nearby at Upper Marham.The village covers an area of and had a population of 2,951 in 788 households as of the 2001 census....
in Norfolk, a post he held from 1935 until his death in 1945.