Thomas Marriott Barlow 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...

-born international 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...

 forward who played club rugby for Cardiff Rugby Football Club

Cardiff RFC

Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, but soon relocated to Cardiff Arms Park where they have been based ever since...

 and international rugby for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

. An all round sportsman, Barlow also played cricket for Glamorgan

Glamorgan County Cricket Club

Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

 and South Wales.

Rugby career

Born in Pendleton

Pendleton, Greater Manchester

Pendleton is an inner city area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is about from Manchester city centre. The A6 dual carriageway skirts the east of the district....

, 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...

, Barlow moved to Wales where he joined local rugby club, Cardiff. In 1884, Barlow was chosen to represent Wales, in a game against Ireland, as part of the Home Nations Championship

1884 Home Nations Championship

The 1884 Home Nations Championship was the second series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 12 April 1884...

. Barlow found himself brought into the Welsh squad at full-back to replace Charles Lewis

Charles Lewis (rugby player)

Charles Prytherch Lewis was a Welsh international rugby union player, who won five caps between 1882 and 1884.-Life:...

 and was one of six new caps brought into the side after Wales had lost the opening two games of the Championship. The game was played at the Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...

, and the travelling Irish team turned up for the match two players short, with accounts at the time crediting Wales players Purdon and Jordan being drafted in to complete the team. Under the captaincy of Joe Simpson

Joe Simpson (rugby player)

Henry Joseph 'Joe' Simpson Henry Joseph 'Joe' Simpson Henry Joseph 'Joe' Simpson ESPN Scrum.com was an English-born international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff Rugby Football Club and international rugby for Wales...

, Wales won the game by a dropped goal and two tries to nil. Although a rare victory for the Welsh team, Barlow lost his place the very next match when Wales rugby legend Arthur 'Monkey' Gould was given the full-back role.

Cricket career

Barlow played cricket for South Wales from 1883 to 1895 and in 1894 was selected for Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He played in two county matches for Glamorgan, against Wiltshire and Worcestershire in 1896.

External links

• Cricket Archive Cricket biography of Barlow, with portrait
• Scrum.com Rugby biography of Barlow