This is one of a series of posts to mark the international Rugby players who died during The Great War. If anyone has further information on the men concerned, I’d be most grateful if it could be added to the thread. Gareth Tarr, Francis Nathaniel played for England Internationals: 4 : 1909 A- W- F+ (2t) ; 1913 S+ Francis Tarr was born on 14 August 1887, in Derbyshire, the son of Frederick and Emma Tarr Played as a Centre for: Stoneygate School Leicester, Uppingham School, Oxford University (Blue 1907-1909), Leicester, Headingley Profession: Solictor Remarks: Played for Oxford University (3-19) v the 1908-1909 Wallabies ‘Shortly after Tarr was penalised for failing to release the ball in a tackle and Carmichael landed a neat penalty goal to put Australia ahead 6-0 at half-time.’ Of the England v Australia international, The First Wallabies says: ‘Shortly afterwards the home pack obtained clean ball and Williamson, the diminutive South African-born scrum half, cut out Ashcroft and passed to his Oxford team-mate Tarr, who sprinted away with the tall blond-haired Mobbs in support. Tarr managed to fend off Russell’s attempted tackle and turned the ball infield to the “Bedford greyhound” who promptly shot past a nonplussed Carmichael and scored near the goal posts.’ In the second half ‘The determined Wallabies stayed camped in England territory, winning a succession of lineouts and scrums until Warden Prentice hoisted a high punt down to Lyon. Somehow the ball eluded his grasp and bounced over his head for Row, following on, to toe it across the line with Tarr hot in pursuit. The England centre lunged for the ball but knocked it forward and Row dived on it near the dead-ball line.’ Frank Tarr’s two tries for England v France in 1909 were scored at Welford Road, the home of his club team, Leicester. War service: Frank Tarr enlisted on the first day of the War. Lieutenant, 1/4th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, 188th Brigade, 46th (North Midland) Division. He went to the Western Front with his battalion on 2 March 1915, travelling on either the Golden Eagle or the Queen Empress. Extracted from Footprints of the 1/4th Leicestershire Regiment by Captain John Milne: Chapter IX HILL 60 “On the evening of July 13th the battalion left its bivouac at Ouderdom, and took over from the 1st Dorsets the dug-outs in the embankment of the Ypres-Commines Railway near Zillebeke Lake, and also some strong points in the vicinity. In peace time Zillebeke must have been a pleasant place. There was a lake on which, doubtless, rowing boats plied, and on fine Sunday afternoons it was probably thronged with holiday-makers. It was an entirely different place now. In the em¬bankment of the lake there were dug-outs facing away from the lake, and opposite them in the side of the railway embankment were the dug-outs which the Leicesters now occupied. They were by no means safe and hardly shrapnel-proof, they let in the rain, and a few well-directed” Krumps” would soon have destroyed them and their occupants. However, they gave some shelter from the elements and a certain feeling of security. The Germans had never paid them more attention than a few “whizz¬bangs” and an occasional “Krump,” so everyone made them¬selves comfortable and hoped for the best. The supports for the front line held these dug-outs, and were employed at night on carrying and digging fatigues, and had orders to be seen as little as possible. So the daytime was spent in idleness, a lot of sleep, a good deal of cards and a little fishing with bent pins in the pond. In the space between the lake and the railway dug-outs was a road up which the transport rumbled at night, a line of poplars which were gradually becoming more war-worn and a little cemetery which was steadily getting bigger. In the distance stood Ypres and the battered Cloth Hall daily getting more of a ruin, and just outside Ypres the red brick Ecole de Bienfaisance, which the Germans shelled industriously daily raising dust clouds of couleur de rose. Owing to the rising ground eastward the railway embankment soon ended, and the railway ran along the level for a little way, then into a cutting and finally into the German lines. On the North of this cutting was Hill 60, so called from the ring contour marking it on the large scale maps. It was in reality an artificial mound made from the earth excavated in making the cutting. Anyone who goes to Hill 6o now and stands by the Memorial on its crest will realise what it meant to the Germans. It gave them a wonderful view of the whole Salient, and enabled them to see any movement of troops; but there was also a magnificent view eastwards right back to Commines, and, if the British could have held the crest, it would have been a tremendous advantage to them, and made life for those in the Salient much less pre¬carious. Hill 60, therefore, was of very considerable military importance. The British had taken it on April 17th, but they had been unable to hold it. There had been heavy fighting on it, and also one of the German gas attacks had been launched there with con¬siderable success; the gas had hung about the cutting and there had been many casualties. So already this was historic ground and the atmosphere was charged with uncertainty and occasional “whizz-bangs,” and one felt that anything might happen at any time. This was the fighting part of the Front, though not very obviously, for it seemed just an ordinary railway cutting with the metals intact, no one was in sight except an orderly or two peeping out of the headquarters dug-out in the cutting. Hill 6o looked just a bare barren waste; and south of the railway there was a scarred-looking wood on the horizon and a wrecked red brick building, which was once the Verbranden Molen. It was advisable, however, to step warily, for the all-seeing Boche on the high ground had ordained that where two or three were gathered together there should be a “whizz-bang” in the midst of them. From July 13th to the 19th the battalion remained comfortably in the railway dug-outs basking in the sunshine and complacently watching Ypres being shelled during the day and uncomplainingly carrying out fatigues by night. So far so good. On the 18th, however, there was a tragedy. Lieut. F. N. Tarr was killed. You had to know Frank Tarr and to be in the battalion to realise what that meant; no words can ever explain. He was killed by a splinter from a “Krump” whilst he was visiting the Zillebeke Lake dug-outs. The Boche was in¬dustriously shelling a field cooker which stood under a hedge close by, and Tarr put his head out of a dug-out to tell some men to keep under cover when a splinter hit him in the face. If it had been any other part of his body it would have caused only the slightest of wounds, a mere scratch, but that only made it more tragic. This happened in the afternoon. That night, surrounded by his friends, he was buried not very far from where he had fallen, and the Brigade Chaplain (Rev. Paul Ashby) read the burial service. It was a sad night for everybody, for Frank Tarr was the most attractive personality in the battalion, young, good-looking, full of charm, with an eye that always had a twinkle in it, a born leader, yet the kindest person possible, a Rugger international, the idol of the machine-gun section, which he commanded before he became adjutant. Everybody was heartbroken, for everybody would miss him; they would not look upon his like again. And so, as the darkness fell, they buried him by stealth, with silent salutes and stifled tears. And the transport officer (Lt W.B. Jarvis), who had played David to his Jonathan, caused a large white cross of wood to be made, a larger cross than any which stood around, that all who passed might see and remember a great three-quarter and a greater gentleman.” He was killed in action on 18 July 1915, at Ypres, and is buried in the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Zillebeke, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium [I. E. 8.].
Born in Belper, Derbyshire, on August 14th 1887 the son of Frederick and Emma, Francis Nathanial Tarr was educated at Stoneygate School , Leicester, and then Uppingham before going up to University College , Oxford . By the time that he matriculated he was already an accomplished centre three quarter. Solid in defense he also had a long stride and could happily either give or take a pass at speed. It was little time before his attributes as a player came to the attention of the Oxford University Rugby Club. Selected for his first Blue in 1907, Tarr travelled to the Queens Club on December 10th to face Cambridge in the annual inter university match. At this time Oxford had a particularly strong side, with this being especially true of their backs as was shown during the course of the game. Although the Cambridge pack did their best to make a match of the encounter for the first half hour, after this the light blues had little left to offer. Tarr was in the thick of the action, kicking intelligently and attacking the Cambridge defence during the comprehensive seventeen points to nil victory. Tarr retained his place in the Oxford side the following year returning to Queens Club on December 12th 1908. It was a very different match from the previous year, although an enjoyable one from the perspective of the spectator being a particularly hard fought encounter. The Cambridge pack were much improved and their dominance limited the flair of the Oxford backs, particularly in the second half where Oxford found themselves almost totally on the back foot. “FN Tarr, at left centre three quarter, gave a magnificent display of defensive play” noted the Times’ correspondent as Tarr and his team dug deep to hold out for a five points all draw in a match that Cambridge should probably have won given the run of play. Tarr’s efforts for Oxford had not gone unnoticed and just a month later he was called up for his debut England cap against the touring Australian’s at the Rectory Field, Blackheath, on January 9th 1909. Tarr had already faced the tourists for Oxford , losing by nineteen points to three at Iffley Road , and would no doubt have relished the chance for revenge whilst wearing the colours of his country, but this was not to be. During a poor match, the greasy pitch making handling difficult, England scored the first try of the game through Edgar Mobbs in a move that Tarr had initiated. Shortly after Tarr slipped as he attempted to touch down past beyond his own line for the drop out and allowed Australia to even up the try count. Although England were competitive for the first twenty minutes, the visitors soon showed their dominance and there were few that doubted they deserved their final three points to nine victory in a match where although excellent at times Tarr was far from his best. Undeterred by this defeat Tarr was again selected by England to travel to Cardiff the following week on January 16th to play Wales . To be fair this was a game where England were the decided underdogs, the combination of a powerful Welsh pack and the flair of their backs a difficult obstacle to overcome. This was borne out by the play. Although the English pack raised their game to the point of parity with the Welsh overall the team looked to lack self confidence and the conservative play of the backs, at one point in the second half Tarr choosing to run the ball himself rather than pass it outside to either of two open players, doomed England to an eight points to nil defeat. Tarr’s third cap came two weeks later at Leicester on January 30th 1909 as England faced the visiting French. The visitors played with courage, but lacked direction and the technical superiority of the England side soon began to show. During the course of the match Tarr scored two tries, the first after a bout of interplay with Edgar Mobbs and the second with a fine individual run. Despite this Tarr was regarded as having a relatively poor match. Again he showed some flashes of brilliance during the twenty two points to nil victory, a score line that belied the passion of the encounter if not the relative merits of the two sides, and Tarr was now dropped by England returning to his studies. Before graduating from Oxford Tarr was to take his place for a third and final Blue against Cambridge on December 11th 1909, again at the Queens Club. It was to be a brilliant day for Oxford as they comprehensively bested Cambridge by twenty three points to three, with Ronald Poulton scoring five tries. Unfortunately for both Tarr and Oxford he was to play little part in the game, breaking his collar bone after only ten minutes of play and being forced to leave the field, although as by this time Poulton had scored twice the Oxford victory was already looking assured. Graduating from Oxford and commencing work as a solicitor Tarr returned home and joined the Leicester club, regarded then as now as one of the strongest in the country. Although at times over his career he may have played for Headingley, Richmond and Midland Counties it was here that Tarr was to truly find his niche after university. For Tarr, however, there was to be one last bite of the international cherry as he was recalled to the England side that faced Scotland on March 15th 1913 at Twickenham after four years in the international wilderness. Played in front of a twenty five thousand crowd, including the Prince of Wales, the English pack played well from the off and had this been mirrored by their backs then the match would have essentially been over within the first twenty minutes. As it was with their fly half William Davies having a particularly poor match this was far from the case. Tarr was to see little of the ball as the match progressed, although he was generally acknowledged as having played fairly well for all this as England scraped to a three points to nil victory. The only score of the match, a try by Leonard ‘Bruno’ Brown, towards the end of the first half allowed them to claim both the Calcutta Cup as well as a first ever grand slam, although this term would not have been recognised at the time. The match which marked the end of the 1913 International season also marked the end of Tarr’s international career as he again fell from grace with the selectors. With the outbreak of war the following year Tarr was immediately called to arms. Whilst at Oxford he had been a Cadet Sergeant in the Officer Training Corps and had continued his interest in military matters later by joining the 1/4th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment as a Territorial Second Lieutenant in 1911, gaining promotion to full Lieutenant in 1913. Although the territorial battalions were under no obligation to serve overseas in August 1914 the majority of them immediately volunteered for active service, joining in the patriotic fervour of the day. The first fully territorial division to be deployed to France was the 46th (North Midland), which included Tarr’s Battalion within its strength and landed at Le Havre on March 3rd 1915. With the end of the first battle of Ypres the Western Front had entered a relatively quiet period of static trench warfare. Shortages of material and particularly artillery and machine guns was a major problem to the allied forces, with operations being minimised to small local skirmishes that preserved both troops and ammunition. Even so the British forces continued to loose about three hundred men per day to snipers and shellfire and on July 18th 1915 Lieutenant Francis Tarr was killed in action whilst acting as Adjutant to a machine gun section.
In Memory of Lieutenant FRANCIS NATHANIEL TARR 1st/4th Bn., Leicestershire Regiment who died age 27 on 18 July 1915 Son of Frederick and Emma Tarr, of Leicester. Remembered with honour RAILWAY DUGOUTS BURIAL GROUND
Standing (L - R) - Henry Edmunds Latham, Lawrence Cave Bencowe, Arthur Howard, Stephanus Nicholas Cronje, Hugh Martin, Francis Nathaniel Tarr. Sitting: Noel Willoughby Milton, Henry Holland ('Jumbo') Vassall, Harold Augustus Hodges, Worthington Wynn Hoskin (Captain), Randolph Stonehewer Wix, David B.Davies, Geoffrey Dorling ('Khaki') Roberts. On Ground: George Cunningham, Rupert Henry Williamson.
