John Raphael : Rugby Player

Dolphin · Jun 13, 2009

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

Raphael, John Edward played for England and Great Britain

Internationals: 9 : 1902 W- I+ S+ ; 1905 W- S- NZ- ; 1906 W- S+ (1t) F+

Great Britain [non-capped] international match: 1 : 1910 Argentina +

John Raphael was born on 30 April 1882, Brussels, son of Albert and Harriet Raphael of 5 Wild Hatch, Hendon, London.

Played as a Wing for: Merchant Taylors’ School, Old Merchant Taylors, Oxford University (Blue 1901-1904), Surrey.

Profession: Barrister; called to the bar, Lincoln’s Inn, 1908.

Remarks: Water polo blue 1902-1904; cricket blue 1903 (scored 130 in 1st innings), and 1904-1905 (99 in 1st innings). Played for and captained Surrey County Cricket Club 1903-1906. Captained Old Merchant Taylors RFC. Captained the RFU tour of Argentina in 1910 (the International match was won 3-28) . Called to the Bar 1908. Contested Croydon for Liberal Party in 1909 by-election when he was defeated by Sir Robert Trotter Hermon-Hodge, Bart., the Unionist candidate. He is mentioned in The Grace of Forgetting by mountaineer Geoffrey Winthrop (who lost a leg when serving as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front) who recalls friends killed in the War: ‘J Raphael, the football player, whom I took to Wales to climb, and who ran hard up the steep sides of all his mountains, springing on his toes, and explaining to me that really was the correct way to climb.’

War service: Served from August 1914 with the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. Lieutenant attached to the 18th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 122nd Brigade, 41st Division. Appointed to the General Staff as Aide de camp to General Officer Commanding, 41st Division.

He died at Remy on 11 June 1917 of wounds received at Messines Ridge on 7 June, and is buried in Lijessenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium [Grave XIII. A. 30.].

liverpool annie · Jun 13, 2009

This man captained England during the All Blacks first UK tour 1905.

In Memory of
Lieutenant JOHN EDWARD RAPHAEL

18th Bn., King's Royal Rifle Corps
who died age 35
on 11 June 1917
Son of Harriette Raphael, of 5, Wild Hatch, Hendon, London, and the late Albert Raphael. Former England International Rugby Football player.

Remembered with honour
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY

John Raphael
England
Full name John Edward Raphael
Born April 30, 1882, Brussels
Died June 11, 1917, Remy (aged 35 years 42 days)
Major teams Great Britain XV, England
Position Centre

Jack Raphael was a brilliant all-round sportsman who played first-class cricket to a high level and represented England nine times as a three-quarter. It was reported that he possessed "a beautiful kick, a brilliant field, and possessed of a good turn of speed, he was a fine natural player, even if his special qualities did not always make for success as one of a line of four three-quarters in international encounters". He gained his blue as a freshman at Oxford in 1901, not only appeared for his University against Cambridge on four occasions, but only once failed to secure a try. In 1910 he captained the British Lions in a tour of Argentina, consisting of the South American nation's inaugural Test. He died as a result of wounds received in the Battle of Messines Ridge.
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Lieut John Edward Raphael (King's Royal Rifles and A.D.C. to the G.O.C. of a Division), born at Brussels April 30, 1882; died of wounds June 11. Merchant Taylors, 1898, etc.: captain two years; Oxford v Cambridge 1903-4-5. Surrey XI, 1903, etc., and captain for a time in 1904. Member of M.C.C., since 1906.

The news that John Raphael was dead caused sorrow to a very wide circle of friends. Though he never gained quite the place as a batsman that his deeds as a school-boy had suggested, he was in the cricket field and still more in the world of Rugby football a distinct personality. Everything he did created more than ordinary interest, his popularity as a man, apart from his ability, counting for much. At Merchant Taylors he had a brilliant record. He was in the eleven for five years-- 1897 to 1901. In 1898 as a boy of sixteen he headed the batting with an average of 23 and, being quite a good school bowler, took 32 wickets at a cost of less than nine runs each. Thenceforward his school career was one long success. He was third in batting in 1899 - average 27 - and first in bowling with 51 wickets for just under 15 runs each. Then in 1900 he had a great season. At the top of the list both in batting and bowling he scored 962 runs with an average of 43, and took 68 wickets. His highest innings was 152 not out. He finished up at school in 1901 with nothing short of a triumph. Again first in batting he scored 1,397 runs with an average of 69, and as a bowler he was second, 76 wickets falling to him. He and J. Dennis made 326 together without being parted against Kennington Park, their scores being 175 not out and 135 not out respectively. Naturally great things were expected of Raphael when he went up to Oxford, but as a cricketer he began with a set-back. From some cause, after making 47 not out in the Freshmen's match, in 1902, he showed such poor form that he never had any chance of gaining his blue. As a matter of fact he was not tried in a single first-class match. In 1903 his prospects while Oxford played at home were equally dismal. However he got on well for Surrey against Oxford at the Oval, and was given a trial for the University against Sussex at Brighton. Seizing his opportunity he played a fine innings of 65, when no one else could do much against the Sussex bowlers, and two days before the match with Cambridge at Lord's Mr. Findlay gave him his colours. As in the case of Lord George Scott for Oxford and late Eustace Crawley for Cambridge in 1887, the last choice proved the batting success of his side. Raphael scored 130 on the first day and laid the foundation of Oxford's victory. His innings did not start well, but it was brilliant in its later stages. In the drawnmatchof 1904 Raphael only made 12 and 25 against Cambridge, but in the sensational match the following year--won in brilliant style by Cambridge after it had at one point seemed any odds against them--he played perhaps the best innings of his life. With a score of 99 he only failed by a single run to rival Yardley's feat of getting two hundreds in the University match. In Surrey cricket Raphael never became a power, but he often played well for the county and when--as the last of various captains--he took charge of the team in 1904 he proved quite a capable leader. Raphael's weakness as a batsman was that he relied too exclusively upon forward play. His method - at any rate when he had to contend against first-rate bowling - demanded an easy wicket. His bowling seemed to leave him after his school days.

At the game of Rugby football Raphael earned much distinction as a three-quarter back, playing for England in nine matches - against Scotland and against Wales in 1902, 1905, and 1906; against Ireland in 1902; and against New Zealand and France in 1906. A beautiful kick, a brilliant field, and possessed of a good turn of speed, he was a fine natural player, even if his special qualities did not always make for success as one of a line of four three-quarters in international encounters. He accomplished great things for the Old Merchant Taylors, and gaining his blue as a Freshman at Oxford in 1901, not only appeared for his University against Cambridge on four occasions, but only once failed to secure a try.

In a bye-election at Croydon he stood as Liberal candidate but did not succeed in entering Parliament.
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robco · Nov 17, 2009

Scored 103 in 1903 Varsity Match at Lord’s and 99 in 1905. Played against 1904 South Africans for Oxford University (46, 5) and Surrey (56, 22 and captain) and 1905 Australians for the University and 1906 West Indies for Surrey (71, 29*). Played for an England X1 v Yorkshire in 1913, his last first-class match. Played for MCC and South v North. Also played against Ireland and Scotland at cricket. Scored 3717 runs in 77 first-class matches.

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