Bobby Black (rugby union)
Full name | Robert Stanley Black | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | [1] | 24 August 1893||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Arrowtown, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 21 September 1916 23) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Somme, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 73 kg (161 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Otago Boys' High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Bank clerk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Military career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memorialised at | Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service/branch | New Zealand Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years of service | 1915–16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | Private | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service number | 9/2048 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unit |
Otago Mounted Rifles Canterbury Regiment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Battles/wars | Battle of the Somme |
Robert Stanley "Bobby" Black (24 August 1893 – 21 September 1916) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A first five-eighth, Black represented Otago and Buller at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, on their 1914 tour of Australia. He played six matches for the All Blacks on that tour, including one international.[2]
Black enlisted in the Otago Mounted Rifles in November 1915 and, after transferring to the Canterbury Regiment, saw active service in the Battle of the Somme.[2] He was killed in action on 21 September 1916,[1] and he was memorialised on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial,[3] which commemorates over 1200 New Zealand soldiers who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916 for whom there is no known grave,[4] although his body was subsequently identified and buried.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Black, Robert Stanley - WWi 9/2048 - Army". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- 1 2 Knight, Lindsay. "Bobby Black". New Zealand Rugby Union. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ↑ "Casualty details: Black, Robert Stanley". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ↑ "Cemetery details: Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ↑ McGibbon, Ian (2001). New Zealand Battlefields and Memorials of the Western Front. Auckland: Oxford University Press. p. 58.