Charles Lewis (rugby union)

Charles Lewis

Full name	Charles Prytherch Lewis
Date of birth	(1852-08-20)20 August 1852
Place of birth	Llangadog, Wales
Date of death	28 May 1923(1923-05-28) (aged 70)
Place of death	Llandovery, Wales
School	Llandovery College Cathedral School, Gloucester
University	Jesus College, Oxford
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fullback Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1882–1884 Wales 5 (0)

Charles Prytherch Lewis (20 August 1853 – 27 May 1923) was a Welsh international rugby union player, who won five caps between 1882 and 1884.

Life

Lewis was born in Llangadog, Carmarthenshire.^[1] He was educated at Llandovery College and Jesus College, Oxford, where he obtained an M.A. degree. Whilst he did not win a "Blue" for rugby, he was a triple "Blue" – he played cricket against Cambridge, won the hurdles race and threw the hammer.^[2][3] In all, he played five matches for Oxford University Cricket Club in 1876, scoring 76 runs and taking 17 wickets, his best bowling figures being 7 wickets for 35 runs.^[4]

He was a fullback and represented the Wales national rugby union team on five occasions (four times during the Home Nations Championship and one friendly). His debut for Wales was in a friendly on 28 January 1882 against Ireland, when he converted two tries.^[1] This was only the second match that Wales had played.^[5] In the following season, he played against England and Scotland, scoring a further conversion against Scotland. In the next year, he again played against England and Scotland, and converted a try against England.^[1] He was captain of Wales in his first three matches.^[2]

Lewis was the representative of Llandovery at the inaugural meeting of the Welsh Rugby Union in Neath on 12 March 1881. He was at that time a schoolmaster in Llandovery. Llandovery RFC is recognised as one of the founder-members of the WRU^[6] on account of his representation of the town at the meeting. He became the first president of Llandovery RFC in 1885. He worked as a solicitor in Llandovery.^[5] He was a member of the MCC and was once picked to play for England against Australia but failed to make the journey. He was a member of the town council in Llandovery (1889–1920), becoming an alderman in 1899 and twice serving as mayor (1894–95, 1904–05). He was appointed as a magistrate for Carmarthenshire in 1898. He died on 27 May 1923.^[3]

References