Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Arthur Cecil Corfe (5 December 1878 – 30 January 1949) was a New Zealand-born Australian military officer and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who made

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and international representative appearances for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1899.

Rugby union

Corfe was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, where his father,

Charles Corfe Charles John Corfe (1843 – 20 June 1921) was the inaugural Anglican Bishop in Korea from 1889 to 1904. Biography Corfe was one of the four "Bible Clerks" educated as an undergraduate at All Souls College, Oxford. After graduating he had ...

, was the principal of Christ's College. The family moved to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

when Charles took over as principal of

Toowoomba Grammar School , motto_translation = Faithful in All Things , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, day & boarding , denomination = Non-denominational , established = ...

in 1890. A flanker, Corfe claimed one international rugby cap for Australia during the inaugural

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

series played by Australian representative sides. His debut game was against Great Britain, at Brisbane, on 22 July 1899 during the

1899 British Lions tour to Australia The 1899 British Isles tour to Australia was the fourth rugby union tour by a British Isles team and the second to Australia; though the first tour in 1888 was a private venture, making the 1899 tour the first official undertaking of Australi ...

. Three weeks earlier he had made a state appearance for

against those same tourists.

Military service

Corfe served with the 3rd Queensland Mounted Infantry in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

in South Africa. In the First World War, he received the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

in the

1917 Birthday Honours The 1917 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were ...

while serving as a major with the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

, while commanding the

Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Quee ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1917. He was awarded two additional bars to the DSO for further service, the first in January 1918, "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of his battalion," and the second in March 1918: He returned to service following his injury and he was attached to the

South Wales Borderers The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In ...

. After the war, he received the ''

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

'' in December 1919. He remained in the reserves until 1933 when he reached the retirement age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corfe, Arthur 1878 births 1949 deaths Rugby union players from Christchurch Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Australian military personnel of World War I Australian military personnel of the Second Boer War Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Rugby union flankers Colony of New Zealand emigrants to colonial Australia Australian Army officers Military personnel from Christchurch Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers