Barry Stephenson Cumberlege, (5 June 1891 – 22 September 1970) was an English sportsman who played international rugby union for England. He also played first-class cricket and served in the British Army in the First World War.

Early life and education

Cumberlege was born at Jesmond in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1891, the son of Esther and Charles Cumberlege. His father was a superintendent at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and had played cricket for Northumberland and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

.Lewis P (2014) ''For Kent and Country'', pp.141–143. Brighton: Reveille Press.Cumberlege, Mr Charles Farrington
Obituaries in 1929, '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1929. Retrieved 2017-04-30.Charles Cumberlege
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-30. He was educated at Durham School where he played both rugby union and cricket, captaining the school cricket team from 1908 to 1910. He was invited to tour South Africa with the Great Britain rugby team which he declined.Cumberlege, Barry Stephenson
Obituaries in 1970, '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1971. Retrieved 2017-04-30. He went on to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

, graduating in 1913. Cumberlege won both cricket and rugby

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

at Cambridge. His rugby Blue was won as a freshman in 1910 and he played for

the university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ro ...

each year, captaining the side in 1912–13. Cumberlege played as a fullback. He captained the side against the touring South African team in 1912–13. Having played in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

for Durham and Northumberland between 1909 and 1912, Cumberlege made his first-class cricket debut for

in 1913.Barry Cumberlege
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-30. He played seven times during 1913 for the university and also made an appearance for Free Foresters against Cambridge, scoring the only century of his first-class career, an innings of 172.

Military service

After graduating Cumberlege became a school teacher. He enlisted five days after World War I started and was commissioned as a

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Army Service Corps at the beginning of September 1914. He joined the 414 Mechanical Transport Company attached to the supply column of the 3rd Cavalry Division, serving in Belgium and Northern France from 1914 to 1916. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then to Temporary

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in May 1916 before being granted three weeks leave on medical grounds at the end of 1916. On his return to action in January 1917, Cumberlege moved to serve with the supply column of II ANZAC Corps. He served at

Messines Messines may refer to: * Mesen (in French: Messines), a village in Belgium ** Battle of Messines (disambiguation), World War I battles * Messines, Quebec, a municipality in Canada * Messines, a village in Portugal * Messines, Queensland, a sett ...

in June 1917 and later in the summer was appointed the commanding officer of the New Zealand Division supply column, serving in the Ypres area throughout the winter of 1917–18 and having his rank confirmed before being promoted to acting

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in March 1918. He served until the end of the war and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1918. He was demobilised in April 1919 and resigned his commission in January 1920, being granted the rank of Major. During World War II Cumberlege served in the Royal Observer Corps.Lewis ''

op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'', p.363.

Post-war sporting career

After the war, Cumberlege played rugby for

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

and was called up to the England team for the

1920 Five Nations Championship The 1920 Five Nations Championship was the sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship, and the first played since the 1914 Games due to World War I. Including th ...

. He made his international debut at fullback against Wales in the first Five Nations Championships since the end of the war.Cooper S, Leonard J (2015) ''After the Final Whistle: The First Rugby World Cup and the First World War'', p.222. The History Press.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-04-30.) He was capped eight times by England, playing in the 1920,

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

championships,Barry Cumberlege
ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2017-04-30. and was described by William Wakefield as "by far the best full-back we nglandhave had since the war" in 1928.Wakefield W (1928) ''Rugger - The History, Theory and Practice of Rugby Football'', Read Books Ltd, 2013 edition.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-04-30.) He was dropped after England suffered a heavy defeat to Wales in 1922 at Cardiff and retired from international rugby.Wakefield W ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

''.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-04-30.) Cumberlege also played for the Barbarians and for Northumberland in the County Championship. After his playing career was over he became a rugby referee, officiating in 16 international matches between 1926 and 1934.Jeater D (2020) ''County Cricket: Sundry Extras'' (second edition), p.41.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-23.) He played a total of six first-class cricket matches for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

in 1923 and 1924. He scored 288 runs in nine innings for the county, with a highest score of 76 against Essex at Leyton, and only failed to reach double figures once.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part Two: 1919–1939'', pp.49–50.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-23.) These matches brought his final tally to 14 first-class matches from which he scored 763 runs at a batting average of 38.15.Barry Cumberlege

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2017-04-30. With an "orthodox technique founded on a sound defence", he played club cricket for Blackheath and Band of Brothers.

Family and professional life

Two of Cumberlege's brothers, Rutland and Royston, played cricket for Northumberland and Durham.Royston Cumberlege
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-30. Rutland also played rugby union for Cambridge University, Barbarians and Harlequins. Another brother, Henry, also served in the Army Service Corps, commanding another of the Mechanical Transport Companies of the 3rd Cavalry Division before his death in September 1914. After leaving the Army at the end of World War I, Cumberlege worked as an underwriter for Lloyd's of London and wrote about rugby in the press. He married Louella Gillis in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

in June 1919, remarrying after her death in 1950. During World War II he served with the Royal Observer Corps. Cumberlege died in September 1970 aged 79.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberlege, Barry 1891 births 1970 deaths England international rugby union players English rugby union players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Blackheath F.C. players English rugby union referees English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Kent cricketers Durham cricketers Northumberland cricketers Free Foresters cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Service Corps officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Durham School Rugby union players from Newcastle upon Tyne Cricketers from Newcastle upon Tyne People of the Royal Observer Corps Rugby union fullbacks