William Joseph Wallace (2 August 1878 – 2 March 1972) was a New Zealand
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 ...
footballer and foundryman.
Wallace won his first Test cap for
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
on 15 August 1903 against
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 ...
. He was a member of the legendary
1905 Original All Blacks and played in the famous ''
Match of the Century'' against
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. In total he played 51 matches for the All Blacks including 11 internationals.
Following the death of
Loftus Armstrong
Adam Loftus Armstrong (13 April 1878 – 30 January 1959) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A wing-forward, Armstrong represented Wairarapa at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in 1903. ...
in 1959, Wallace was the oldest living All Black.
Wallace died in Wellington in 1972
and was buried at
Karori Cemetery
Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori.
History
Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery.
In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...
.
References
1878 births
1972 deaths
Rugby union players from Wellington City
New Zealand rugby union players
New Zealand international rugby union players
Wellington rugby union players
Otago rugby union players
Rugby union fullbacks
Burials at Karori Cemetery
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