Cyril Nelson "Kit" Lowe, (7 October 1891 – 6 February 1983) was an English
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 who held England's international try scoring record for over sixty years, a
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
flying ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
credited with nine victories, and supposedly the inspiration for
W. E. Johns
William Earl Johns (5 February 189321 June 1968) was an English First World War pilot, and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the pen name Capt. W. E. Johns: best known for creating the fictional air-adventurer ''Biggles''.
Ea ...
' character "
Biggles
James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance ...
".
Early life
Lowe was born in
Holbeach
Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...
,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
. He attended
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...
where he was a boarder in Orchard House.
He edited the school magazine, ''The Alleynian'' from 1910–11, as his fellow alumnus
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
had done previously. At Dulwich, he excelled at a number of sports, and represented the school in boxing, athletics, swimming, cricket and rugby.
He captained the Athletics squad in 1911 and in the same year played for the first XI cricket squad. In this same cricket side, he played alongside future England captain,
Arthur Gilligan, the future Essex wicket-keeper
Frank Gilligan and
R. K. Nunes; the future captain of the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. Eclipsing these sporting achievements was his record as a rugby player. He was in the side first XV from 1908 and was in the unbeaten first XV
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 ...
squad in 1909; which contained five future internationals dubbed the 'Famous Five'. These five would all go on to play in the 1913
Varsity match
A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...
, (and also produced the captains of both
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
in 1919), and all of whom served in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. They were
Eric Loudoun-Shand
Eric Gordon Loudoun-Shand MC TD (born Eric Gordon Shand; 31 March 1893) was a Rugby Union international who played for Scotland and captained Oxford University's Rugby side in the 1919 Varsity Match. During what would have been the prime of hi ...
and
Grahame Donald
Air Marshal Sir David Grahame Donald, (27 July 1891 – 23 December 1976), often known as Sir Grahame Donald, was a Royal Naval Air Service pilot during the First World War, a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer between the wars and a senior ...
who both went on to play for Scotland,
W. D. Doherty who went on to play for and captain Ireland,
J. E. Greenwood who went on to play for and captain England and Cyril Lowe himself. He then went on to captain the side in 1910–11. Despite his sporting prowess, Lowe was not physically imposing, standing and weighing around nine-and-a-half stone () while at school. His small stature led to his nickname at school being "Tich" Lowe.
He was described by the school magazine, ''The Alleynian'', as "A first rate centre three-quarter. Very fast, with a capital pair of hands, a first-rate dodge on a dry ground, and a good pair of feet on the wet."
He went on to Cambridge University where he won rugby blues in 1911, 1912 and 1913, making him a rare triple
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
.
Rugby career
Cyril Lowe, whilst still at Cambridge, was called up to play for England in 1913. This was to be the beginning of an international career that spanned either side of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, in which he scored a record 18 tries in 25 internationals and was on the losing side only three times, twice to Wales and once to South Africa. He played in four Grand Slam-winning sides until his retirement in 1923. In 1913 and 1914 he won back-to-back
Five Nation Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
s and his eight try haul in 1914 remains a Championship record, only ever equalled by one other player,
Ian Smith
Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1 ...
of Scotland.
At club level, after leaving Cambridge, Lowe represented
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 later the RAF representative on the Rugby Union Committee.
Lowe's sporting career was interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, and he did return to play for England until 1920. He retired from international rugby in 1923 with 25 caps, and would have gained more were it not for the war. His career total 18 tries remained an English record at his death and it was only equalled and later surpassed by another
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
Rory Underwood
Rory Underwood, (born 19 June 1963) is an English former rugby union player, he is 's record international try scorer with 49 tries in 85 internationals between 1984 and 1996. Underwood's principal position was wing and he played 236 games for ...
in 1989, 66 years after Lowe's retirement. It has subsequently been achieved by other players, though internationals are more frequent in the modern game and are generally higher scoring.
International tries
Military career
First World War
Joining the army soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Lowe was commissioned into the
Army Service Corps as a temporary second lieutenant on 31 August 1914. He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 January 1915, and to captain on 30 April 1916.
Lowe was transferred to the General List to serve in the
Royal Flying Corps, and appointed a flying officer on 30 September 1916. He was posted to
No. 11 Squadron,
and was appointed a
flight commander on 11 February 1917. Flying a
F.E.2b with observer/gunner Second Lieutenant G. Masters, Lowe gained his first victory on 15 March 1917, destroying a Type C aircraft over
Bailleul. On 24 March, he drove down out of control an
Albatros D.III
The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service ('' Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). ...
over
Fontaine-lès-Croisilles
Fontaine-lès-Croisilles is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
A farming village situated southeast of Arras, at the junction of the D9 and the C2 road.
Population
Places of interes ...
, but was wounded when shot down by
Reinhold Jörke later on the same day. Lowe returned to flying duty in early-1918, when posted to
No. 24 Squadron, flying the
S.E.5a single-seat fighter. Between 23 April and 1 July 1918, Lowe scored seven more victories, sharing one with Lieutenant
Ronald T. Mark, destroying three and driving down four more out of control, to bring his total to nine.
Lowe was subsequently awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross, which was
gazetted
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
on 3 August 1918. His citation read:
This was followed by the award of the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC ...
, gazetted on 16 September 1918. The citation read:
Lowe left the RAF after the war, being transferred to unemployed list on 2 March 1919.
Post-war career
Lowe returned to serve in the Royal Air Force on a three-year short service commission with the rank of flight lieutenant on 12 January 1921, but this was later cancelled and he was granted a permanent commission on 17 April 1923, backdated to January 1921. He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 July 1925, and was posted to the Headquarters of the Special Reserve and Auxiliary Air Force on 7 September 1925. However, on 14 September 1925 he was appointed temporary commander of
No. 602 City of Glasgow (Bombing) Squadron of the
Auxiliary Air Force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...
. On 1 April 1926, he was appointed commander of
No. 1 Squadron, based in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, and on 1 November 1926 was transferred to
No. 6 Armoured Car Company.
Lowe eventually returned to England, and was commander of
No. 43 Squadron, based at
RAF Tangmere
RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, and one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The famous Second World War aces Wing Commander Douglas Bader, a ...
by June 1928, the squadron becoming highly regarded for their aerobatic displays. He was posted to
No. 2 Flying Training School
No.2 Flying Training School is a Flying Training School (FTS) of the Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force (RAF). It is part of No. 22 Group RAF, No. 22 (Training) Group that delivers glider flying training to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Its head ...
, based at
RAF Digby
Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-service Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the J ...
, on 18 November 1930. Lowe was promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1933, and in August was appointed chief instructor of the
Oxford University Air Squadron
The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed in 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fifteen Universi ...
, succeeding
Keith Park
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, (15 June 1892 – 6 February 1975) was a New Zealand-born officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). During the Second World War, his leadership of the RAF's No. 11 Group was pivotal to the Luftwaffe's defe ...
, and being the first Cambridge man to command the Oxford Squadron. On 31 December 1937 Lowe was promoted to group captain, and retired from the Royal Air Force on 7 October 1944.
Lowe died in 1983, aged 91.
See also
*
List of top English points scorers and try scorers
References
External links
Planet-Rugby bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Cyril
1891 births
1983 deaths
Military personnel from Lincolnshire
Royal Flying Corps officers
Royal Air Force group captains
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Air Force personnel of World War I
British World War I flying aces
Recipients of the Military Cross
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
English rugby union players
English aviators
People from Holbeach
People educated at Dulwich College
England international rugby union players
Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players
Blackheath F.C. players
Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Royal Army Service Corps officers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Rugby union players from Lincolnshire
Rugby union wings