Edward Temple Gurdon, often known as Temple Gurdon, was a rugby union international who represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1878 to 1886. He also captained his country.

Early life

Temple Gurdon was born on 25 January 1854 in

Barnham Broom Barnham Broom is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated on the River Yare, 9 miles (15 km) West of Norwich. and 4 miles (6 km) North-West of Wymondham. The villages name means 'Beorn's hom ...

, Norfolk. He was the son of the Reverend Edward Gurdon of Bear's Farm, Hingham, Attleborough, Norfolk and older brother of

Charles Gurdon Charles Gurdon (3 December 1855 – 26 June 1931) was an English barrister, judge, rower and rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cambridge University and Richmond. Gurdon represented England fourteen times during the early developmen ...

, also a rugby international and captain of England, and

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

, who became

Bishop of Hull The Bishop of Hull is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York, England. The suffragan bishop, along with the Bishop of Selby and the Bishop of Whitby, assists the Archbishop of York in overseeing t ...

. He attended Haileybury and in 1873 entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

from whom he received his BA in 1878 (and his MA in 1888). His two younger brothers, Charles and

also studied at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a 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. Cambridge bec ...

. He then worked in

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...

from 1877 to 1879 and became a solicitor,''The Solicitors' journal'', Volume 73, Part 2, page 602, The Journal, 1929 having finished his articles in November 1883. He was a member of the firm Frere, Cholmely and Co.

Rugby union career

Gurdon played rugby football at his school, Haileybury, and was awarded a rugby 'blue,’ in three consecutive years at Cambridge (in 1874, 1875, and 1876) where he was also captain for two seasons (1875–6 and 1876–7). Gurdon made his international debut on 4 March 1878 at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

match. He first captained England in 1880 and he played his final match for England on 13 March 1886 at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in the

match, in which he was also the national captain. In parallel, he played his rugby for

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

, and captained them in two seasons (1879–80 and 1887–8). After his playing career was over his involvement in the game continued and he acted as President of the Rugby Football Union for two terms (1890–1 and 1891–2).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurdon, Edward Temple 1854 births 1929 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union forwards Richmond F.C. players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Barnham Broom Lancashire County RFU players Rugby union players from Norfolk