Francis d'Aguilar (1849–1896) 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 ...

1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...

,Francis d'Aguilar Profile on scrum.com
/ref> scoring a try in that match.

Early life

Francis d'Aguilar was born on 11 December 1849. He was the grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel

George Thomas d'Aguilar Lieutenant Colonel George Thomas d'Aguilar (11 August 1783 – 9 October 1839) was British Army officer. Family D'Aguilar was born in Oxford, to Benjamin d'Aguilar and Jane d'Aguilar, D'Aguilar received the Christian Anglican baptism in May ...

and Catherine Burton, who between them reportedly had 20 children. George Thomas d'Aguilar having secured a commission on the Bengal Establishment of the Honourable East India Company's service, left England and was posted to the 13th Madras Native Infantry and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 29 May 1800. He eventually died in Calcutta on 9 October 1839. Francis' grandmother, Catherine Burton, was the daughter of Reverend Edward Burton, Vicar of

Annaghdown Annaghdown ( ga, Eanach Dhúin, ) is a civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. It takes its name from ''Eanach Dhúin'', Irish for "the marsh of the fort". It lies around Annaghdown Bay, an inlet of Lough Corrib. Villages in the civil parish inc ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

and Maria Margaretta Campbell, who it is claimed was descended from

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

of France by a Countess of Montmorency. Francis uncle was the explorer Sir

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

(1821–1890).

Rugby union career

D'Aguilar played rugby for the Royal Engineers within the army and made his international debut on 5 February 1872 in front of 4,000 spectators 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. This was the second time the teams had met and in fact the second international match, as well as being the first time England had hosted an international rugby match. England won the match, a reversal of the previous year's result in Scotland. In this 1872 meeting Scotland opened the scoring with a drop goal from Cathcart. England responded through Hamersley touching down for a try. In itself, the try was not worth any points, but afforded England a "try at goal" and this was converted by

Francis Isherwood Francis William Ramsbottom Isherwood (16 October 1851 – 30 April 1888) was an English sportsman who played international rugby union for England and first-class cricket. Francis Isherwood was the third son of Richard Ramsbottom Isherwood of C ...

. England then scored a dropgoal from the boot of Freeman in the second half. England continued to dominate and Francis d'Aguilar himself scored a try but Isherwood failed to convert d'Aguilar's try, thus no points were scored. Finney's try for England was also not converted. However, England prevailed by two goals to one, with two extra tries. Shortly after his international appearance he was posted to India and spent much of his life there. He did return to England in the early part of the 1880s and on his return played for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

as well as

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

.County statistics for Gloucestershire
/ref> His participation for Bath made him the earliest international to play for Bath, though he had already been capped when he joined them. Thus,

Herbert Fuller Herbert George Fuller (4 October 1856 – 2 January 1896) was an English born rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cambridge University and won four international caps for the England national rugby union team between 1882 and 1884. E ...

who represented England in 1882 remains Bath's first international whilst playing for the club.

Military career and later life

D'Aguilar attended the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

. He followed in the footsteps of

Charles Sherrard Charles William Sherrard, RE (25 December 1848 – 1938) was a British Army officer and rugby union international who represented England from 1871 to 1872. Additionally, along with Lieutenant Charles Arthur Crompton RE, he was the first membe ...

in gaining international honours shortly after leaving that institution. On 1 December 1870 was promoted from Gentleman Cadet to Lieutenant, with temporary rank. He was promoted from the rank of captain to major in 1889. D'Aguilar spent most of his life in India and was married there to Frances Louisa Stockwell in 1874.Bengal marriage index 1874-96, 151 , 99 In 1876 they had a son, John Burton Stockwell D'Aguilar, in 1885 a daughter, Frances Windfred D'Aguilar, and in 1887 a daughter, Violet Marion D'Aguilar, all christened in Dalhousie, West Bengal, India. In 1889 another daughter was born, Rose Aileen D'Aguilar, in Mean Meer, Bengal, India. Francis' son, John, like his father played rugby for

as well as

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'aguilar, Francis 1849 births 1896 deaths English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union forwards Place of birth missing Royal Engineers officers Bath Rugby players