George Lorimer (26 February 1872 – 8 February 1897) 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 ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1880s and 1890s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Manningham Free Wanderers RFC, Heaton RFC (in Heaton,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

), Manningham Clarence RFC, as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, i.e. number 12 or 13, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and at club level for

Manningham FC Manningham was an English rugby league football club based in Manningham, Bradford, the first champions of the Rugby Football League (then known as the Northern Rugby Football Union) in its first season. After seven seasons of rugby league, t ...

, as a , i.e. number 1. Prior to Tuesday 27 August 1895, Manningham was a

club, it then became a

club, and since Friday 29 May 1903 it has been the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(soccer) club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Background

George Lorimer was born in Manningham,

, his birth was registered in

district,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England, he played for

against

Brighouse Rangers RFC Brighouse Rangers was a rugby league club in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England. The club was involved in the meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895, and after the schism became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (n ...

with a heavy

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

, he was subsequently diagnosed with acute

neuralgia Neuralgia (Greek ''neuron'', "nerve" + ''algos'', "pain") is pain in the distribution of one or more nerves, as in intercostal neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and glossopharyngeal neuralgia. Classification Under the general heading of neuralg ...

, he was appointed a nurse by Manningham F.C. and he was visited by the club's doctor; Mr Mercer, after some initial signs of recovery, he died aged 24 of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

district,

, his funeral took place at Heaton Baptist Church, Heaton hundreds of people walked alongside the

horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...

, and an estimated 8,000 people lined the streets from Manningham to Heaton.

Playing career

Championship appearances

George Lorimer played 39-matches in

's victory in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

during the 1895–96 season.

Club career

George Lorimer was the joint top points scorer, along with Cooper of

Bradford FC Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

, with 106-points during the 1895–96 season.Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 1 – 1895–96". Rugby Leaguer ISBN n/a

Change of Code

Manningham converted from the

code to the

code on Tuesday 27 August 1895, consequently, he may have been both a rugby union and rugby league footballer for Manningham.

References

External links

Search for "Lorimer" at scrum.com (RU)

George Edward Lorimer

Search for "George Lorimer" at britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorimer, George 1872 births 1897 deaths English rugby league players English rugby union players Manningham F.C. players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Bradford Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Bradford Yorkshire rugby league team players