Sir Thomas Harcourt Clarke "Pat" Caughey (4 July 1911 – 4 August 1993) 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 it ...

player.

Early life and family

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in 1911, Caughey was the son of James Marsden Caughey, whose aunt, Marianne Smith (née Caughey), founded in 1880 what became

Smith & Caughey's Smith & Caughey Ltd, trading as Smith & Caughey's, is a chain of two mid-sized, upscale department stores in Auckland, New Zealand. One of the oldest surviving retail businesses in New Zealand, it was established in 1880 by Ulster-born Mari ...

department store. Educated at King's College, he excelled at sports, playing in the 1st XV rugby and 1st XI cricket teams, and winning the school athletics, swimming and boxing championships. On 4 July 1939, Caughey married Patricia Mary Finlay, the daughter of George Panton Finlay, at King's College Chapel, Auckland, and the couple went on to have three children.

Rugby union

Thomas_Harcourt_Clarke_Caughey_passport_application

A centre three-quarter, Caughey represented

at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, from 1932 to 1937. He played 39 matches for the All Blacks including nine internationals. Caughey played for Auckland University RFC and represented the Auckland provincial team and the national team before his 21st birthday. He toured Australia with the All Blacks in both

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

and

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

, playing as a centre. He was one of 188 players who took part in the All Blacks trials for the

1935–36 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and Canada Matches ''Scores and results list New Zealand's points tally first.'' Touring party *Manager: Vincent Meredith *Assistant Manager: *Captain: Jack Manchester Full-back * Mike Gilbert (West Coast) Three-quarters * Nelson Ball (Wellington) ...

, and was selected for the final touring party. During the journey to Europe the tour management decided to play Caughey at second five-eighth, in which position he played 20 tour matches including three of the four tests. Caughey scored 14 tries on tour including a hat-trick against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, which were the only tries of his international career. Caughey played two more tests for New Zealand, in 1936 and 1937, before business commitments ended his high-level rugby career. In addition to his nine full internationals he played 30 non-test games for the All Blacks, scoring 31 tries. Rugby journalist

Terry McLean Sir Terence Power McLean (15 July 1913 – 11 July 2004), often known simply by his initials as T. P. McLean, was a New Zealand sports journalist and author specialising in rugby union. Early life and family McLean was born in Wanganui and di ...

, whose brother Hugh was a teammate of Caughey on the 1935–36 tour, described Caughey as 'an elegant and stylish back of English style' and Charlie Oliver, vice-captain of the 1935–36 tour, assessed him as 'a temperamental player. He was a world beater on his day and was in the match-winner class, but he was liable to be inconsistent. His dashing attacks, and wonderful sense of anticipation, were features of the team's play. His defence, however, was not up to the same standard'.

Business and public life

Caughey worked at the family department store, Smith & Caughey, for 63 years beginning in 1930, and was managing director and chairman of the company for 30 years. He served on the Auckland Hospital Board for 25 years, including 15 years as chair. In the 1967 New Year Honours, Caughey was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for community services, especially as chair of the Auckland Hospital Board. Five years later, in the 1972 New Year Honours, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to health administration. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British British monarchy ...

in 1965, and promoted to Commander of the same order in 1968. In 1986, Caughey was awarded an honorary LLD by the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He died in Auckland in 1993 and his ashes were buried in Purewa Cemetery. He was posthumously inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

in 1998. Mary, Lady Caughey, died in Auckland on 19 December 2011. She was one of the co-founders of the Laura Fergusson Trust, which assisted disabled New Zealanders, and was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for community service in the

1993 Queen's Birthday Honours The 1993 Queen's Birthday honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caughey, Harcourt 1911 births 1993 deaths Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at King's College, Auckland New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Rugby union centres New Zealand businesspeople in retailing New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of St John Burials at Purewa Cemetery Rugby players and officials awarded knighthoods New Zealand justices of the peace Members of district health boards in New Zealand Businesspeople awarded knighthoods