Harold Wesley George (c. 1887 – 10 May 1915) was an Australian representative

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 ...

prop forward who saw active service and was killed in

World War I 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 ...

Rugby career

George's club rugby career was with the

Eastern Suburbs RUFC The Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Football Club is a team in the Intrust Super Shute Shield, the premier club rugby union football competition in New South Wales. The club is based in Rose Bay in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, and was founded ...

in Sydney where he played as a front-rower. He made twenty state representative appearances for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and appeared on eight occasions between 1910 and 1914 for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He played in Australia's first win over 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 ...

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in 1910 and in the inaugural Test against the

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in Berkeley in California in 1912.Bray et al., p.50

Military career

On 21 January 1915, George enlisted as a private with the 13th (New South Wales) Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force – the Battalion had been raised in September 1914 only six weeks after the declaration of war. The main strength of the battalion left Australia from Albany in December arriving in Egypt in February 1915. Harold George was enlisted to a force of reinforcements for the 13th and left Sydney on board ''HMAT A49 Seang Choon'' on 11 February 1915. Along with the rest of the 4th Brigade, under the command of then Colonel

John Monash General Sir John Monash, (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the war and then, shortly after its outbreak, became co ...

, the 13th Battalion took part in the

Landing at Anzac Cove The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which ...

, arriving late on 25 April 1915. Between May and August, they were then heavily involved in operations to establish and defend the narrow beachhead against Turkish assaults, Harold George fought against the entrenched

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

forces at Gallipoli in these actions where he was mortally wounded by sniper fire in May 1915 at Pope's Post. He died from wounds on 10 May 1915, aboard ship in the

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after evacuation from Gallipoli. He is commemorated on the

Lone Pine Memorial Lone may refer to: People *Lone (given name), a given name (including a list of people with this name) *Lone (musician), Matt Cutler, an electronic musician from Nottingham, United Kingdom *Lone (surname), a surname (including a list of people wi ...

(Turkey, Panel 37).Harold George war record
AIF ProjectProminent Rugby Player Killed.
''

Ashburton Guardian The ''Ashburton Guardian'' is a tri-weekly newspaper published in Ashburton, New Zealand according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation in New Zealand it has a readership of approximately 11,000 and a circulation of 5,554. It was founded in 1879 an ...

'', Volume XXXV, Issue 9153, 29 May 1915, Page 5. His clubmate Clarrie Wallach who also fought at Anzac Cove, wrote a letter home which was published in the sporting paper ''The Referee''. He described hearing of George's death from

William Tasker William George "Twit" Tasker (15 October 1891 – 9 August 1918) was an Australian World War I soldier who had been a national representative rugby union player making six Test appearances for the Wallabies.Australian Rugby - The Game and the ...

another rugby contemporary who saw Gallipoli action and later died on the Western Front.''"Twit Tasker told me how Harold George died the death of deaths — a hero's — never beaten till the whistle went"''.

Honours and awards

Footnotes

References

* Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', Harper Collins Publishers Sydney * Zavos, Spiro (2000) ''Golden Wallabies — The Story of Australia's Rugby World Champions'', Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria

External links