Henry Vassall (22 October 1860 – 5 January 1926) 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 it ...
player, writer, and master of
Repton School
Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England.
Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...
,
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. He was best known as a centre for
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
. Vassall played international rugby for
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 ...
in the early years of the sport, winning five caps and scoring a hat-trick of tries in the first encounter between England and Wales.
While at Oxford University Vassall led the university rugby side to 70 matches without defeat during his three-year captaincy. His belief that the forward players should work in unison with their backs was revolutionary to the game of rugby and changed the way that rugby was played at club and country level. He is recognised as one of the most important figures in the early development of the sport.
Early life
Vassall was born in
Barwick in Elmet
Barwick-in-Elmet (pronounced ''Barrick-in-Elmet'') is a village in West Yorkshire, east of Leeds city centre. It is one of only three places in the area to be explicitly associated with the ancient Romano-British kingdom of Elmet, the others ...
, a township in the
Tadcaster district of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, in 1860, the son of William Vassall and his wife Martha Ann. His father was a rector originally from
Great Wigston in
Leicestershire, his mother a native of
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
, who was fifteen years her husband's junior. Just after Harry (named Henry) was born, his family, including his two older siblings William and Margaret, moved to
Hardington Mandeville
Hardington Mandeville is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 585.
History
The Hardington part of the name of the village means ''settle ...
in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, coordinates =
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, established_date = Ancient
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where his father took up the post of
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the parish. Henry's mother had been just nineteen when his eldest brother William was born in 1858, and Margaret and Henry had followed in successive years.
After moving to Hardington, Henry's family continued to grow at a prodigious rate and between 1861 and 1882 Henry gained a further twelve siblings, the last of which was Leonard born in 1882 when Martha was forty-two. This was the year before Henry's father's death in 1883. Henry was educated at
Marlborough College before matriculating to
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...
in 1879.
Rugby career
![Rugby football book vassall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Rugby_football_book_vassall.jpg)
Vassall had played rugby during his college days at Marlborough, a school only second to
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
in its impact on the emergence of rugby football.
He continued playing at Oxford, and he was part of the Oxford University team in the 1879
Varsity Match
A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...
, gaining his first sporting 'Blue'. Vassall played in the 1880 Varsity Match and the same season was made the team's honorary secretary. As secretary he brought to the University team a level of organisation that had previously not existed. He ensured the college games were properly organised and set up trials to ensure the best players were chosen.
In the 1881 season a match was arranged between England and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, the very first international match for the Welsh. A space was left in the England team in the pack for an Oxford University player, which was given to Vassall. Wales were completely unprepared, and the team was constructed to appease regional sides, the result was an 8–0 defeat (82–0 by modern standards). Vassall had an excellent game, scoring a hat-trick of
tries, the first individual to ever achieve this feat in an international rugby game.
His reign as the highest try scorer in a single international game was short lived, as during the same encounter
George Burton surpassed him minutes later by scoring four.
Repton School
By 1925, Vassall was master of Repton School, Derbyshire.
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassall, Harry
1860 births
1926 deaths
English rugby union players
Rugby union centres
Blackheath F.C. players
Oxford University RFC players
England international rugby union players
People educated at Marlborough College
People from Tadcaster
Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford
World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees
Rugby union players from Yorkshire