John Augustus George Ryrie (21 December 1886 – 1 June 1927) was a two-time Australian national champion rower who represented for

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

Rowing career

Jack Ryrie's father was John Cassels Ryrie, a pastoralist from

Trangie Trangie is a town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is on the Mitchell Highway north west of the state capital Sydney. It is part of Narromine Shire local government area. At the , Trangie had a population of 1,188. ...

in central northern New South Wales. Jack was educated at The King's School in Sydney where he distinguished himself in his studies as well as in the sporting fields of cricket, rowing and football. His senior club rowing was from the Sydney Rowing Club. He was a member of the New South Wales

eight 8 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 8 or eight may also refer to: Years * AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era * 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era Art *The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the As ...

which won the 1908 Australian Interstate Championship, the first time in 15 years his state had won the title. He repeated this feat again in 1911, rowing in the bow of the victorious New South Wales eight. The following year, Ryrie was a member of the

n eight which represented at the

in Stockholm. In the first round they beat a Swedish boat by two lengths, but in the next round they were up against the Leander Club from Great Britain and lost by half a length. The overseas tour wasn't totally a loss as before the Olympics, he was part of the Sydney Rowing Club eight which won the 1912 Grand Challenge Cup at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

. In that victory they beat the same

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

eight who knocked them out of the Olympic regatta a few weeks later.

War service and death

In January 1915, he went to England to enlist and joined the 4th Staffordshire Regiment, he saw active service and was wounded while in France. After recovering he was commissioned into the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tank ...

and served in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. At war's end he returned to Australia. On 1 June 1927, playing

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

at the

Gilgandra Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. Sitting at t ...

carnival, he cut across two players while riding hard for the ball. He crashed into both of them and fell heavily, breaking his neck and died instantly. He left behind a wife and three young daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryrie, Jack 1886 births 1927 deaths Australian male rowers Australian soldiers Australian military personnel of World War I Machine Gun Corps soldiers Olympic rowers for Australasia Rowers at the 1912 Summer Olympics People educated at The King's School, Parramatta People from the Orana (New South Wales) Sportsmen from New South Wales Staffordshire Regiment soldiers