Nicholas Jacob Tregurtha (14 Dec 1884 – 14 May 1964) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British 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 ...

player who competed in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

. He was born in St.Ives,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, United Kingdom. He died in 1964 in

Bodmin, Cornwall Bodmin () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban i ...

. He was a member of the British rugby union team, which won the silver medal.

Career

A fisherman by trade, Tregurtha played his club rugby for St Ives RFC. In 1905, he received his first call up to play in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

for Cornwall by the

Cornwall Rugby Football Union Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He was a part of Cornwall's victorious

1907–08 Rugby Union County Championship The 1907–08 Rugby Union County Championship was the 20th edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Rugby union in Cornwall, Cornwall won the competition for the first time in front of 17,000 spectators defeating D ...

winning team. He played in the final against

Durham Rugby Football Union The Durham County Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the historic county of Durham in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Durham County, it administers and org ...

and scored a try to win the County Championship for Cornwall for the first time. Due to Cornwall winning the County Championship, they were selected to represent Great Britain and Ireland at the

due to the

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

not entering a team. Tregurtha was selected as a part of the Great Britain team. He played for Cornwall in a warm up match against the

Australia national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

three weeks before the Olympics. The

rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The event was summarised under the "Football" heading along with association football. The host Great Britain was represented by Cornwall, the 1908 county champion. Defending Olympic champions France wi ...

meant Great Britain played

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 ...

in the final at

White City Stadium White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car ...

, London with Tregurtha playing. Great Britain lost in the final but won the silver medal. Tregurtha continued to play rugby for Cornwall, playing for them in 52 consecutive games until suffering an injury against the touring

South Africa national rugby union team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...

in 1912. He later emigrated to Canada.

References

External links

profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tregurtha, Nicholas 1884 births 1964 deaths British fishers English rugby union players Cornwall RFU players Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby union players for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Rugby union players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Cornwall People from St Ives, Cornwall English emigrants to Canada