Herbert Temlett Gamlin (12 February 1878 – 12 July 1937), known as Octopus Gamlin, played in 15

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 ...

internationals 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 ...

between 1899 and 1904 as a full-back. He also played first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1895 and 1896. He was born at

West Buckland West Buckland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 1,189. History In 904, certain lands were the basis of a charter to Asse ...

and died at

North Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to tw ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Gamlin was educated at Wellington School and played both cricket and rugby union for Somerset as a teenager.

Rugby career

Gamlin played as a full-back and was renowned for the strength of his tackling: an obituary in ''The Times'' in 1937 said that he "probably was the most powerful and effective tackler on record". His ability to stop opponents as they ran towards him led to him being nicknamed "The Octopus": "It was no fancy that credited him with the feat of tackling two men more or less at the same time–one in either hand," ''The Times'' rugby correspondent wrote. A later letter responding to this memoir identified an incident where Gamlin had indeed tackled two men at once in a match against the Welsh Barbarians team and also noted that his tackling technique was essentially "bear-hugs enveloping both man and ball".

Cricket career

Gamlin played as a tail-ender right-handed batsman and a right-arm

off-break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler in two consecutive matches in July 1895. In the first, he failed to score a run or take a wicket against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. Essex's total of 692 was the team's highest first-class score for 95 years until surpassed in 1990. Gamlin's second match, against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, also at Taunton, was even more difficult; Lancashire scored 801 and captain

Archie MacLaren Archibald Campbell MacLaren (1 December 1871 – 17 November 1944) was an English cricketer who captained the English cricket team, England cricket team at various times between 1898 and 1909. A right-handed Batting (cricket), batsman, he ...

scored 424, the first score of more than 400 runs by an individual batsman in first-class cricket. MacLaren finally fell to Gamlin's off-spin, and Gamlin took the last wicket of the innings as well, perversely turning in the best bowling figures of his short first-class career in this innings by taking two for 100. He failed to score in this match too. After four consecutive scores of 0, he finally made 2 and 5 in his single match in 1896, against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, but he failed to take any further wickets, and this was the final first-class match of his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamlin, Herbert 1878 births 1937 deaths England international rugby union players English cricketers English rugby union players People educated at Wellington School, Somerset Rugby union players from Wellington, Somerset Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Somerset