Percy Wyfold Stout DSO, OBE (20 November 1875 – 9 October 1937) was an English international

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 ...

wing who played club rugby for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and Richmond. Stout also 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 ...

, playing five matches between 1898 and 1899.

Sporting career

Stout was born in

, England, in 1875, the son of rower

William Stout William Stout (born September 18, 1949) is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over ...

. His father gave several of his sons middle names connected to rowing, and Stout was no exception with his being taken from the

Wyfold Challenge Cup The Wyfold Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club. Boat clubs from any university, colle ...

. Stout was educated at

Crypt Grammar School The Crypt School is a grammar school with academy status for boys and girls located in the city of Gloucester. Founded in the 16th century, it was originally an all-boys school, but it made its sixth form co-educational in the 1980s, and moved ...

, where he took up association football. Several of Stout's brothers were high-profile sportsmen, and he followed younger brother

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

in joining association football team Gloucester City. While playing for Gloucester, Stout suggested the formation of a Bristol and District League, which was set up in 1892. Stout is also reported to have played for Wickwar and

Corinthian F.C. Corinthian Football Club was an English amateur football club based in London between 1882 and 1939. Above all, the club is credited with having popularised football around the world, having promoted sportsmanship and fair play, and having ch ...

before switching to rugby union in 1895. Stout would spend the greater part of his rugby career with

, along with his brother Frank. Stout also played at county level for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. During the 1897–1898 season he was selected for invitational touring team the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

, and that year he was also offered a place in the

national team. His first international match was in the

1898 Home Nations Championship The 1898 Home Nations Championship was the sixteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Five matches were played between 5 February and 2 April. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For the second year ru ...

, an away game at Edinburgh against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The match saw Stout join his brother Frank in the team, an England international since 1896. The game ended in a three all draw. Percy played in one more game in the 1898 series, a win over Wales. Stout scored his only international

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

in that match, a game which also saw Frank score a try. This was the first time that brothers had both scored international tries in the same game for England. The next time this feat was achieved was in the 1993 Five Nations Championship by

Rory Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", ...

and

Tony Underwood Tony Underwood (born 17 February 1969 in Ipoh, Malaysia) is a former English rugby union footballer who played as a wing three-quarter back. He is of Malaysian-English parentage. Rugby career His rugby talent was first nurtured at Barnard Castl ...

. Stout played in three more games for England, all in the 1899 Home Nations Championship. Stout was taken from the wing and placed at centre in each of the games of the Championship. It was a torrid season for England, losing each of the games to come bottom of the table. Stout was never selected for England again, and in 1900 he left Gloucester, playing for

Richmond F.C. Richmond Football Club is a rugby union club from Richmond, London. It is a founding member of the Rugby Football Union, and is one of the oldest football clubs (of any code). It fields teams in both men's and women's rugby; the men's first ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

before retiring from rugby.

Later life and military career

With his rugby career over, Stout moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

where he became a stockbroker. Initially in a partnership with Hogg, Stout bought up his partner's share when he died in 1907. He and his American wife, Mary, settled in

Maadi Maadi ( ar, المعادي / transliterated: ) is a leafy suburban district south of Cairo, Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile about upriver from downtown Cairo. The Nile at Maadi is parallelled by the Corniche, a waterfront promenade a ...

in 1910, becoming one of the earliest settlers to the region. With the outbreak of the First World War, Stout joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and was given a position on 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 tanks ...

and saw action in Egypt and Gaza. He was mentioned in despatches on five occasions, and as a member of the

Motor Machine Gun Service The Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS) was a unit of the British Army in the First World War, consisting of batteries of motorcycle/sidecar combinations carrying Vickers machine guns. It was formed in 1914 and incorporated into the Machine Gun Cor ...

he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

in 1917. His citation in the London Gazette on 16 August 1917 read as: With the end of the war, Stout returned to Egypt as a civilian. He became a director of the Egyptian Delta Land Co and the Anglo American Nile whilst in Cairo. He was awarded the OBE by the British government and also received the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sultana ...

(4th Class). He died in London in 1937.

References

External links

Percy Stout Gloucester Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stout, Percy 1875 births 1937 deaths Men's association football players not categorized by position Barbarian F.C. players British Army personnel of World War I Companions of the Distinguished Service Order England international rugby union players English men's footballers English rugby union players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Gloucester Rugby players Gloucestershire County RFU players Machine Gun Corps officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The Crypt School, Gloucester Richmond F.C. players Military personnel from Gloucestershire Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Gloucester Rugby union wings Motor Machine Gun Service officers