Robert Jackson Hanvey, born at Blennerhasset,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, on 16 August 1899, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sportsman.Goodwin, p109Player profile
on scrum.com, retrieved 26 February 2010 Robert Jackson Hanvey, or Bob as he preferred, was born at Blennerhasset Cumbria on 16 August 1899. Conscripted into the

Border Regiment The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. After service ...

in 1918, he took up

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 ...

and joined the newly formed Blennerhasset ‘Reds’ in the following season. Strongly built and of fine physique, his ability as a prop forward was quickly recognised. He gained the first of his forty-seven Cumberland County caps in 1919 and with a few exceptions, through injury, continued to play until 1929. He was a member of the Cumberland County team which won the English County Championship, when they defeated

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 1924. In 1922, he represented the North in their annual game against the South, an honour he would repeat on five further occasions. He also played in five international trial matches. In 1923, he joined

Aspatria RUFC Aspatria Rugby Union Football Club is based in Aspatria, Cumbria (formerly Cumberland) in north west England, not far from the Scottish Border. They are nicknamed the "Black Reds", and have a red cockerel as their logo. They currently play i ...

and helped them to gain two victories in the Cumberland County Cup. The year 1926, was the pinnacle of Bob’s playing career, playing in all four of the Home international series; against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. Although tipped to play for England again in 1929, he received an injury before the final trial. Contemporary reports described him as: ::"A forward of the bustling type, a good tackler, with a rare turn of speed, and a man who can last the full eighty minutes." After he retired from the game in 1931, he became a respected

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

and handled county games in his third season; and elected to the international panel of referees in 1937. As a referee he officiated at the North versus South match at Twickenham, England versus The

Rest of the World Within sports and games played at the international competitive level, the Rest of the World refers to a team of players from many countries of origin that compete against a single individual or a team from a single group, such as a club or countr ...

, and the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

versus the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

; in addition to several international trial games. He served as Cumberland and Westmorland Rugby Union County

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

between 1956 and 1958, and afterwards elected one of its few life members. In 1965 he became president of

a position he held until his death on 17 October 1989.West Cumberland Times 20 October 1889 Perhaps his greatest achievement came in 1971, when he addressed the Rugby Union Centenary Congress at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Bob enthralled the representative’s from forty-nine countries with a memorable speech entitled: - "What the game meant to me."

Dickie Jeeps Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps, (25 November 1931 – 8 October 2016), known as Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton having started his career with Cambridge Rugby Club. He represented and captained both the ...

remarked at the time. ::"Bob put everyone’s thoughts into words, it was straight from the heart and extremely moving."

Sir William Ramsay Sir William Ramsay (; 2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements ...

, President of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

added:- ::We gave much thought as to whom we should invite as speaker. We thought we wanted to have a typical great man representative of Rugby Football, so we came to

Aspatria Aspatria is a town and civil parish in the non-metropolitan district of Allerdale, and is currently embraced in the Parliamentary constituency of Workington, Cumbria, England. Historically within Cumberland the town rests on the north side of t ...

and invited the president Mr Bob Hanvey to Corpus Christi College, and no-one could have spoken better."

References

* Goodwin, Terry ''The Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Blandford Press, England, 1987, ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanvey, Robert Jackson 1899 births 1989 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union players from Aspatria