Wilfrid Malbon Lowry (; 14 July 1900,

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

– 4 July 1974,

Heswall Heswall is a town on the Wirral, Merseyside, England. At the 2001 Census, the population was 16,012, including the nearby villages of Barnston and Gayton. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 it was part of the administr ...

) was a

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 ...

wing who played for

Birkenhead Park FC Birkenhead Park Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club operates five senior teams, a ladies team (Birkenhead Park Panthers) and six junior sides. The men's senior team play in North 1 West at the si ...

and 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 ...

in 1920.

Personal life

Lowry was born on Sandrock Road, in

and grew up in New Brighton, Wirral, in north west England, and was the second son of Evelyn Boden and Arthur Lowry, a cotton broker with roots in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. He had three brothers, one of whom was the noted novelist

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

, who was author of ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. The novel tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the Mexican city of Quauhnahuac, on the Day of the Dead in November ...

'' (1947). Like his other three brothers, he was distant from his mother, and instead grew close to his nanny. Wilfrid was sent to

Caldicott School Caldicott Preparatory School is a prep school for boys aged 7–13 in southern Buckinghamshire, England. About Caldicott Caldicott Preparatory School was founded in Hitchin, Hertfordshire in 1904 by James Heald Jenkins who named his school ...

, and later to

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

in Cambridge (the school made famous by the novel ''

Goodbye, Mr. Chips ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton and first published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1934. It has been adapted into two feature films and two televi ...

'') where all the brothers were educated.Bradbrook (1974), p29 In 1912, the family moved to

Caldy Caldy is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the ...

on another part of the

Wirral peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

. Their home was

mock Tudor Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

estate on two acres with a tennis court, small golf course and a maid, a cook and a nanny. On occasion, Wilfrid would look after his younger brothers.Bradbrook (1974), p25 Arthur Lowry was extremely keen on sport, and built the family their own gymnasium while at Caldy. His brother Malcolm won a local golfing championship, but quit shortly afterwards, and Wilfrid was the only one of the brothers to achieve success in sport. Wilfrid was a keen motorcyclist, and used to take his brothers around the Wirral on the back of his

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

bike. Malcolm refers to Sunbeam motorcycles in two of his short stories: ''Enter One In Sumptuous Armour'' and ''Elephant and Colosseum''. Wilfrid's tastes in literature were conservative -

Jeffery Farnol Jeffery Farnol (10 February 1878 – 9 August 1952) was a British writer from 1907 until his death in 1952, known for writing more than 40 romance novels, often set in the Georgian Era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1 ...

Ian Hay Major General John Hay Beith, Order of the British Empire, CBE Military Cross, MC (17 April 1876 – 22 September 1952), was a British schoolmaster and soldier, but is best remembered as a novelist, playwright, essayist, and historian who w ...

, and

G. A. Henty George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) was an English novelist and war correspondent. He is most well-known for his works of adventure fiction and historical fiction, including ''The Dragon & The Raven'' (1886), ''For The ...

.Bradbrook (1974), p26 While these included adventure stories which would influence the older novelist Malcolm, it was their older brother Stuart who introduced Malcolm to more highbrow literature.

Rugby career

Lowry played for

. Unusually, Lowry received his first cap for England against Wales on 17 January 1920, without actually playing. Lowry was photographed with the team, and presented with his cap,Curious Caps, The Rugby History Society
/ref> but was replaced by Harold Day (then representing the Army) just before kick-off. The selectors felt that the conditions would suit Day better and he scored and converted England's only try of the game. Day said: :'' wasfetched out of my seat in the stand to play for England against Wales. It poured with rain the whole match, and the ground was churned into a dreadful mess.'' Day in fact scored England's only points in the match. W. J. A. Davies was also left out of the selection, leading the captain

Jenny Greenwood John Eric Greenwood (known as Jenny Greenwood) was a rugby union international who represented England from 1912 to 1920. He also captained his country. During what would have been the prime of his playing career he fought in the First World Wa ...

to say that "the selection committee were not very bright". Lowry received another cap in the next game against France on 31 January 1920, and on this occasion, he actually took to the field.

References

* ''England Rugby'', Barry Bowker (1978) * ''Pursued by Furies: A Life of Malcolm Lowry'', G. Bowker (1993) * ''Malcolm Lowry: His Art and Early Life: A Study in Transformation'', MC Bradbrook (1974) * ''The Red & The White: A History of England vs Wales Rugby'', Huw Richards (2010)
Curious Caps, The Rugby History Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Wilfrid 1900 births 1974 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union wings Birkenhead Park FC players People educated at The Leys School Sportspeople from Wallasey Rugby union players from Merseyside