Benjamin Henry Burns (28 May 1848 – 3 June 1932) was a Scottish

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 ...

footballer who represented

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 the first international match 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 ...

in 1871.

Sports career

Burns was a member of

Blackheath F.C. Blackheath Football Club is a rugby union club based in Well Hall, Eltham in south-east London. The club was founded in Blackheath in 1858, and is the fourth-oldest rugby club in continuous existence in the world, after Dublin University Fo ...

during his early twenties, and in late 1870, along with Edwin Ash, he published a letter in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' calling for "those who play the rugby-type game should meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play." Such a meeting took place the following month, leading to the formation of the Rugby Football Union. While he was serving as club secretary of Blackheath, the leading clubs in Scotland wrote a letter to the club issuing a challenge for a match between Scotland and England. Burns replied, agreeing to the contest. He was initially not meant to be among the 20-man England side, but the withdrawal of

Francis Isherwood Francis William Ramsbottom Isherwood (16 October 1851 – 30 April 1888) was an English sportsman who played international rugby union for England and first-class cricket. Francis Isherwood was the third son of Richard Ramsbottom Isherwood of C ...

(who played in the second match) saw Burns take his place in the team. England lost the game, which was the first international rugby match, by one goal to nil on 27 March 1871.

ESPNscrum ESPNscrum was an online news site based in United Kingdom dedicate to providing the latest news in Rugby union. It provided live minute-by-minute updates on major international and club games and kept an in-depth statistics on every international ...

lists him as playing as a forward in the match, but his obituary in '' The Evening Post'' suggests that he was a half-back. When he worked in India, Burns appeared for the Calcutta Football Club. In addition to rugby, Burns was also an avid

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er, and while working in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, he was one of four promoters to establish a golf club at Hagley Park in the city. He won the Christchurch championship on two occasions, and became captain, and later life-member of the club.

Life and business career

Burns was born on 28 May 1848, to Archibald Burns who was general manager of the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

in Perthshire. He started his working life as a clerk for the

Oriental Bank Corporation The Oriental Bank Corporation (), or "OBC", was a British imperial bank founded in India in 1842 which grew to be prominent throughout the Far East. As an Exchange bank, the OBC was primarily concerned with the finance of trade and exchanges of ...

. He moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during his work with the bank, but due to health issues, he moved to

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 ...

, taking the position of manager of the

Colonial Bank of New Zealand The Colonial Bank of New Zealand was a trading bank headquartered in Dunedin, New Zealand which operated independently for more than 20 years. A public company listed on the local stock exchanges it was owned and controlled by New Zealand entrep ...

. Upon the merger with the Bank of New Zealand, he became assistant-manager of the Christchurch branch. He then went into partnership with Mr Henderson, and upon his death he ran Henderson and Burns, a share broker. By the time of his death in 1932, Burns was a director of Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd. a national chain of book stores. He married Alice May Gower, and the couple had a son, Archibald, who committed suicide during the First World War, while serving as part of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Benjamin 1848 births 1932 deaths Blackheath F.C. players English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union forwards Rugby union players from Perth, Scotland