Edward Temple Gurdon, often known as Temple Gurdon, was a rugby union international 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 ...

from 1878 to 1886. He also captained his country.

Early life

Temple Gurdon was born on 25 January 1854 in Barnham Broom, Norfolk. He was the son of the Reverend Edward Gurdon of Bear's Farm, Hingham, Attleborough, Norfolk and older brother of Charles Gurdon, also a rugby international and captain of England, and Francis, who became Bishop of Hull. He attended Haileybury and in 1873 entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

from whom he received his BA in 1878 (and his MA in 1888). His two younger brothers, Charles and Francis also studied at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. He then worked in

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

from 1877 to 1879 and became a solicitor,''The Solicitors' journal'', Volume 73, Part 2, page 602, The Journal, 1929 having finished his articles in November 1883. He was a member of the firm Frere, Cholmely and Co.

Rugby union career

Gurdon played rugby football at his school, Haileybury, and was awarded a rugby 'blue,’ in three consecutive years at Cambridge (in 1874, 1875, and 1876) where he was also captain for two seasons (1875–6 and 1876–7). Gurdon made his international debut on 4 March 1878 at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in the

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 ...

match. He first captained England in 1880 and he played his final match for England on 13 March 1886 at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in the

match, in which he was also the national captain. In parallel, he played his rugby for Richmond Football Club, and captained them in two seasons (1879–80 and 1887–8). After his playing career was over his involvement in the game continued and he acted as President of the Rugby Football Union for two terms (1890–1 and 1891–2).

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurdon, Edward Temple 1854 births 1929 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union forwards Richmond F.C. players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Barnham Broom Lancashire County RFU players Rugby union players from Norfolk