John Richard "Dick" Wynyard (10 May 1885 – 7 April 1915) was a New Zealand

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er who was part of the professional 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain. Richard was the brother of William Wynyard. He had 2 sisters, Kathleen Amelia Wynyard (1887-1965), and Audrey Gertrude Wynyard (1892-1920), and 2 brothers, Leslie Henry (Hec) Wynyard (1889-1985), and Sydney Montague Wynyard (1894-1953)

Early years

From a sporting family that included three uncles that were part of the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team that toured Great Britain. One of these three,

Tabby Wynyard William Thomas "Tabby" Wynyard (1 January 1867 – 15 March 1938) was a rugby union footballer who toured with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team and the 1893 New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand team. He also played ...

went on the represent the

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 ...

. Richard followed his family tradition, becoming a noted

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 ...

player and a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

clerk.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996.

Rugby Football

Living in Devonport, Wynyard was part of the North Shore Rugby Club and won selection for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

when aged only 20. In 1907 he was nominated for the North Island team but did not play after he, along with eleven other Auckland nominations, refused to sign a declaration that he would remain an amateur player.

Rugby League

Wynyard was then selected to be part of the professional All Blacks 1907-08 tour of Australia and Great Britain alongside his brother Billy. Wynyard had to resign his government job to be part of the tour, but the move paid off as he ended up playing in all eight test matches. Out of the 49 tour matches Richard played in 44 of them, more than any other player. He scored 28 tries and kicked a goal and a field goal. Unlike many of the touring party he remained in New Zealand after the tour, captaining

in the first ever provincial match against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 24 August 1908. He, along with his brother, later helped form the North Shore Albions Rugby League Club - which broke away from the North Shore Rugby Club.

Death

Richard committed suicide in 1915 in Auckland by cutting his throat; he was despondent as he had been unable to find work as a clerk, and the coroner’s verdict was temporary insanity. He was buried at Belmont on the North Shore of Auckland. He was unmarried and had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynyard, Richard 1885 births 1915 deaths 1915 suicides Auckland rugby league team players Auckland rugby union players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand public servants North Shore Albions players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Auckland Suicides in New Zealand Suicides by sharp instrument