For LSE Director William Beveridge, the provision of student sports facilities was crucial to wellbeing. The sports ground at Berrylands, New Malden was acquired in 1921, allowing many sports to flourish – including student rugby.
The earliest picture of the men’s LSE “rugby football” team dates from the 1920s:
LSE Rugby Football Club 1921/22. Left to right: C W T Coleman, Athur Itter, R E T Allen, Stanley Herbert Cair, A C Clay, Ralph Perrin Forster, Charles William Reid, Charles Louis Tebbutt. Middle Row: A Elliott, R G White, H C Gutteridge (Vice President, Professor of Law), E Horn (Captain), J Drummond Smith (President), Alun Trevor Davis, W Wright. Front row: Walter Thomas Snelling, M A Campbell. IMAGELIBRARY936. LSE
Most photographs from the 1930s feature LSE Director William Beveridge, known for his support of student sports.
Rugby Team 1930/31. Left to right: Sgt-Major Burke (Physical Training), C Daniels, Harold Arthur Boyer, D H Smith, Alan M Elliott, William Thomas, W D Munro, John Walsh, Felix Bean (Vice Captain), B S Roberson (Hon Match Sec), Captain R Westington (Vice-President), William Beveridge (LSE Director), Sydney Crowther Smith (Captain), David Hughes Parry, Frederick Monkhouse, John Scurr, Arthur Field, Andrew Penman, Firoze Dorabjee, J W R Parrott, C P Dracoulis. IMAGELIBRARY1336. LSELSE Rugby Team, 1931. Frederick Monkhouse (Hon Asst Sec), J R Anderson, W A Edwards, C E Moore, J E Jones, M G Dolden, H G Silcock, C E Pritchard, W P Webb, C G Frost, Capt R H Westington, B S Roberson (Hon Match Sec), William Beveridge (LSE Director), F Martin (Captain), F E Warner, Sydney Crowther-Smith (Hon Team Sec), J C Charter, A K Walker, D H T Home, J W R Parrott. IMAGELIBRARY1337. LSE
The 1935/6 and 1936/7 photographs have been taken in near-identical spots.
LSE Rugby Club 1935/36. Peter Edward Trench, J J Allen, Francis B O’Brien, Brian Murphy, E A E Cornish, Donald McKinney, D E Davies, Frederick A Bareham, Richard Pear, I M Loder (Hon Team Sec), P T Ensor, G E D Lewis (Captain), David Seaborne Davies (President), Harry Finden, George Goode, Neville Emlyn Jones (Hon Match Sec), Isreal Goldberg, Gordon Capsey, George Dewhurst, R J Shaw. IMAGELIBRARY1317. LSELSE Rugby Club 1936/37. Sydney Everett, Frederick Bareham, Kenneth Brailey, Peter Ensor, Francis O’Brien, J J Allen, Peter Edward Trench, Charles Benson, Richard Pear, R J Desmond Leeper (Hon Team Sec), Ian Loder (Vice-Captain), David Seabourne Davies, William Beveridge (Director of LSE), G E D Lewis (Captain), G E F Goode, B C Ouseley Murphy, Alexander Young, M McRobert, Ayton Makand, Gordon Capsey. IMAGELIBRARY1318. LSE
After the 1930s, the photographs jump to the 1980s, beginning with an action shot of the team playing at Malden from 1981:
Rugby at Malden c1981. IMAGELIBRARY517. LSE
Unlike many earlier pictures, the 1983 photograph, contributed by John Paget, shows the team on top of the Clare Market Building on Houghton St (now demolished and replaced by the Centre Building).
LSE Rugby 1st XV 1983. Back row (L to R): Dave Conway, Rod Jenkins, Rob Bull, Eroni Sotutu, Duncan Green, Kwesi Amihyia, Stuart Kilpatrick, Richie Dahill, Mike Quinn. Front row (L to R): Phil Dougall, Stuart Trow, Howard Clegg, Alex [US exchange student], Glyn James, John Kearns, [xxxx], Steve Hall. LSEIn1984/5 the team photo, also contributed by John Paget, is back at New Malden.
LSE Rugby 1st XV 1984/85. Back row (L to R): Brian Whitworth [Berrylands groundsman], Howard Clegg, Steve Hall, Jules Green, Chris Johnson, Tom Leader, Kwesi Amihyia, Richie Dahill, Emmanuel [France], Dave Caddy. Front Row (L to R): Rod Jenkins, Chris [xxxx], Glyn James, Dave Conway, Sean Wyles, Sadiq Jafar, [xxxx], John Kearns. LSEFinally, in 1986, the team are in Paris! Contributor John Paget shares that the LSE Rugby and Football teams both played against the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Économique (ENSAE Paris), one of the French “Grandes Écoles”. The visit included a dinner at ENSAE (and a massive food fight), dancing and tickets to the France-England Five Nations rugby game at the Parc des Princes. A year later the ENSAE Rugby team came to LSE and we arranged tickets for them to attend the England-France game at Twickenham.
LSE Rugby 1st XV, Paris, 1986. Back row (L to R): Shaun Wyles, Phil Barleggs, Ian Hart, John Morabito, Buck de Wolf, Tom Leader, Chris Aney, Tim Brunton, Paddy Regan. Front row (L to R): Edric Selous, [xxxx, Poland], Rob Bull, Tim Frost, John Kearns, Steve Kelley, Guy Fischer, Sadiq Jafar. LSEAll of these images are from the LSE Library Flickr gallery of historical images of the School. Do you have memories of rugby at LSE, or do you know who some of the students in our photographs are? Please let us know in the comments section.
We use cookies on this site to understand how you use our content, and to give you the best browsing experience. To accept cookies, click continue. To find out more about cookies and change your preferences, visit our Cookie Policy.
