IN the list of 13 Welsh rugby internationals who lost their lives in the First World War, one Radnorshire-born man holds a special place in Welsh sporting history – Richard Davies Garnons Williams, writes Huw S Thomas.

He is the only Welshman to represent his country at both soccer and rugby in the same season and may well be the only man ever to be a dual international rugby/soccer player in the same year.

In the excellent Rugby Football Internationals Roll of Honour published in 1919, the author EHD Sewell writes:

“He (Williams) played in club football for Newport, and in the year in which he played for Wales against England (1881) he played for Wales also, under Association rules, stipulating when asked to fill a gap in the Welsh XI, that he should play as goalkeeper, which he did.”

Williams, born in Llowes, Radnorshire, in 1856 was the second son of the Rev Prebendary Garnons Williams of Abercamlais.

He went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and RMS Sandhurst and retired as Major from the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers in 1890.

When war broke out he rejoined his old regiment in September 1914 at the age of 58 and was killed in action during the Battle of Loos on March 14, 1916 when a Lieutenant-Colonel in command of his battalion.

He is thought to be the oldest rugby international of any nation to die in the war.

EHD Sewell’s full entry reads:

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Davies Garnons Williams, 12th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers, fell in action at Fosse 8, Loos, on September 27, 1915, aged 59.

Born at Llowes, Radnorshire, on June 15, 1856, Garnons Williams was educated at Sully Glamorganshire (1862); at Magdalen College School; at Trinity College, Cambridge; and at the RMC Sandhurst.

He was in the rugby teams of Magdalen College School as well as of his college at Cambridge.

He played in club football for Newport, and in the year in which he played for Wales against England (1881) he played for Wales also, under Association rules, stipulating when asked to fill a gap in the Welsh XI, that he should play as goalkeeper, which he did.

Lieutenant-Colonel Garnons Williams won many athletic prizes at school, at Cambridge, and at Sandhurst.

He was always very proud of having been a double international, and in the same year; and it was always a pleasant recollection with him that as a boy and a young man he was never out of training.

This magnificent patriot retires as Major from the 1st Battalon Royal Fusiliers in 1890, having served with the regiment for 17 years; and during the South African War ad Depot Adjutant at Hounslow. When the present war broke out he rejoined his old regiment in September 1914 at the age of 58 , went into training for a year, and out to France in September 1915, in which month he was killed in action when in command of his Battalion.

He would have chosen no other end.