Victoria Cross Group of 1251 Farrier Major William James Hardham, VC, 4th Contingent, New Zealand Mounted Rifles

William Hardham was born in Wellington on 31 July 1876 and was educated at Mount Cook School. After school, he took up the trade of Blacksmith and worked at the Petone Railway Workshops. He was a tough, strong, burly man with a passion for rugby and was captain of the Petone Rugby Club’s senior team as well as running out with the Wellington Provincial side, 53 times between 1897 and 1910.

At the outbreak of the Boer War (1899 – 1902), Bill Hardham enlisted with the 4th New Zealand Contingent. He served as a farrier, shoeing horses for the Mounted troopers. On 28 January 1901, Hardham rode out with a sweeping operation in the Transvaal. Near Naauwpoort on the Witwatersberg Hills, their mounted squadron was ambushed by a party of about twenty Boers who had been concealed in rocks.  One of the New Zealanders, Trooper McRae, was wounded and had his horse shot from under him.  Hardham immediately turned and galloped back through heavy fire to the wounded man.  He dismounted, lifted McRae onto his horse and ran beside the horse holding McRae in the saddle until they reached the safety of an outcrop of rocks.  For this action Farrier Sergeant Hardham was awarded the Victoria Cross, the only New Zealand serviceman to receive the gallantry award during the Boer War.

Major Hardham died of stomach cancer in Wellington on 13 April 1928 at the age of 51. His sporting ability and sense of fair play was recognised with the establishment of the Hardham Cup, which was awarded annually to the winning team of the lower division of the Wellington club competition.

William Hardham is buried at the Karori Soldiers’ Cemetery. His Victoria Cross medal group can be seen in the National Army Museum’s Valour Alcove.

All Black Cap (1913) of 4/890 Sapper Charles Brown, New Zealand Field Engineers

Charles ‘Charlie’ Brown was an outstanding player and personality in that province for many years. He also won national distinction for several reasons.

He was one of a handful of players who played for the All Blacks either side of WWI (1914-18). He also appeared as a guest player for a NZ Maori XV against Australia in a 1913 benefit match, although he was a Pakeha (of European descent). He also played for the New Zealand Army team for the King’s Cup competition and captained the 1919 team that toured South Africa – the first national side to do so.

A halfback, Brown played the first of his 52 matches for Taranaki as a 21-year old in 1909 and he was captain of the side which was the first to win the Ranfurly Shield when Auckland were beaten in 1914.

Brown had two matches for the All Blacks against Australia in 1913, in which season he also made his guest appearance in a benefit match for the Maori XV.

A corporal with the Field Engineers in World War I Brown played for the New Zealand Division team that won the Somme Cup in France in 1917. After being part of the services team in Britain that won the King’s Cup in 1919, and captaining the side in South Africa, Brown regained his place in the All Blacks in 1920, playing matches in New Zealand as well as touring Australia. Though primarily a halfback Brown was multi talented and could, and did, play at fullback or even as hooker on tour.

When he retired in 1922 Brown had played a relatively high number of first class matches for a player of his era, 95. Had it not been for World War I he obviously would have comfortably exceeded a century.

After finishing as a player, Brown continued to be heavily involved in the game both as an administrator and coach with his club, Tukapa, and at provincial level. He coached Tukapa for many years and one of his protégés was the All Black centre of the late 1930s, Jack Sullivan.

He was a Taranaki selector 1925, 32-46 and served on the union management committee 1940-50. In 1947-48 he served on the North Island selection panel and was a New Zealand selector in 1944.

Medals and Memorial Plaque of 9/76 Trooper William Rupert Pyle, Otago Mounted Rifles

William ‘Rupert’ Pyle was born at St Bathans (Otago) on 17 January 1889. He was a member of the Waitaki High School Cadets and on leaving school, went to work in Dunedin as a Clerk for the Bank of New South Wales.

Rupert Pyle was typical of so many if the young men who loved their sport, family and their country. Rupert was an excellent sportsman, involved in rugby, athletics, swimming and hockey. Prior to enlisting on 10 August 1914, Rupert Pyle had played representative rugby for Southland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. He was also selected for the South Island rugby team and managed to play a few games, as a dashing three-quarter, once he arrived in Egypt in December 1914.

After a period of training, and encountering the Turks at Suez, Rupert Pyle would find himself fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Here he stayed until August 1915, when during the attack on Chunuk Bair, either on the night of the 6th or in the early hours of the 7th, Trooper William ‘Rupert’ Pyle was killed on the top of Bauchop’s Ridge.

His body was brought down the next day by his brother Frank and today, William Rupert Pyle is buried in the No. 2 Outpost Cemetery (Gallipoli), Grave B. 12.

Inter Rugby Company Football Competition Banner (1917 – 1919)

In WWI, rugby was a morale booster for the troops, and throughout the war (whenever duty allowed) New Zealand soldiers played the game wherever they could. One of the first things the Kiwis did was to form company teams to contest the battalion championships, and provincial teams to play for brigade honours. Every Unit, Base and Depot had some sort of a XV.

This banner is from one of those competitions and is from the New Zealand (Command) Depot at Codford, on the edge of the Salisbury Plain (UK). It appears that the Wellington Regiment won the competition in 1917-1918 and 1918-1919.

Rugby Cap – New Zealand Field Artillery

One of the few remnants of the rugby competitions played in WWI. This rugby football cap would have been presented to team members of the NZFA team in 1918 and is a rare artefact.

Souvenir Programme (1919)

Programme from the match played between the New Zealand Army team and the ‘Mother Country’ (Britain) on 16 April 1919. This was the final for the Kings Cup and was played at Twickenham, England. The NZ Army team won the match 9-3, with Rifleman W A Ford (NZ Rifle Brigade) and Private A P Singe (Auckland Infantry Regiment), scoring tries and Private L B Stohr (NZ Medical Corps), kicking a penalty.

At the end of the match, King George V (recently seen as an older King in the film The King’s Speech), presented the silver cup to the captain Sergeant Major James ‘Jimmy’ Ryan (Otago Infantry Regiment).

The Divisional Commander’s Cup (The Freyberg Cup)

Rugby became a popular activity during the many weeks of training in Egypt and matches between units and matches against British and South African forces drew huge crowds. When the Division moved north into Italy, so did the rugby.

NZ Divisional Commander, Major General Bernard Freyberg, himself an old representative player (Horowhenua 1912-13), was so impressed with the high standard of the competition (comparable to the best New Zealand inter-provincial standard), he felt there should be an ongoing inter-unit competition (played whenever possible). He ordered for a suitable cup to be purchased in Cairo and presented a trophy for the competition known as the Divisional Commanders Cup. This was later affectionately renamed the “Freyberg Cup” in honour of the man who saw the value in playing the game in times of war.

22nd Battalion Rugby Jersey

In the early stages of WWII, a number of the NZ battalions journeyed to the UK for training and of course to play the odd game of rugby. The red and green jersey is a very early 22nd (Wellington) Battalion rugby jersey, worn by Gordon Couchman in Hollingbourne, Kent (England) in September 1940. Unfortunately for Gordon, he sustained a broken jaw in a match. Also in the side was Keith Elliott, who would later go on to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

In 1944, at Forli, Italy, the 22nd Battalion played the 2nd Ammunition Company, with 22 Battalion running out victors 4-0. By this stage, Gordon was not part of the team and they had changed their jerseys (to white).

Gilbert Rugby Ball

The leather Gilbert “Match II” rugby ball was used in a game between 19 Battalion and 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment in 1940. 19 Battlion were champions of the NZ Division, captained by an All Black 1934 to 1938 Jack Lester Griffiths of Wellington. The Welsh team were the champions of the British Army at the time. 19 Battalion won the game 11-9.

Freyberg Cup Medallion

The ‘Winner’s Medallion’ was presented to 82980 Colin Francis Ross Sullivan by General Freyberg at the end of the Freyberg Cup match between 22nd Battalion and the 2nd Ammunition Company at Forli, Italy in 1944.

The game was played in atrocious conditions in the ruins of a Mussolini built football (soccer) stadium with 22 Battalion running out winners 4-0, courtesy of a Lin Thomas dropkick (in those days worth 4 points).

Colin Sullivan played for both Taranaki and Manawatu and was an All Black triallist in 1939.

Winston McCarthy’s “Kiwis” ‘Scrapbook’

Winston John McCarthy (10 March 1908 – 2 January 1984) was a Rugby Union radio commentator during the 1940′s through to the 1960′s who became known as the “Voice of New Zealand Rugby”. He is particularly remembered for his broadcasts of the NZEF “Kiwis” during World War II and later the All Blacks matches.

Born in Wellington on 10 March 1908, he was educated at St Patrick’s College. A promising halfback, he played for the Manawatu B and Bush (now part of Wairarapa-Bush) teams in the 1930′s. In 1936 he moved to the South Island’s West Coast and played rugby league for the Waiuta club before a shoulder injury put an end to his playing career.

He began a career in radio in 1937 when he began work as programme organiser for the National Broadcasting Service at station 2YD in Wellington. During the Second World War he worked with well-known sports broadcaster Wallie Ingram as a result of a posting to the Army Education and Welfare service. In 1945-46 he was chosen to broadcast commentaries of the games played in Europe by the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force rugby team (“The Kiwis”). These were the first live rugby broadcasts from the UK to New Zealand. It was during one of these matches that he coined his catch-phrase “Listen… Listen… It’s a goal!”

His last commentary of a rugby test match was the final test of the 1959 British Lions tour. Before the era of television, when radio and rugby were New Zealand passions, he had broadcast 38 tests, creating vivid, unforgettable word pictures. He had also commentated on other sports, such as cricket and boxing, and commentated at the 1950 and 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth and 1956 Olympic games.

Winston McCarthy passed away on 2 January 1984.

1945-1946 ‘Kiwis’ Rugby Jersey

In 1945 as war neared to an end, trials were held in Austria, Egypt and England to select a Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF) Army team for a tour of the United Kingdom, France and Germany (an idea fostered by General Freyberg). A total of 64 players appeared in the final trials in England and 29 men were selected.

The team, simply known as the “Kiwis” played from late 1945 to the end of March 1946 and on Freyberg’s instructions they were “to play bright, open football with the winning of the game the least important factor”. They managed to do both and it was a tour that lifted the spirits of people reeling from the ravages of war and spotlighted rugby union as a game capable of providing a wonderful spectacle.

By the end of the tour, they had played 33 games, won 29, lost 2 and drew 2 and their points tally was 605 for, and 185 against. As a guide to the calibre of the “Kiwis” it should be noted that 16 of the touring party later played for the All Blacks and the tour captain, Charlie Saxton had been an All Black in 1938.

The rugby jersey was worn by Stanley ‘Stan’ Lake Young, a tall forward from Kaikohe in the north. Stan would have gone on to play for the All Blacks but for the back injury which he picked up on the ‘Kiwis’ tour. He also suffered a broken finger, which stopped him playing in the matches once they were back in New Zealand in 1946.

After he left the army, he farmed near Kaikohe and played for the North Auckland team including a famous victory over Australia (20-0). Once again he hoped to play for the All Blacks (1949 tour to South Africa) but after the trials in Auckland (1948) his back flared up again. The injury would lead to him selling the farm and pursuing a career as a traffic ‘cop’, a job that would result in him being a superintendent with the Ministry of Transport in Wellington and receiving an OBE.

1946 ‘Kiwis’ Rugby Blazer

Every good team needs a good ‘boss’ and Colonel Allan Huia Andrews was that man. He often referred to the Kiwis as ‘his boys’ and ‘his team’ and after the successful ‘tour’ of Britain and France had long been over, many of the Kiwi team members would reflect that it was the Colonel’s leadership and influence that led to the outstanding success of the tour.

The ‘Kiwis’ rugby team played scintillating rugby in 1945 and 1946 and thrilled crowds in Britain, France and in New Zealand when they returned home.

Colonel Allan Huia Andrews, himself a pretty handy rugby player (Canterbury, Wellington, NZ Universities and the South Island team) and an outstanding academic was later promoted to Brigadier and awarded a CBE.

Brigadier A H Andrews passed away in 2002 and his funeral service, with full military honours, was held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Pauls on 7 November 2002.

NZ Army Women’s Rugby Jersey

In 2005, a 60th commemorative tour to Europe (Operation Kiwi Commemoration) was organised to again highlight the excellence, mateship and teamwork of the 1945-46 “Kiwis”. Two teams (men’s and women’s) travelled to Britain and the women’s team created history by being the first New Zealand Army women’s team to tour overseas, play a test match and wear the silver fern. The men’s team won four out of five games and the women’s team won three out of four including a great 22-8 win over the British Army.

Today, women’s rugby is an integral part of Army sport and games are regularly played throughout the winter season.

New Zealand Army Rugby Team Cap

The ‘tradition’ of presenting a cap to a player who has played a set number of games or achieved test status goes back over a 100 years. In 2005, the New Zealand Army rekindled that tradition by presenting a ‘cap’ to a player who has ‘fronted’ for the NZ Army team in 12 games, an honour usually achieved after two seasons. The first recipients were awarded their cap in 2007.