Cecil "Bill" Payn (9 August 1893 - 31 October 1959), born in Harding, Colony of Natal, was a Springbok rugby player. He matriculated at

Maritzburg College Maritzburg College is a State school, semi-private English language, English-medium high school for boys situated in the city of Pietermaritzburg in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest boys' high school i ...

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, Natal, South Africa. He played as a flanker. He was more commonly known as "Bill". He died in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, Natal, South Africa.

Personal

He was born to James and Ellie (née Zietsman). He was a school teacher and married Winifred Ashton. Payn taught at

Durban High School Durban High School (Better known as D.H.S) is a public English medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Musgrave in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. DHS opened its doors in 1866 in two rooms and with seven ...

from 1915 to 1953. During world war two he was captured in

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

, Libya and served time in the

Prisoner of War camps A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in Italy and Poland.

Rugby

He played rugby for Natal and the Springboks. He made his International South Africa test debut on 16 August 1924, on the Kingsmead stadium in Durban, Natal South Africa playing as a flanker. This was a game between the Springboks and Great Britain. The Springboks won 7–3. He went on to play the next test against Great Britain as well, which was also his last. Payn's last test we played on 23 August 1924 at the

Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium, also known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere, is a cricket stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, Transvaal, South Africa. The Springboks won 17–0.

Other sport participation

He was a right arm slow bowler, who played cricket for his Province Natal. He ran the Comrades Ultra Marathon in 1922, and came 8th in this race, which was an up run held on 24 May 1922. His finishing time for the 90 km was 10:56:00. He ran the race in his rugby boots.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payn, Bill South African rugby union players 1893 births 1959 deaths South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Durban South African military personnel of World War II South African prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Sharks (rugby union) players KwaZulu-Natal cricketers South African cricketers