Cyril Nelson "Kid" Lowe, (7 October 1891 – 6 February 1983) was an English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who held England's international try scoring record for over sixty years, a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

credited with nine victories, and supposedly the inspiration for

W. E. Johns William Earl Johns (5 February 189321 June 1968) was an English First World War pilot, and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the pen name Capt. W. E. Johns: best known for creating the fictional air-adventurer ''Biggles''. Earl ...

' character "

Biggles James Charles Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the Title role#Title character, title character and Protagonist, hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns ...

Early life

Lowe was born in Holbeach,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. He attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

where he was a boarder in Orchard House. He edited the school magazine, ''The Alleynian'', from 1910 to 1911, as his fellow alumnus

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

had done previously. At Dulwich, he excelled at a number of sports, and represented the school in boxing, athletics, swimming, cricket and rugby. He captained the Athletics squad in 1911 and in the same year played for the first XI cricket squad. In this same cricket side, he played alongside future England captain, Arthur Gilligan, the future Essex wicket-keeper Frank Gilligan and R. K. Nunes; the future captain of the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Eclipsing these sporting achievements was his record as a rugby player. He was in the side first XV from 1908 and was in the unbeaten first XV

squad in 1909; which contained five future internationals dubbed the 'Famous Five'. These five would all go on to play in the 1913

Varsity match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

, (and also produced the captains of both

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in 1919), and all of whom served in the

. They were Eric Loudoun-Shand and Grahame Donald who both went on to play for Scotland, W. D. Doherty who went on to play for and captain Ireland, J. E. Greenwood who went on to play for and captain England and Cyril Lowe himself. He then went on to captain the side in 1910–11. Despite his sporting prowess, Lowe was not physically imposing, standing and weighing around nine-and-a-half stone () while at school. His small stature led to his nickname at school being "Tich" Lowe. He was described by the school magazine, ''The Alleynian'', as "A first rate centre three-quarter. Very fast, with a capital pair of hands, a first-rate dodge on a dry ground, and a good pair of feet on the wet." He went on to Cambridge University where he won rugby blues in 1911, 1912 and 1913, making him a rare triple

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

Rugby career

Cyril Lowe, whilst still at Cambridge, was called up to play for England in 1913. This was to be the beginning of an international career that spanned either side of the

, in which he scored a record 18 tries in 25 internationals and was on the losing side only three times, twice to Wales and once to South Africa. He played in four Grand Slam-winning sides until his retirement in 1923. In 1913 and 1914 he won back-to-back Five Nation Grand Slams and his eight try haul in 1914 remains a Championship record, only ever equalled by two players,

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

of Scotland in 1925, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey of France in 2025. At club level, after leaving Cambridge, Lowe represented Blackheath, and was later the RAF representative on the Rugby Union Committee. Lowe's sporting career was interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. Lowe returned to his rugby career in 1920, playing for England. He retired from international rugby in 1923 with 25 caps, and would have gained more were it not for the war. His career total 18 tries remained an English record at his death and it was only equaled and later surpassed by another

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

Rory Underwood in 1989, 66 years after Lowe's retirement. It has subsequently been achieved by other players, though internationals are more frequent in the modern game and are generally higher scoring.

International tries

Military career

First World War

Joining the army soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Lowe was commissioned into the Army Service Corps as a temporary second lieutenant on 31 August 1914. He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 January 1915, and to captain on 30 April 1916. Lowe was transferred to the General List to serve in the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

, and appointed a flying officer on 30 September 1916. He was posted to No. 11 Squadron, and was appointed a flight commander on 11 February 1917. Flying a F.E.2b with observer/gunner Second Lieutenant G. Masters, Lowe gained his first victory on 15 March 1917, destroying a Type C aircraft over Bailleul. On 24 March, he drove down out of control an Albatros D.III over Fontaine-lès-Croisilles, but was wounded when shot down by Reinhold Jörke later on the same day. Lowe returned to flying duty in early-1918, when posted to No. 24 Squadron, flying the

S.E.5a The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the ...

single-seat fighter. Between 23 April and 1 July 1918, Lowe scored seven more victories, sharing one with Lieutenant Ronald T. Mark, destroying three and driving down four more out of control, to bring his total to nine. Lowe was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was gazetted on 3 August 1918. His citation read: This was followed by the award of the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

, gazetted on 16 September 1918. The citation read: Lowe left the RAF after the war, being transferred to unemployed list on 2 March 1919.

Post-war career

Lowe returned to serve in the Royal Air Force on a three-year short service commission with the rank of flight lieutenant on 12 January 1921, but this was later cancelled and he was granted a permanent commission on 17 April 1923, backdated to January 1921. He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 July 1925, and was posted to the Headquarters of the Special Reserve and Auxiliary Air Force on 7 September 1925. However, on 14 September 1925 he was appointed temporary commander of No. 602 City of Glasgow (Bombing) Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force. On 1 April 1926, he was appointed commander of No. 1 Squadron, based in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, and on 1 November 1926 was transferred to No. 6 Armoured Car Company. Lowe eventually returned to England, and was commander of No. 43 Squadron, based at

RAF Tangmere Royal Air Force Tangmere or more simply RAF Tangmere is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain. It was one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The Seco ...

by June 1928, the squadron becoming highly regarded for their aerobatic displays. He was posted to No. 2 Flying Training School, based at

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-s ...

, on 18 November 1930. Lowe was promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1933, and in August was appointed chief instructor of the

Oxford University Air Squadron The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed on 11th October 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fif ...

, succeeding

Keith Park Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, (15 June 1892 – 6 February 1975) was a New Zealand-born officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). During the Second World War, his leadership of the RAF's No. 11 Group RAF, No. 11 Group was pivotal to t ...

, and being the first Cambridge man to command the Oxford Squadron. On 31 December 1937 Lowe was promoted to group captain, and retired from the Royal Air Force on 7 October 1944. Lowe died in 1983, aged 91.

References

External links

Planet-Rugby bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Cyril 1891 births 1983 deaths Military personnel from Lincolnshire Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force group captains British Army personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) English rugby union players English aviators People from Holbeach People educated at Dulwich College England international rugby union players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Blackheath F.C. players Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Royal Army Service Corps officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Rugby union players from Lincolnshire Rugby union wings Royal Air Force officers 20th-century English sportsmen