Frederick Henry Cornish (1876 – 27 April 1940) was an English-born

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

forward who played club rugby for

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

and international rugby for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Cornish 'Went North' in 1899 switching to

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

, joining

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

Jenkins (1991), pg 32.

Rugby career

Born in England in 1876, Cornish is first recorded playing rugby for his hometown club, Bridgwater & Albion. He moved to Wales and joined the Grangetown Stars, but before the end of the century Cornish became a member of first class Welsh team

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...

, and during the 1896/97 season was selected to play for the Welsh national team, under the two-year residency ruling. Cornish was brought into the pack, along with fellow first caps,

Jack Rhapps John "Jack" Rhapps (15 July 1876 – 23 January 1950) was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Penygraig, and international rugby for Wales. Rhapps later "Went North", when he turned professional, joining rugby le ...

and

Dick Hellings Richard Hellings (1 December 1874 – 9 February 1938) was an English-born Welsh rugby union forward who played international rugby for Wales and club rugby for Llwynypia. Hellings was noted for his strength built from years cutting coal as a R ...

to face England as part of the

1897 Home Nations Championship The 1897 Home Nations Championship was the fifteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Four matches were played between 9 January and 13 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales only completed one ...

. Wales won the game in style, but it would be the only international the team would play that year, as an argument broke out between the Home Unions surrounding professionalism, now known as the Gould Affair. The next season, with Arthur Gould now forced into retirement, Wales were readmitted into the Championship. The only two members of the 1897 pack to return for the 1898 Championship were Cornish and Hellings. Despite a large influx of new caps, Cornish was now playing in a Wales squad dominated with his Cardiff team mates; including captain

Selwyn Biggs Selwyn Hanam Biggs (June 1872 – 12 January 1943) was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and county rugby for Glamorgan. Both Biggs and his brother Norman played international rugby for Wales, though t ...

at centre and a threequarters trio of

Jones Jones may refer to: People *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname *List of people with surname Jones *Jones (singer), a British singer-songwriter Arts and entertainment * Jones (''Animal Farm''), a human character in George Orwell' ...

, Nicholls and Huzzey. The Welsh were again victorious winning the opening match against Ireland 11–3, but Cornish found himself in a losing international for the first time when Wales lost to England in the final game of the Championship. Towards the end of the 1897/98 season, Cornish was part of the Cardiff team that faced the touring

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less ...

as part of their annual Easter tour. Cardiff won the game 6–0, with Cornish and wing Huzzey scoring a try each.Starmer-Smith, Nigel ''The Barbarians'' Macdonald & Jane's Publishers (1977) pg. 77 The

1899 Home Nations Championship The 1899 Home Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 18 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The 1899 Championship w ...

saw the Welsh selectors again overhaul the pack, with five new caps. Cornish was not among those reselected, which saw a spectacular win over the English team; but after a heavy away defeat by Scotland in the next match, Cornish was back in favour for the Irish encounter at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

. Cornish, brought in as a replacement for Tom Dobson, would play his last international in this match, with Wales losing to a single

Gerald Doran Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish ...

try. Cornish may have been selected for further international games, but in August 1899 he switched rugby codes joining Hull rugby league team, preventing his return to the union code of rugby.

International matches under the union code

WalesSmith (1980), pg 463. * 1897, 1898 * 1898, 1899

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornish, Fred 1876 births 1940 deaths British boilermakers Cardiff RFC players English rugby league players English rugby union players Hull F.C. players Rugby league players from Somerset Rugby union players from Bridgwater Rugby union forwards Wales international rugby union players