Frederick Harold Masters (20 December 1895 – 27 May 1980) was a New Zealand

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 ...

player. A

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

, Masters represented at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, in 1922. He played four matches for the All Blacks, but did not make any Test appearances. He went on to serve as a Taranaki selector during the 1930s, and was a national selector from 1936 to 1937. Masters moved to Australia in 1938 and was a

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and Australian national selector in 1946 and 1947. Masters enlisted in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of

World War I 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 ...

, and served in the Divisional Signal Company, New Zealand Engineers, for most of the war, rising to the rank of sergeant. He saw action at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

, where he was twice wounded. In 1916 he was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

for distinguished and gallant services during the period of General Sir Charles Monro's command of the

Mediterranean Expeditionary Force The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) was the part of the British Army during World War I that commanded all Allied forces at Gallipoli and Salonika. It was formed in March 1915, under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton, at the begi ...

. In June 1917 Masters was severely wounded at

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, and was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

for acts of gallantry in the field. He returned to New Zealand in early 1918 and was discharged from the army as he was no longer fit for active service because of wounds received in action.

References

1895 births 1980 deaths Rugby union players from the West Coast Region New Zealand military personnel of World War I New Zealand recipients of the Military Medal New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players Rugby union locks New Zealand referees and umpires New Zealand emigrants to Australia Australian sports executives and administrators People educated at Stratford High School, New Zealand {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1890s-stub