Henry "Harry" Collinge Speakman (19 January 1864 – 2 January 1915) 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 ...

utility back who played club rugby for

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

. Although never capped at international level in his own country, in 1888 Speakman was chosen to tour New Zealand and Australia as part of the first British Isles team. Speakman later settled in Australia and played rugby for the several local teams as well as being selected to play for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Early history

Speakman was born in Leinster Gardens in

in 1864 to Anne Elizabeth Speakman. At the time of the 1871 census, his mother was listed as the head of the household, with no father present, with Speakman sharing the family home with two elder and younger siblings. Speakman started playing rugby as a youth, representing local junior teams. He soon found his way into the second XV of Runcorn Football Club and after a season he was playing as fullback for the first team. Speakman's ability was such that he was also chosen to play at regional level, first representing the West Lancashire and Border Towns' Union and then in 1887 he was selected to play at county level for Cheshire. He gained seven caps in total for Cheshire. Despite not being chosen to play at international level for England, in 1888 Speakman was approached by

Alfred Shaw Alfred Shaw (29 August 1842 – 16 January 1907) was a Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North America and fo ...

and

Arthur Shrewsbury Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wou ...

to join the first

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

rugby team to tour abroad. The tour was a massive commitment, as it took almost a year to complete and due to the amateur nature of the sport was privately funded by each player.

1888 tour of Australia and New Zealand

The tour party left Britain on 8 March 1888 aboard the S.S. Kaikoura and arrived in Port Chambers, New Zealand on 24 April. Just four days after arrival the British Isles played their first game, against Otogo. Speakman was selected for the first match, and he made his presence felt scoring two dropped goals. Not only did the two scores result in a win for the British Isles team, it also saw Speakman become the very first goal scorer for a British rugby union team. The tour took in 35 matches, and Speakman played in 27 of them. He would score just one more dropped goal, against Auckland on 8 September, but would score six tries, two in a 13–6 win over Queensland. When the tour came to an end, Speakman was one of the players who decide not to return to Britain and stayed in New Zealand.

Life in Australia

Speakman initially settled in New Zealand, turning out for Wellington club Poneke RFC. He was recorded as still being in Wellington in February 1889, but in March he was living in Brisbane, Australia, working as an engine-fitter. Speakman continued to look for rugby clubs to represent and played for Wallaroo and even captained

. He also played a few matches for

Joe Warbrick Joseph Astbury Warbrick (1 January 1862 – 30 August 1903) was a Māori rugby union player who represented New Zealand on their 1884 tour to Australia and later captained the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team that embarked on a ...

's Maori team. At the start of the 1890s Speakman relocated to the gold mining town of

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

, there he continued working as a fitter. Just as in the other regions he had settled in Speakman joined the local rugby club, first representing Charters Towers in 1892 and later becoming the team's captain. In 1894 he met and married Bessie Newton, and they had three children. Speakman died alone at the Carlton Hotel in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

on 2 January 1915 after suffering from heat apoplexy caused by a heat wave in the region.

References

External links

Search for "Speakman" at espn.co.uk (1888 British Isles tourists statistics missing (31 December 2017))
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speakman, Harry 1864 births 1915 deaths British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England British emigrants Immigrants to Australia English rugby union players Māori All Blacks players Queensland rugby union team players Sportspeople from Runcorn Rugby union players from Runcorn Runcorn RFC players Accidental deaths in Queensland