Jeaffreson Brewer (1853–1924) was a rugby union international who represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1875.J. Brewer Profile on scrum.com
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Early life

Jeaffreson Vennor Brewer was born in 1853, the son of Dr. Alexander Brewer of

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

.Epsom College, ''Epsom College register, 1855-1954'', (Old Epsomian Club), 1955 He was sent to boarding school in Epsom to the Royal Medical Benevolent College, which later became known as

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a benevolent institution which provided a boarding school education for sons of poor or deceased members ...

in 1866 with his brother, Frederick Bertram Brewer. The brothers both managed to captain the college's Football team, and both left in 1870 to become spice brokers.

Rugby union career

Brewer, aside from playing rugby for his school, was also an important figure in the

Gipsies Football Club The Gipsies Football Club was a short lived 19th century rugby football club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as producing a number of international players in the sport's early ...

. This now long disbanded club, was prominent in the early days of rugby union and was one of the twenty one founding clubs of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. The club had been founded by three Old Tonbridgians and was ostensibly an unofficial Old Boys club for Tonbridge School. However, J V Brewer was elected to the initial committee of the Gipsies in 1868 at the age of just fifteen and he was also the only committee member to not hail from

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

. Brewer later was selected to play for England, and made his only international appearance on 13 December 1875 at Rathmines, Dublin in the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

match. England were victorious on this occasion. He was later appointed by the RFU in 1878 as one of seven men to review and revise the laws of rugby.

Later life

Jeaffreson Vennor Brewer died in 1924.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Jeaffreson 1853 births 1924 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players Rugby union forwards People educated at Epsom College