Percy Christopherson (31 March 1866 – 4 May 1921) was an English sportsman who played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

as a threequarter for

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at international level. Christopherson also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, making two first-class appearances. He was employed as a teacher at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and ...

Rugby career

Christopherson first came to note as a rugby player when he represented

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He played in three Varsity Matches, from 1886 to 1888 winning his sporting 'Blues'. All three matches ended in losses for Oxford, and in the final season, under Christopherson's captaincy, the university team entered the Varsity encounter with a poor record; having lost as many games as they had won. In late 1888, Christopherson was selected for county team Kent, to face the 1888 touring New Zealand Natives. Kent lost 4–1. After leaving university, Christopherson joined first-class English club Blackheath, and it was while representing the senior team that he was approached to join the newly formed invitational touring side

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...

, making him one of the club's founding members. The next season, Christopherson was selected by 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 ...

to represent England in the opening game of the

1891 Home Nations Championship The 1891 Home Nations Championship was the ninth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 3 January and 7 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The 1891 Championship was ...

. Under the captaincy of

Frederic Alderson Frederic Hodgson Rudd Alderson (27 June 1867 – 18 February 1925) was an English international rugby union threequarter who played club rugby for Cambridge University and Hartlepool Rovers. Alderson played international rugby for England a ...

, England's first match of the tournament was away to Wales. Christopherson had an excellent game, scoring two tries in the first half. The first was set up by half back

William Leake William Leake, father (died 1633) and son (died 1681), were London publishers and booksellers of the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. They were responsible for a range of texts in English Renaissance drama and poetry, including works ...

which Christopherson scored after eluding

Billy Bancroft William James Bancroft (2 March 1871 – 3 March 1959) was a Welsh international fullback, who played club rugby for Swansea, and a county cricketer for Glamorgan, for whom he was the first professional player in 1895. Bancroft was seen as ...

. The second was a solo effort, scored after a fast, dodging run. Despite a promising start, Christopherson was not part of the team that travelled to Ireland a month later; being replaced by fellow Barbarian Piercy Morrison. Christopherson's final match for England was the tournament decider against Scotland. The match ended in victory for the Scots, and Christopherson never represented his country again.

Cricket career

Christopherson is most notable as a cricketer, not because of his first-class playing record, but for coming from a strong sporting family of ten brothers, who all played cricket. For several seasons they formed a team on Blackheath with their father making up the final place.Preston H (1946
Notes by the Editor
''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1946. Retrieved 2017-04-16.Chritopherson, Mr Percy
Obituaries in 1921, ''

'', 1922. Retrieved 2017-04-16. The most successful of his brothers was

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

who played in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for

in 1884.Stanley Christopherson
Obituary, ''

'', 1949. Retrieved 2017-04-16. In July 1887 Christopherson made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

debut for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

against Sussex, playing alongside his brother Stanley.Percy Christopherson
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-16. He made his only other first-class appearance in 1889 for

against the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

. He also played in two

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

matches for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

in 1887 and 1889. He made other appearances for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, Gentlemen of Kent and Blackheath.

Personal life

Following his retirement from sport, Christopherson was the Headmaster of

Lockers Park School Lockers Park School is a day and boarding preparatory and pre-preparatory school for boys, situated in 23 acres of countryside in Boxmoor, Hertfordshire. Its headmaster is Gavin Taylor. History Lockers Park was founded in 1874 by Henry Montagu ...

, in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a n ...

between 1902 and 1918. From August 1912, until his death in 1921, Christopherson also served as a Trustee of the nearby

Box Moor Trust The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of nearly 500 acres of land within the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire, England. The Trust was officially founded in 1594 in order to ensure tha ...

.Joan and Roger Hands (2004)
''Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust''
page 218. pub. Alpine Press. Kings Langely.

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christopherson, Percy 1866 births 1921 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford Barbarian F.C. players Berkshire cricketers Blackheath F.C. players Cricketers from Greater London England international rugby union players English cricketers English rugby union players Kent cricketers Oxford University cricketers Oxford University RFC players People educated at Bedford School Sportspeople from Blackheath, London Rugby union three-quarters Rugby union players from the London Borough of Lewisham