Ralph Bond Sweet-Escott (11 January 1869 – 11 November 1907) was an English-born international rugby union half back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped three times for Wales. Sweet-Escott 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 ...

for

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

representing the county in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship. His brother,

Edward Sweet-Escott Edward Sweet-Escott (27 July 1879 — 1 July 1956) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. He was born in Brompton Ralph and died in Penarth. Sweet-Escott had begun playing for Glamorgan duri ...

, was a notable cricketer for Glamorgan.Edward Sweet-Escott player profile
Glamorgan Cricket archive

Early life

Sweet-Escott was the third son to the Rev. William Sweet-Escott JP, of Hartrow Manor in Taunton and the daughter of Lord Dynevor. He was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry, before being accepted into

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

Rugby career

Sweet-Escott was born in Essington,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, and played club rugby for Blackheath F.C. before moving to Wales and joining first class Welsh club Cardiff. In 1891 he was first selected to represent the Welsh national team, in a match against Scotland as part of the Home Nations Championship. Under the captaincy of Llanelli's Willie Thomas, Wales were heavily beaten with Scotland running in seven tries without reply. Sweet-Escott lost his place in the Welsh team for the next game, with the Welsh selectors switching from the Cardiff partnership of Sweet-Escott and Ingledew to the exciting Swansea brother duo of Evan and

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

. In 1891, Sweet-Escott was chosen to represent the British invitational team, the Barbarians. He continued his career with Cardiff, and after a lapse of three years regained favour with the Welsh selectors, regaining his position in the Wales squad, this time alongside Newport's Fred Parfitt. As part of the

1894 Home Nations Championship The 1894 Home Nations Championship was the twelfth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 6 January and 17 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Table Results ...

and this time led by

Frank Hill Frank Robert Hill (21 May 1906 – 28 August 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Forfar and Aberdeen Hill was born in Forfar and started his career at Forfar Athletic, joining the club in 1924. He moved to Aberdeen ...

, Sweet-Escott found himself again on the losing side when Ireland won by a single penalty goal. Sweet-Escott's last game for Wales was another match against Ireland, in the following year's tournament. In this, his final international, Sweet-Escott finished on the winning side.

International matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 472. * 1894, 1895 * 1891

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Photo of a Blackheath team including Sweet-Escott

CricketArchive.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet-Escott, Ralph 1869 births 1907 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Barbarian F.C. players Blackheath F.C. players Cardiff RFC players Glamorgan cricketers Penarth RFC players People educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry Rugby union halfbacks Rugby union players from Staffordshire Wales international rugby union players Welsh cricketers Welsh rugby union players