Pioneers of our Past: William Wavell Wakefield
As part of our 150 celebrations, we look back on some of English rugby's greatest pioneers.
There are names synonymous with England Rugby over the past 150 years and high on that list is William Wavell Wakefield.
A Harlequins star player through the 1920s, he made his England debut in 1920 and over the next seven years played in 31 Tests, a record for more than four decades. He led his nation 13 times, including in the last of three Grand Slams in four seasons, which has never been repeated by any team.
Developed forward play
Wakefield was a tactical thinker who led by example, scoring the opening tries in the decisive games of the 1923 and 1924 series. Fast and fearless, he played Number 8 or lock, and could even play at centre. Building on the influence of Cherry Pillman a generation earlier, he developed specialist forward positions. He was credited with reinventing the back-row forward and changing the static flanker to one pressurising the opposition scrum half and fly half and supporting open play attacks, as well as winning the ball in rucks.
An RAF officer, he was their 440 yards champion and captained their rugby team, beating both the Army and Navy in 1923. The Inter Services Trophy, the Wavell Wakefield Cup, is now named in his honour. Growing up in the Lake District he flew and landed planes on Lake Windermere before, and during World War I, becoming one of the first to land a biplane on an aircraft carrier. Aged 41, he flew as a Flight Lieutenant in the Second World War and went on to become MP for Swindon and for St Marylebone.
Harlequins President for 30 years
Knighted in 1944, he was President of the Rugby Football Union in 1950, became the first Baron Wakefield of Kendal in 1963 and was President of Harlequins from 1950 to 1980. He was also President of the Ski Club of Great Britain, the British Sub Aqua Club and the British Water Ski Federation. He died in 1983 and in 1999 became the first English player in the International Rugby Hall of Fame. Wakefield described rugby as “a game of beauty and power.”
He served both the RFU and IRB (now World Rugby) and is remembered by another Harlequins forward and former RFU President, Chris Kelly.
Said Chris: “Wakers was a god at Harlequins and I became aware of him as a rugby legend when I was about 11 years old. I remember my dad buying a brochure on the Quins centenary in 1966 and me reading all about William Wavell Wakefield and Adrian Stoop. I knew that he had a record 31 England caps, an awful lot when they only played three or four international matches a season. As a youngster if you read anything about rugby it would include Wavell Wakefield.
“When I began playing for Harlequins he was still the club’s President and I was at the AGM around 1977 at a smart London hotel. I’ve no idea why I went, but there he was chairing the meeting. He had two big hearing aids by then and walked with a stick but he still chaired meetings in an autocratic but humorous way.
Once a Quin, always a Quin
“I’d always been a rugby anorak, so I was thrilled to see him and to be in his company. He used to come into the Quins changing room from time to time in the days when we played home matches at Twickenham. He would also occasionally travel with us on the bus to away matches. I remember him bringing his wife Lady Joan when we went to play Cambridge and when we stopped at a pub en route, just for coffee I’m sure, Lady Wakefield was plonked in the saloon bar, while Lord Wakefield was with the lads in the public bar!
“He came to the back of the bus as we travelled to the match and I listened fascinated as he recounted tales of captaining Cambridge against Oxford in the Varsity Match of 1922. He was really chatty, talking about his clever tactics in winning against all the odds. He was a doyen of rugby worldwide so he didn’t need to be modest. He enjoyed talking about past triumphs and was happy to instruct younger players.
“At Quins I think he turned up to our games until he died and when we used to have the Harlequin Lords Taverners Sevens each season he would be there, while Adrian Stoop’s widow, Audrey, presented the cup to the winners.
Outstanding sportsman
“At the 1977 centenary of his old school Sedbergh I saw him up there for their match against Yorkshire Schools and it’s incredible what an athlete he was in his younger days, a fantastic runner, I think he ran 100 yards in ten dead. He was a huge skier too and keen on sub acqua, he was outstanding at so many sports.
“I remember him as amiable but with a gruff sounding voice and as an impressive, big bloke. He had real presence and commanded a room even late in his life. He was always regarded as a brilliant captain from the days he captained Cambridge and the RAF after World War I.
“Of course, he went on to captain England with great distinction and was leading the team against the All Blacks when their player Cyril Brownlie was the first ever sending off at Twickenham. William Wavell Wakefield was certainly one of the greats of the game, the best forward of his generation and a fascinating character.”
