WILLIAMS
,
JOHN LEWIS
(
1882
-
1916
),
Wales and Cardiff Rugby wing three-quarter, and coal exporter (Greenslade and Williams)
;
b.
3 Jan. 1882
, the son of
Edward
Williams
,
Llwyncelyn
,
Whitchurch
,
Cardiff
. He was one of the principals in the firm of
Messrs. Greenslade and Williams
,
coal exporters
,
Cardiff Docks
. After
playing rugby
for
Whitchurch
he joined the
Cardiff club
and played his first game for them in
1903
. In
1909-10
he
captained
the
Cardiff XV
. He played for
Wales
seventeen times
between 1906 and 1911
, in which year he retired. He was a member of the
British team
that toured
New Zealand
and
Australia
in
1908
and wrote to the
South Wales Daily News
and
South Wales Echo
a series of articles describing incidents on that tour. In the
first World War
he went to
France
with a service battalion of the
Welch Regiment
and held the rank of
captain
. He d.
12 July 1916
from
wounds received in action
.
Bibliography:
-
W. J. T. Collins
,
Rugby Recollections
, 1948
, 117;
-
South Wales Daily News
,
14 July 1916
;
-
Western Mail
,
14 July 1916
;
-
The Times
,
14 July 1916.
Author:
Dr Moelwyn Idwal Williams, M.A., Aberystwyth
