Remember Them - August 2002

Before dawn broke on August 13 1916, a 33 year-old Captain from the 12th Battalion South Wales Borderers was brought into No 1 Casualty Clearing station in France badly wounded. He has been carried back after taking part in a daring night raid on the German trenches, which had achieved its objective of taking prisoners. His last reported words were ‘Have they got the Hun?’, 'Yes', came the reply. ‘Well, I have done my bit.’ The Captain died the following day without leaving the Clearing Station.

This story sounds like a film script but it is not. This is the official record of the death of ‘Charlie’ Pritchard. For his part in the raid, he was Mentioned in Despatches. Some said he should have been awarded the DSO. His death was seen to epitomise the best sort of glorious sacrifice of young manhood in the Great War. The battalion war diary kept by the Adjutant, which rarely mentioned very personal details, recorded ‘The Battalion thus loses a very gallant Officer and a chivalrous, generous and large minded gentleman’. Three members of Captain Pritchard’s raiding party were later awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field.

The history of the 100 great Welsh Rugby Players describes Charlie Pritchard as follows: He was like a lion on the field. Off it, he was extremely gentle, tender and lovable. In his play he was an untiring worker with almost inexhaustible energy. Although not a specialist, he more often than not played in the back row of the scrum. He played with great fire and exuberance and was a very difficult player to stop. He had an excellent swerve in open play and always seemed to sustain a resolute forward momentum in the mauls and tight play. His passing was excellent while he could scrummage and dribble as well as any player. But his most important asset was his deadly tackling. George Travers said admiringly of his performance against the 1905 All Backs – ‘he sent ‘em down like nine pins.’

'Carbine' Wallace

Charlie Prichard played club rugby for Newport and later captained the club. He received 14 International Caps for Wales between 1904 and 1910, but it will be the match against the New Zealand All Blacks in 1905 that he will be best remembered. On a dull winter's day in December in front of a crowd of 40,000, Wales won by three points to nil and a controversial try in the second half by New Zealander Deans was disallowed. Charlie had been the pick of the Welsh forwards on that historic December day in Cardiff, covering ceaselessly and helping to ensure that Wales held on its slender three-point lead. ‘Carbine’ Wallace from Wellington was one All Black facing Charlie Pritchard in that 1905 match. Carbine was the utility back and another fine player to find himself in uniform some 10 years later during the Great War. He had gained his unusual nickname from early army service in South Africa with the New Zealand contingent during the Anglo-Boer war.

For further information on Welsh Rugby visit www.wru.co.uk and Newport Rugby www.newport-rfc.co.uk