| Birth name | James Alfred Bevan[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1858-04-15)15 April 1858 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | St Kilda, Victoria, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 3 February 1938(1938-02-03) (aged 79) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Leytonstone,London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Hereford Cathedral School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | St John's College, Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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James Alfred Bevan (15 April 1858 – 3 February 1938) was aWales internationalrugby union three-quarter who played club rugby forClifton RFC andNewport. He is best known for being the first Welsh international captain, whilst at Cambridge University.
Bevan was born inSt Kilda, Victoria, Australia, the son of Elizabeth (née Fly) and James Bevan. James was fromGrosmont, Monmouthshire, Wales, and came to Melbourne, Victoria in 1848.[3] Elizabeth Fly arrived with her parents and 3 brothers John, William and Charles in 1853 on board the Recruit.[4] James Snr met 17 year old Elizabeth in Bendigo, Victoria and married soon after. He was a childhood friend ofAlfred Deakin, the secondPrime Minister of Australia; their fathers were partners in acoaching business.[5] On 11 January 1866, Bevan's parents died when theSS London sank in a gale in theBay of Biscay.
He was sent back to Wales after being orphaned to live with paternal relatives. He attendedHereford Cathedral School.[6]
Bevan played forAbergavenny[6] before attending university atSt John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1881.[7] Bevan played forCambridge University R.U.F.C., was awarded twoBlues for rugby (in 1877 and 1880)[7] and while with Cambridge was selected to captain thefirst Welsh international, against England.
TheRugby Football Union insisted that the England vs Wales match be played on 19 February 1881. This was the same day thatSwansea were playingLlanelli at Neath in a semi-final cup-tie thus depriving Wales of several players. This was Wales's first international, organised before theWelsh Rugby Union was set up. The players had never played together before, though one player, MajorRichard Summers, was selected for Wales on his performances a couple of years earlier for his school,Cheltenham College, in matches against Cardiff and Newport. No formal invitations to play were sent out to the Welsh XV. Two of those expected to appear did not turn up, so bystanders, university undergraduates with tenuous Welsh links who had travelled to London to see the match, were called in to play for Wales.
It was a humiliating defeat for the Welsh team and Bevan never played for Wales again (under modern scoring values Wales lost 82–0). A month after the match the WRFU was founded at the Castle Hotel,Neath on 12 March 1881.
TheJames Bevan Trophy was named in his honour to celebrate 100 years of Test Rugby.
Wales[8]
England 1881Bevan later became an Anglican clergyman.[7] He was ordained deacon in 1888 and priest in 1889.[7] He served his title first atChrist Church, Hampstead (1888-1892) and secondly atTrinity Church, Hampstead (1892-1899). From 1899 to 1936 he wasvicar at St George's Church inGreat Yarmouth (nowSt George's Theatre).[9] In addition, he was Vicar of St Margaret's,Herringfleet from 1906 to 1908.
He married Annie Susan Woodall in 1882. One of their sons wasKenneth Bevan, who also became a clergyman, and went on to become a missionary bishop in China. Bevan died in 1938, aged 79, at the vicarage of St Paul's,Leytonstone, where another son, Ernest, was the incumbent.[7] He is buried inHampstead Cemetery.