GIVEN that the ethos of Stowe and its founding father JF Roxborough was to encourage individuality and excellence and to downgrade the old, regimented discipline of traditional public schools it’s hardly surprising that some of their rugby alumni have been extremely bright sparks in other fields.
David Niven – to find fame and fortune as both a Hollywood actor and bestselling author – was one of the first pupils to be enrolled mainly on account of his lively disciplinary record making him persona non grata at other establishments.
Niven was the school’s opening bowler and also became a stalwart of the Second XV pack and unquestionably also played for the First XV although it’s open to doubt if he was a regular as he claims in his autobiography The Moon’s a Balloon.
Niven famously gilded the lily a little with his life story but the school magazine for 1928 is missing – the year he is most likely to have been a First XV regular – and the fact is that within months of leaving Stowe he was playing, and indeed starring, for the Sandhurst First XV which boasted a strong fixture list at the time.
Another of the early pupils was Andrew Croft, a fine First XV centre and another lively character. A restless soul he left school to embark on a series of remarkable self-supporting sledge journeys across Greenland and the Arctic icecap which until recently saw him retain a place in the Guinness book of records. Come World War 2 he was also a leading figure in SOE, the clandestine group charged with setting occupied Europe and later south east Asia alight with their ruses and sabotage.
A particular mate of Niven’s was Stowe’s most illustrious rugby product, scrum-half Bernard Gadney, the man who captained England to victory over the 1936 All Blacks. Gadney was the standout sportsman in all disciplines at Stowe and as a rugby player was slightly unusual for the times in that at 6ft 2ins and 14 stone he was as big if not bigger than most of his forwards.
He went on to win 14 England caps, skippering the side on eight occasions, and also led a Lions squad to South America in 1936. He retired to concentrate on teaching in the Roxborough style helping found an innovative prep school in North Yorkshire – Malsis – which as you might expect soon forged a reputation in rugby and cricket.
The 1930s were also a golden era for big Stowe characters and rugby players with Percy Belgrave Lucas leading the charge for three years in the First XV as an outstanding outside back tipped for the very top.
Lucas, whose father founded the Princes Golf club at Sandwich, was, however, a singular individual with many interests, not least cricket and golf. At the latter he played for England Schools three years in a row and won the British Boys title at Carnoustie, and in 1935 finished as the top amateur in the British Open. At the age of 19 he was touted as the best left hander in the world.
He also wanted to become a sports journalist and was working for the Express covering all sorts when World War 2 was declared, and he joined the RAF. A stellar career as a fighter pilot followed and by the end of hostilities Laddie Lucas DFC, DSO was a national figure. On one occasion, having been shot over the Channel he crash landed on the third at Princes where a memorial plaque and propeller commemorates the occasion.
The maverick personalities keep coming. A key man in the 1941 side was their tigerish hooker Jack Hayward, later to become Sir Jack Hayward, one of the wealthiest businessmen in Britain, owner and sugar daddy for Wolverhampton Wanderers and a supporter of just about every British sporting endeavor imaginable before Lottery funding.
Another was Ricky Bartlett who was a standout player during the otherwise non vintage 1945-47 era. Bartlett’s individual brilliance generally managed to keep Stowe heads above water but because of the school’s average playing record he somehow struggled to attract the attention he deserved.
Eventually he found himself at Harlequins where he forged a reputation as both a hard as nails defender and mercurial play maker at ten or occasionally 12. During this period Quins used to regularly play Cardiff and Cliff Morgan consistently rated him as the best English outside back he had ever played against.
Still no England recognition though until 1957, at the age of 29, when he finally got the nod. Bartlett was ever present at halfback with Dickie Jeeps in that Grand Slam-winning team and played in three more Tests in the 1958 Championship, the last being a draw against Scotland after which he fell out of favour again. He was undefeated in seven games for England and in his short Test career can look back on a Slam and another Championship to boot. Selectors eh?
More recently the First XV of 1977 was considered among the best and enterprising full-back Henry Worsley had been appointed as captain for the following season when great things were expected. Worsley, who had captained the cricket XI, got injured right at the start of the season and missed the entire programme and if the name sounds familiar, Worsley became another of Stowe’s great explorers.
If the Arctic was where Croft roamed, Worsley, the ex SAS officer, turned his attention to the Antarctic where he recreated the epic historic journeys of Scott, Amundson and Shackleton. It was while trying to cross the Antarctic unassisted, as was Shackleton’s intention on his 1914 expedition, that Worsey fell ill just 40 miles short of his target and died after being evacuated to a hospital in Chile. Both he and Croft were awarded the Poa medal.
During the 1980s, Superman Henry Cavill continued the rugby playing tradition of Stowe thespians. More recently the 2001-02 team was very successful, an unbeaten squad to pos- sibly match the class of 1938, see side panel. They began their triumphant season with a memorable tour of South Africa and during the season scarcely encountered a school to challenge them.
Most recently there has been another mini golden era with the highlights being a Rosslyn Park Festival title in 2015 when they defeated Tonbridge 15-13 in an outstanding final while 12 months later they were again lifting silverware when they defeated Barnard Castle 24-12 in the U18 Plate competition.
A fine crop of players emerged from that era. Saracens wing Rotimi Segun used to play mainly at centre where he won England age group caps while skipper John Hawkins signed for Bristol and Charlton Kerr moved onto England Sevens. Devante Onojaife joined Saints and played for Scotland U20 while elder brother Jordan was also a Scotland U20 cap. Taju Atta played for England U17 before joining Wasps and Kristian Kay played age group rugby for Scotland before joining Glasgow.
