Albert Jenkin
Encyclopedia
Albert Mortimer Jenkin was an English
-born rugby union
forward who played club rugby for Swansea
, county rugby for Glamorgan and international rugby for Wales
.
, Hampshire
in 1872 to the Rev. Albert Jenkin and Elizabeth Seager. Jenkin was educated at Llandovery College
before gaining entry to St John's College, Cambridge
in 1892. In 1902 he was ordained a deacon at Llandaff Cathedral
and the next year he was ordained as an Anglican
priest. In 1903 he took a position at St Martin's Church in Roath
, Cardiff
, but in 1905 he left the position when he joined the Universities' Mission to Central Africa taking a missionary role in Mponda, Nyasaland
. He stayed at Mponda until 1911, then joined missions at Zomba and Blantyre
until 1916. After the outbreak of World War I he served as an Army chaplain
in East Africa, before settling for some time in South Africa, where he became an Archdeacon
in Pretoria
. He eventually returned to Britain and died in Bromley
in 1961.
. Jenkin was brought into the pack for the last game of the tournament against Ireland, and was one of two new Welsh caps on the day, with Llanelli's
David Morgan
chosen for the first time at half-back. Under the captaincy of Welsh rugby legend Arthur 'Monkey' Gould, Wales were looking at the unwanted title of Wooden spoon
after losing their first two games of the Championship to England and Scotland. Played at the Cardiff Arms Park
, Wales won by a narrow margin thanks to a converted try from Tom Pearson
.
At the start of the 1895/96 season, Jenkin was awarded the captaincy of the Swansea senior team, but was forced to give it up in November due to 'professional duties', and Billy Bancroft
took over his duties. Nonetheless Jenkin was reselected two months later for the opening game of the 1896 Championship
. The pack was almost identical to the previous match, with the only change seeing Treorchy's
Sam Ramsey
replacing the experienced but aging Jim Hannan
. The game was a disaster for the Welsh team, with England winning the match 25-0, scoring seven tries
without reply. This caused the Welsh selectors to rethink their team strategy; and the next match saw six of the eight forwards replaced; five of them new caps. Jenkin was one of those replaced and never played for Wales again.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
forward who played club rugby for Swansea
Swansea RFC
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...
, county rugby for Glamorgan and international rugby for Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
.
Personal life
Jenkin was born in IbsleyIbsley
Ibsley is a village in Hampshire, England. It is about 2.5 miles north of the town of Ringwood.-Overview:The village of Ibsley lies to the east of the River Avon on the main road between Ringwood and Fordingbridge, and has some picturesque thatched cottages...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
in 1872 to the Rev. Albert Jenkin and Elizabeth Seager. Jenkin was educated at Llandovery College
Llandovery College
Llandovery College is an independent school in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was founded and endowed by Thomas Phillips in 1847 to provide a classical and liberal education in which the Welsh language; the study of Welsh literature and history were also to be cultivated.Llandovery...
before gaining entry to St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
in 1892. In 1902 he was ordained a deacon at Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is situated in the district of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The current building was constructed in the 12th century over the site of an earlier church...
and the next year he was ordained as an Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
priest. In 1903 he took a position at St Martin's Church in Roath
Roath
Roath is a district in the east/north-east of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales.It lies just east/north east of the city centre, stretching from Adamsdown in the south to Roath Park in the north. Roath contains the Plasnewydd electoral ward. The name is believed to originate from Irish ráth,...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, but in 1905 he left the position when he joined the Universities' Mission to Central Africa taking a missionary role in Mponda, Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
. He stayed at Mponda until 1911, then joined missions at Zomba and Blantyre
Blantyre, Malawi
Blantyre or Mandala is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, the largest city with an estimated 732,518 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe...
until 1916. After the outbreak of World War I he served as an Army chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
in East Africa, before settling for some time in South Africa, where he became an Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
. He eventually returned to Britain and died in Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
in 1961.
Rugby career
Jenkin first joined first class Welsh team Swansea in 1893, and in the winter of the 1895 season he was selected to represent Wales as part of the Home Nations Championship1895 Home Nations Championship
The 1895 Home Nations Championship was the thirteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 16 March...
. Jenkin was brought into the pack for the last game of the tournament against Ireland, and was one of two new Welsh caps on the day, with Llanelli's
Llanelli RFC
Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...
David Morgan
David Morgan (rugby player)
David "Dai" Morgan was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Llanelli and was capped twice for Wales.-Rugby career:...
chosen for the first time at half-back. Under the captaincy of Welsh rugby legend Arthur 'Monkey' Gould, Wales were looking at the unwanted title of Wooden spoon
Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
after losing their first two games of the Championship to England and Scotland. Played at the Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
, Wales won by a narrow margin thanks to a converted try from Tom Pearson
Tom Pearson
Thomas Pearson was an English footballer who played at inside-left.- Career :Pearson was born in West Bromwich. He turned professional with West Bromwich Albion in April 1886 and made his debut in February 1887 against Notts County in the sixth round of the FA Cup...
.
At the start of the 1895/96 season, Jenkin was awarded the captaincy of the Swansea senior team, but was forced to give it up in November due to 'professional duties', and Billy Bancroft
Billy Bancroft
Billy Bancroft was a Welsh international fullback who played club rugby for Swansea and a county cricketer for Glamorgan, becoming their first professional player in 1895....
took over his duties. Nonetheless Jenkin was reselected two months later for the opening game of the 1896 Championship
1896 Home Nations Championship
The 1896 Home Nations Championship was the fourteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 4 January and 14 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.-Table:-Results:...
. The pack was almost identical to the previous match, with the only change seeing Treorchy's
Treorchy RFC
Treorchy Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley, Wales. They formed in 1886 and by 1891 were a strong voice in the Welsh Football Union and were playing in the Rhondda Division...
Sam Ramsey
Sam Ramsey
Samuel "Sam" Ramsey was a Scottish-born rugby union forward who played club rugby for Treorchy and international rugby for Wales...
replacing the experienced but aging Jim Hannan
Jim Hannan (rugby player)
Jim Hannan was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Newport. A strong tactical forward his scrummaging work was excellent and could pivot the whole scrum around him....
. The game was a disaster for the Welsh team, with England winning the match 25-0, scoring seven tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
without reply. This caused the Welsh selectors to rethink their team strategy; and the next match saw six of the eight forwards replaced; five of them new caps. Jenkin was one of those replaced and never played for Wales again.
International matches played
Wales 1896- IrelandIreland national rugby union teamThe Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
1895
External links
- Swansea Rugby Football Club Player profile of Albert Jenkin