Edwin Mayfiled was an English

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...

 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 Cambridge University

Cambridge University R.U.F.C.

The Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club, or CURUFC, is the rugby union club of Cambridge University, and plays Oxford University in the annual Varsity Match at Twickenham stadium every December. CURUFC players wear light blue and white hooped jerseys with a red lion crest...

 and was a member of the first official British Isles

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

 tour in 1891. Mayfield was a solicitor by education and professional soldier.

Personal life

Mayfield was born in Brantingham

Brantingham

Brantingham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about north of Brough, and west of Kingston upon Hull. It lies to the north of the A63 road...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 in 1870 to Joseph Robinson Mayfield, a paper manufacturer from Hemel Hemstead. Mayfield was educated at several schools, including Lockers Park School

Lockers Park School

Lockers Park School is a day and boarding preparatory school for 140 boys, situated in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Each year it sends boys to the main public schools in the UK, including Harrow, Eton, Radley, Bradfield and Rugby. Its current headmaster is David Farquharson.-History:Lockers Park...

 and The Leys School

The Leys School

The Leys School is a co-educational Independent school, located in Cambridge, England, and is a day and boarding school for about 550 pupils aged between 11 and 18 years...

, before gaining entry into Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...

 in 1888. He graduated in 1891 and was called to The Bar, through the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1898.

By 1900, Mayfield had joined the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and was a Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 in the Sussex Artilley. Mayfield served his country during the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, reaching the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 and served in the RAF.

Rugby career

Mayfield first came to note as a rugby player, when he represented Cambridge during his student years. In 1891 he won a sporting 'Blue' when he represented Cambridge in the 1891 Varsity Match

The Varsity Match

The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. By tradition, the match is held on the second Tuesday of December. In 2005, however, this changed, and the match was on Tuesday 6 December. In 2007, it was held on a Thursday for...

. In 1891 Mayfield was selected to take part in the first official British Isles tour when he joined Bill Maclagan

Bill Maclagan

William Edward "Bill" Maclagan was a Scottish international rugby union forward who played club rugby for London Scottish F.C....

's team on their tour of South Africa

1891 British Lions tour to South Africa

The 1891 British Isles tour to South Africa was the first British Isles rugby union tour of South Africa and only the second overseas tour conducted by a joint British team. Between 9 July and 7 September, the team played 20 games, including three tests against the South Africa national rugby union...

. Mayfield was not part of the First Test at Port Elizabeth, but played in both the Second Test at Kimberley and the Third Test in Cape Town; both wins over the South African national team

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

.