William Millton was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 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...

 player who played for the All Blacks

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

. He captained The All Blacks in a tour to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1884. He played his rugby in Canterbury and also represented Canterbury in cricket.

Early life

William Millton was born in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 in 1858, he attended Christ's College where he made the school first XV. Millton then went on to play rugby for the Canterbury Clubs side. He played for Canterbury Clubs until they formed Canterbury which took over in 1879.

All Blacks

Millton had been playing rugby in Canterbury since 1876 so when a tour to Australia was suggested it was hardly surprising to see his name listed in the team. Millton had been chosen as captain for the tour, as he had captained the Canterbury side since 1878. Millton had many strong games throughout the tour and managed to score 35 points in total. The first coming in their second against Cumberland County, scoring three conversions in the teams 33-0 win. In their next game against N.S.W. he was awarded another conversion. So far Millton had only scored off conversions but in the seventh match of the tour he scored three tries and two conversions, scoring twelve of the teams 23 points in a 23-10 win over Wallaroo and University. In his final match he scored another try and conversion against N.S.W. ending the tour with four tries and nine conversions.

After Rugby

Millton retired from rugby at the end of 1884 and a year later Millton married Miss Anderson. But two years after marrying he died of typhoid aged 29 in Christchurch.