St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future

Item

OT189

Object ID

OT189

Type

Photograph album

Rights Holder

CIC

Provenance

Brigadier Jonny Walker OBE, DL, OStJ

Season

1949-1959

Description

Hidebound photographic album depicting matches of Ranji Walker's XV rugby team 1949-58. Handwritten and typed notes within. Also some match programmes. Dimensions: w17 3/4" x h13 1/4" (w45.5cm x h33.6cm).

Info

This unique piece of rugby history was compiled by Group Captain Sydney George "Ranji" Walker CB, OBE. It consists of a large photograph album of 30 pages (60 sides) and several other attachments and letters. The album describes the career of Ranji Walker's XV or rugby team, which was originated at St Helen's ground, Swansea on 8th October 1949. Walker and Swansea RFC Hon. Secretary Cliff Prosser were good friends and when Prosser asked walker to raise a team of high profile players to play against Swansea to celebrate the club's 75th anniversary as a rugby club, Ranji Walker did so and so the first match was played at St Helen's. Such was the popularity of the select XV, containing as it did an adventurous collection of players, that Walker decided to embark on an annual tour. This soon incorporated Harrogate RFC, Irish clubs Dolphin, Wanderers and Galwegians. Soon enough Walker's XV were playing Llanelli, Cardiff and Newport in South Wales. It was considered a great honour to be selected by Ranji Walker for his tours and many internationals and future internationals wore the maroon jersey with the 'swan' badge - a nod to the place of origin of the team - of Ranji Walker's XV. The tours gathered momentum and were keenly looked forward to. The ethos was similar to that of the Barbarians, to play good, open rugby and make friends. The motto at the beginning of the book says: NIL PERDENDUM NISI AMICITIA (Nothing shall be lost but friendship). The meaning is that friendship is the most valuable thing one possesses and all else can be lost. The tours finished abruptly in 1959. It is not known the exact reason, whether as mundane as work pressures or the difficulty of organising the extensive tour arrangements year after year. Ranji Walker died in 1975 aged 63. His son Brigadier Jonny Walker OBE, DL, OStJ visited St Helen's in November 2005 to watch a match for the first time there for many years, and also to bring this wonderful record of the travels of his father and friends over a decade of rugby adventures. It was donated to the club archive. The album contains detailed information about most of the players who captained Walker's XV as well as details of all players who appeared in the colours. Most matches contain a photograph of the team and there are portraits of some players and several match programmes. Taken altogether, it is a unique record of a popular touring side from the immediate post-war era. Many well-known names appear in the pictures. The photograph album has been scanned now for everyone to enjoy, the original lying safely in the St Helen's Archive.