The sacrifices made by past and present players of Tynedale RFC in the First World War represented a massive toll on a small rugby club, with 49 who volunteered being killed.
For larger clubs it was worse. Richmond RFC’s Roll of Honours board shows the names of 59 killed and 108 Rosslyn Park players died.
Tynedale’s death toll included a number of the club’s finest players – as well as that of “Sammy” the half-bred Border terrier who had become the mascot of the 1914 Northumberland cup-winning team and had gone off to war with them.
Of the fifteen players in that Tynedale team which had won the Northumberland Senior Cup in 1914, five did not survive the war – W. Braidford, P.Braidford, F. Nevison, G. Potts and G.P. Walton.
The gallantry of those Tynedale men who served had been rewarded by no fewer than thirty-five medals, include five DSO’s, fourteen Military Crosses, two DCM’s and, not least, the Croix de Guerre, Croix de Chevalier and Medaille Militaire awarded to Tynedale men as battle honours by the French.

TYNEDALE'S INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS

WILLIAM MOORE BELL NANSON
William Nanson was born in Carlisle on the 12th. December 1880. He was one of seven children of Charles Nanson and his wife Elizabeth. His father was a slater and slate merchant and, after attending the local Lowther Street School, William followed in his footsteps.

At the time of the Boer War he joined the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Border Regiment and served in South Africa, being awarded the Queen's Medal with three clasps, and the King's Medal with two clasps. He was invalided home. He married Margaret McEwan in Carlisle in 1905, and they had two children, Marjorie and Charles.
In that era rugby union in Cumberland had suffered following the split that eventually became today's rugby league. Nanson however kept faith with his union club at Carlisle and, in 1907, gained his two England caps. He scored a try in the convincing win over France at Richmond, but after a 22-0 defeat by Wales in Swansea the following week was not selected again. The next season Bill played for Tynedale.

By 1908 he had moved 100 miles south to Oldham and switched codes to rugby league. In his first year with Oldham he played 28 times, and also represented Cumberland RL in a pioneering match against an Australian touring side. These were successful days for Oldham, but for Nanson the only honour was as part of the team that finished runners-up to Wigan in the Lancashire Cup.

In the following season, now aged 30, Nanson was injured and missed out on further chances to shine with Oldham. His career ended playing the League code for both Coventry and Todmorden before retiring to his slating. When war came he quickly volunteered, this time with the Manchester Regiment. After training he left with the 10th Battalion for Egypt in September 1914 as a Sergeant, and took part the following February in the defence of the Suez Canal against Turkish attack.

In May they moved Gallipoli and in early June, as part of the 42nd Division, took part in the action to capture the dominating heights around the village of Krithia. Although this was judged to be one of the more successful actions of the campaign in Gallipoli, it did not prevent heavy losses. William died on 4th June 1915. It was 13 months before William Nanson was officially declared dead. Sergeant WILLIAM MOORE BELL NANSON has no known resting place. He is remembered on grave panel 158-170 of the Helles Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and on the civic war memorial in Oldham.

NOEL FORBES HUMPHREYS
Noel Forbes Humphreys was born on the 15th December 1890 in Llangan Rectory, Bridgend, Wales. He was the son of Henry James Humphreys and Sydney (née Williams) and one of at least six children. His family moved from Wales to northern England as his father's profession within the Church dictated. By the time Humphreys began playing rugby at club level the family had passed through Cheshire and had settled at Thornley Vicarage, Tow Law, Co. Durham. He attended St Chad's College, Denstone and went on to Durham School.

Humphreys played for Tynedale R.F.C. in what has been termed their Golden Years. During the decade up to the outbreak of the First World War Tynedale won no fewer than 15 trophies, including the Senior Cup on three occasions and the Senior Shield four times in a row between 1909 and 1912. It was a run of success which, during this period, saw a score of Tynedale players being honoured by selection for their respective counties. Humphreys was part of the side in that period, playing in the stand-off (or fly-half) position.

It was during this period that Humphreys was selected for the 1910 British tour to South Africa, the first official tour of the British Isles team (in that it was sanctioned and selected by the four Home Nations official governing bodies). Despite playing for the British team, he was never selected for his national side.

Humphreys fought in the First World War as a captain in the Tank Corps (10th Battalion). He was Mentioned in Despatches and was also awarded the Military Cross. He was killed in action on 27 March 1918 and is commemorated at Etaples Military Cemetery.

HOW THE CLUB HONOURED THE FALLEN

The Club itself honoured the Fallen in fitting style. Not only did it endow a cot at Hexham War Memorial Hospital but, in January 1921, it opened a new pavilion at the north end of its Dene Park ground as a memorial to those who had lost their lives. Consisting of a former Army hut, it had been bought out of the proceeds of a subscription list launched the preceding year and erected by voluntary labour.
At the opening ceremony, performed by the president of the Northumberland Rugby Football Unio, Mr Harry Welford, a brass tablet bearing the names of the forty-nine men who had given their lives in the war, presented by the club president, Mr George Gibson, was dedicated by the Rector of Hexham, the Rev. J V C Farquhar.
The ceremony was followed by a match against Mr. Reuben Hodgson’s XV in aid of the War Memorial Hospital and, in the evening, by a dinner attended by at least one representative from the team of every year since the club’s inception in 1876.

In all twenty-seven Tynedale players, past and present, lost their lives during World War II, among them great names like Bland, Forster, Hodgson and Liddle.
On Easter Monday, 1949, a memorial plaque was unveiled in the pavilion by the county president, Mr Ben Plummer – yet another former Tynedale captain, and dedicated by the Rector of Hexham, the Rev. A G Hardie.
Also, as a memorial to those who had fallen, the Broad Close field adjoining the first team Dene Park pitch at Hexham was purchased. A fund for the purpose had been started while the war was still in progress, and the purchase was finally completed in 1948.

Both plaques mentioned above are now proudly on display in the entrance foyer at the Tynedale Park clubhouse.