War Letters of a Public-School BoyJones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
History
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
It was at a meeting of the Field Sports Board on July 28, 1914, that
Paul Jones was elected captain of the 1st XV, being proposed by A. W.
Fischer and seconded by A. E. R. Gilligan. At the same meeting R. B.
B. Jones was elected captain of the gymnasium. Fischer, Basil Jones
and my son have been killed in the War. In a report of a meeting of
the Field Sports Board held on September 29 appears the following: "H.
P. M. Jones then submitted a code of rules to regulate the management
of the school games. These were unanimously approved." In a survey of
the prospects of the 1914-15 football season which appeared in the
October _Alleynian_, Paul paid tribute to the magnificent work done
for football in Dulwich by one of the masters, Mr. W. D. Gibbon, an
old International, who joined the Army shortly after the outbreak of
war and is now Lieutenant-Colonel. Paul wrote:
The loss of Mr. Gibbon is a staggering-blow. He it is who, more
than anyone, has given us the very high place we hold among
Rugby-playing schools. To lose his services is disastrous. Still,
it would be shameful to grouse over his departure considering
that he goes to serve his country. Rather let us congratulate him
on his captaincy in the Worcestershires.
A reformer by temperament, my son was determined to improve the
forward play during his captaincy, as he believed that not enough
attention had been given to the forwards for several seasons at
Dulwich. It was inevitable that the War would derange the football
programme, but though there would be few club matches, the new captain
thought that the "school games" might benefit from this very lack.
Anyhow it was "a unique chance to build them up on a sound basis." He
believed in doing everything to encourage in-school football, meaning
by that the half-holiday games, the side-matches, cup matches, and
such games as Prefects v. School, Boarders v. School, the House
matches, etc. He realised that the first three XV's only include 45
boys, and that there were 600 others whose claims to consideration
were equally great. Moreover, good in-school football would produce a
succession of players for the first XV. Having all this in mind, in
his article in _The Alleynian_ he exhorted the game captains to instil
"a general keenness" and to do their duty unselfishly and
enthusiastically. His survey then proceeds:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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