Jack Clowes
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31 July 1866
| Born | John William Preston Clowes 31 July 1866 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 10 March 1927 (aged 60) Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 11 st 7 lb (161 lb; 73 kg)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jack Clowes (31 July 1866 – 10 March 1927), was an American-born British rugby union footballer of the 1880s, who played in Yorkshire for Halifax, and was selected to play at a representative level for the British Isles on the 1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia, the first tour by a team representing the British Isles. Clowes is notable for having been prohibited from playing on that 1888 tour due to the Rugby Football Union deeming him a professional, and for the subsequent ramifications of his case contributing to the creation of the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895.
John William Preston Clowes was born on 31 July 1866 in Philadelphia, as a British subject, the eldest son of Stephen Clowes and Mary (nee Preston). His parents were both from Leicestershire – Shearsby and Kilby respectively – and, after marrying in 1865, left for the United States of America, arriving in New York on 6 November 1865.[2] John was born the next year in Philadelphia. By 1871, John had moved to England and was living in Shearsby with his paternal grandparents.[3] By 1881 John was resident with his maternal grandparents in Kilby.[4] His mother, having returned from the United States, remarried to William Jayes and moved to Halifax in Yorkshire where John later joined her. He became a factory worked and a mechanic.
Domestic career
Jack Clowes began playing rugby football at the age of 16, joining the Halifax Free Wanderers, at the time a very good junior team. After playing two seasons with the Wanderers he joined the Halifax Club in 1884. He was a member of the team that won the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1886 and hardly missed a game for the club for the next two years. In 1888 he was selected to play for Yorkshire County, making his début against Somerset. Playing as a forward, he was very fast, an expert dribbler and a good tackler. He was considered to be one of the best rising players in the North of England in 1888, and was the leading scorer for Halifax in that season, leading to his selection for the British team's tour to New Zealand and Australia.[1]