Arthur James Dingle

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Arthur James Dingle
Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli, Turkey
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Weight160 lb (73 kg)
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Centre, wing
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
  • 1911–1912
  • 1913–1914
  • 1915
  • 1
  • ?
  • 1
  • (3)
  • (117)
  • (3)
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1913–1914
County Durham
 7 (48)
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1913–1914  England 3 (0)
----
Military career
Allegiance 
Suvla Bay Landing
  • Battle of Scimitar Hill  †
    • MemorialsHelles Memorial (panels 51–54)

    Arthur "Mud" James Dingle (16 October 1891 – 22 August 1915) was a

    England, and played for County Durham, Hartlepool Rovers and Oxford University
    .

    He was born and raised in

    Ireland, although he had not been picked for Oxford that year. After graduating, he returned to Durham School as a master. He played for Hartlepool Rovers, scoring 55 tries in the 1913–14 season, as well as four hat-tricks for County Durham, helping them reach the County Championship
    finals. He was picked for England against Scotland and France in the last international matches before the outbreak of the First World War.

    Dingle, who had been a member of the Oxford

    Gallipoli Campaign on 6 August 1915. His battalion took Scimitar Hill on 9 August, with great loss of life, only to be forced to make a tactical withdrawal. On 21 August, the Battle of Scimitar Hill ensued, a disaster for Britain and her allies: Dingle was killed the following day, defending a trench that had earlier been captured. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial
    to the missing dead.

    Early life

    Arthur Dingle was born on 16 October 1891 at

    Bow School, Durham and then Durham School, where he was head of school, and displayed an aptitude for cricket, gymnastics, rowing and rugby. He then went up to Keble College, Oxford in 1910,[3][4][5][2][6] where he read theology in anticipation of being ordained.[1]

    Rugby career

    At Oxford, Dingle played for his college, Keble, and captained the team in his final year.

    Ronnie Poulton, however, Oxford won a decisive victory, leading 11–0 already at half time.[8] In the second half, a further two tries — one from Dingle, which Poulton described as "magnificent"[9] — sealed the victory, 19–0.[10]

    The following season, on 6 November 1912, Oxford hosted the

    South African team touring the United Kingdom and France. Dingle played at centre. It was a close contest, with South Africa coming through to win 6–0. After the Springboks' convincing victory over Cambridge a little later, Oxford were favourites to win the Varsity Match and to add to their winning series. Dingle was unable to play due to injury, missing a game that went against the odds.[11]

    Dingle got his first call up to the

    The Aberdeen Journal described him as 'fair', amongst a backline that was 'lacking in finishing power', with Poulton, 'poor'. England gained an 'easy' victory 15–4 but failed to turn their opportunities into points.[13] Dingle was not picked for the next match, against Scotland on 15 March.[14]

    1913–14 season

    After he graduated, Dingle played for

    Durham, and had a significant part in helping the team reach the finals of the County Championship Tournament, scoring in each of the seven matches. In total, he scored 55 tries in the season, 39 for Hartlepool and a further 16 for Durham.[2][1]

    Early in the season, England played The South at Twickenham, winning 21–12, with outstanding performances from Dingle, as well as Johnson and Poulton.

    knocked-on a pass from Poulton. Yet he had a positive impact in other parts of the game.[19] It was England's last international test on British soil before the First World War: 11 of the 30 players went on to be killed in it, including the Scotsman William Middleton Wallace,[20] who died the same day as Dingle.[21]

    England XV v France, 13 April 1914, Colombes, France

    Dingle was kept on for the final match of the tournament against France.[3][22] England overwhelmed France in a 13–39 defeat, in which the French crowd's behaviour towards the visiting team was 'disorderly'. The Times was once again critical of Dingle's performance: 'AJ Dingle was the weakest of the four [threequarters]. He failed to take the passes and was very slow getting into his stride.'[1]

    With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, competitive rugby matches were suspended. Despite this, Edgar Mobbs, the captain of the Barbarians invitation side, organised a match against the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) on 10 April 1915. The Barbarians team on that day was made up of military personnel, including Dingle, who contributed a try towards a 10–3 victory.[23] Of Dingle's team-mates on that day, both Mobbs and another England international Billy Geen, would also die in action during the war.[24]

    International appearances

    Opposition Score Result Date Venue Ref(s)
     Ireland 4–15 Won 8 February 1913 Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland [25]
     Scotland 15–16 Won 21 March 1914 Inverleith, Scotland [26]
     France 13–39 Won 13 April 1914 Colombes, France [27]

    Military service

    The Helles Memorial to the missing dead, where Capt Arthur Dingle is commemorated.

    Since Dingle was a school master, he was exempt from military service, but having been a member of the Oxford University

    Officers Training Corps (OTC), and having set up the OTC at Durham School, he sought permission to enlist from the headmaster, Canon Budworth.[1] He was commissioned on 29 August 1914 temporary second lieutenant into the 6th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.[6][28] He was promoted to temporary lieutenant on 8 December.[29]

    Dingle's regiment was sent to

    Suvla Bay landings on 6 August 1915. His battalion soon took the small hill at Lala Baba, with the loss of many lives. Three days later, with Dingle made temporary captain,[30] his battalion captured Scimitar Hill, once again with great loss of life, but then made a tactical withdrawal. On 21 August, with Dingle as acting commanding officer of the 150 men of B Company,[1] the battalion was involved in the Battle of Scimitar Hill, a major assault to recapture the hill, which ended in disaster.[31] Dingle was shot through the temple and killed at dawn on 22 August 1915, while defending a captured trench "against overwhelming odds".[2][3] It was not possible to recover his body.[4] Of his England team-mates who played Scotland in the final Calcutta Cup match in 1914 before the start of the war, three had already died: Bungy Watson, Francis Oakeley, and Ronald Poulton.[32]

    The Ballad of Suvla Bay by John Still, has these lines about Dingle:[3]

    • Broad and simple and great of heart,
    • Strenuous of soul in a stalwart frame,
    • Whatever the work he took his part,
    • With energy strung from the very start
    • To learn the rules and play the game.


    • He'd played for an English side before,
    • And all unspoiled by the crowd's applause,
    • He took for his side their greeting roars.
    • And so, in the greater game of war,
    • He gave his life for his country's cause.

    He is commemorated on panels 51 to 54 of the Helles Memorial to the missing.[31] Other rugby internationals commemorated on the monument include the two Scotsmen William Campbell Church[33] and Eric Templeton Young,[34] and the Englishman William Nanson.[35] There are also memorials to him at Durham School, St Margaret's Church in Durham, Keble College, Richmond, Rosslyn Park, Hartlepool Rovers and Oxford rugby club.[4] There is also a tournament played amongst some of the first schools to adopt rugby, the Veterrimi IV, the winning team being awarded the AJ Dingle Cup.[36]

    See also

    • List of international rugby union players killed in action during the First World War

    References

    1. ^ a b c d e f g Cooper 2012.
    2. ^ a b c d Massue 2000, p. 100.
    3. ^ a b c d e f g Sewell 1919, p. 44.
    4. ^ a b c Hagger 2014.
    5. ^ a b c d McCrery 2014, p. 27.
    6. ^ a b c "Captain Arthur James Dingle (1910)". keble.ox.ac.uk. Keble College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
    7. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 196.
    8. ^ a b Corsan 2009, p. 197.
    9. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 199.
    10. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 198.
    11. ^ "In Memory Of Edward Fenwick Boyd". ourfc.org.[permanent dead link]
    12. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 232.
    13. ^ "England Superior, Good Win Over Ireland". Aberdeen Journal. 10 February 1913. p. 9. Retrieved 24 July 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    14. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – England v Scotland at Twickenham". ESPN scrum.
    15. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 255.
    16. ^ "The Last Trial – South Wales Weekly Post". William Llewellyn Williams. 10 January 1914. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
    17. ^ Corsan 2009, p. 268.
    18. ^ Collins 2009, pp. 47–48.
    19. ^ "Scotland beaten by a point". Aberdeen Journal. 23 March 1914. p. 9. Retrieved 24 July 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    20. ^ Corsan 2009, pp. 269–270.
    21. ^ Sewell 1919, p. 219.
    22. hdl:10107/4095971
      .
    23. ^ "Archive – Barbarian FC". barbarianfc.co.uk.
    24. ^ Brendan Gallagher (10 November 2008). "Sporting greats who graced playing field and World War One battlefield but were taken before their time: Sport – Telegraph". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
    25. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – Ireland v England at Lansdowne Road". ESPN scrum.
    26. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – Scotland v England at Inverleith". ESPN scrum.
    27. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – France v England at Colombes". ESPN scrum.
    28. ^ "No. 28881". The London Gazette. 28 August 1914. p. 6797.
    29. ^ "No. 29031". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 January 1915. p. 247.
    30. ^ "No. 29306". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1915. p. 9410.
    31. ^ a b McCrery 2014, p. 28.
    32. ^ "Another Rugby Cap Gone – South Wales Weekly Post". William Llewellyn Williams. 2 October 1915. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
    33. ^ Reading Room Manchester. "CWGC – Casualty Details William Campbell Church". cwgc.org.
    34. ^ Reading Room Manchester. "CWGC – Casualty Details Eric Templeton Young". cwgc.org.
    35. ^ Reading Room Manchester. "CWGC – Casualty Details William Nanson". cwgc.org.
    36. ^ "A J Dingle Cup returns to Durham School". durhamschool.co.uk.

    Bibliography

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