WINFIELD, HERBERT BENJAMIN (1879 - 1919), Wales and Cardiff Rugby full-back

Born 1879 at Leicester, he was brought to Cardiff as a boy by his parents, his father, Ben Winfield, being one of the pioneers of public laundries in South Wales. He was one of the best-known full-backs in the country and he played in that position in the memorable game between Wales and New Zealand on the Cardiff Arms Park in 1905. He played his first game for Wales against Ireland in 1903, and when he played his last game for Wales, against Australia, in 1909, he had been ' capped ' fifteen times. He also captained the Cardiff XV for some time. Winfield was also a first-class golfer, and played in the final of the Welsh Golfing Union Championship in 1912. When war broke out in 1914, Winfield was commissioned in the Cardiff City Battalion with which he went to France. He and Gwyn Nicholls were married to two sisters, and they both carried on an extensive laundry business in Cardiff and elsewhere. He died 21 September 1919 at Porthcawl in a motor-cycle accident.

Author

• Dr Moelwyn Idwal Williams

Sources

• W. J. T. Collins, Rugby Recollections (1948), 122
• Western Mail, The Times, and South Wales News, 22 September 1919

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733167

Published date: 1959

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