giving him the same details he had received about Percy’s death.
As the war progressed, it became obvious that Basil Maclear’s leadership skills were needed on the battlefield rather than on the training ground. In February 1915 he left Sandhurst to become a captain in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, where he prepared for active service on the Western Front.
He arrived in Belgium in March, and was put in charge of the reserve company of the battalion, which was preparing the ground for what would become the Second Battle of Ypres. The fighting was intense, and within days Basil Maclear was at the front line, directing his men and leading attacks on enemy trenches. When a break came and he withdrew behind the lines for some rest, rugby was very often on his mind. In mid April he was in Nieppe, and was asked to referee a game between the 48th Division and the 4th Division. It was a fun occasion, and many of the players were household names from Scotland, Ireland and England. They included famous internationals like Ireland’s Billy Tyrell and England’s Ronald Poulton- Palmer, who would be killed shortly afterwards.
For Maclear, it must have been an enjoyable distraction to spend some time in the company of rugby men and forget about the trenches for an hour or two. Sadly, it was only a temporary respite.
Later that month, back in the front line, Maclear and his troops came under sustained heavy fire from the Germans over a four-day period. According to official reports, when the enemy attacked he showed ‘great coolness and knowledge’. For his bravery and leadership during that time he would later be Mentioned in Despatches, but Maclear would never hear about that recognition.
On 24 May 1915, in the early hours of the morning, he was with his battalion at Wieltje near Ypres when the Germans launched a gas attack and then opened fire on the British trenches. Maclear helped to organise the defence of the British positions, but the Germans were able to capture some of the British trenches very quickly, and the Dublins experienced heavy losses. It became clear that the British lines were going to be overrun if they did not get reinforcements. There was continued fighting at an area known as Mouse Trap Farm, which was held and then lost by the British. The situation reached crisis point, and Maclear sent a message back: ‘Very many of our men are surrounded, we must have reinforcements.’
One of his comrades got another message back to the headquarters of the battalion, which was just as dramatic. It read: ‘For God’s sake send us some help. We are nearly done.’ Another officer sent a note to the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Brigade, which had similar sentiments: ‘Reinforce or all is lost.’
As soon as the Germans advanced it became too late for reinforcements; they seized crucial ground and killed many within the ranks of the Dublin Fusiliers.As Maclear attempted to repel the attackers he led a bombing party and hurled hand grenades towards the advancing Germans. As he faced the enemy he was heard to shout, ‘Come on! Do you want some more?’ He was then shot in the throat and fell down. One fellow soldier, Gerald Tarleton, recalled: ‘I saw Basil shot in the throat or near there and instantly topple over to the ground where he bled profusely’.
Another of Maclear’s men, Lieutenant W. Shanks, explained how Basil was hit in the neck and chest and ‘died almost immediately and said nothing’. He said that Basil had died ‘fighting, very bravely indeed, not thinking of his own safety but inspiring the men with his energy and courage’.
Lieutenant Shanks said that he tried to bandage Basil Maclear’s wounds, but they were too severe and he was unable to retrieve any of his possessions. However, he said he was able to get a piece of a trench mirror that Basil used, and he promised to forward it on to the family.
Basil Maclear’s death shocked his battalion and devastated his mother, who was still grieving the loss nine months earlier of her son Percy. Mrs Maclear received many letters from men who had been under her son’s command, and she was sent comforting words of support from his superior officers. Whilst it was common practice for relatives to receive notes of sympathy from comrades, the volume of correspondence and the language used in the letters indicates how highly Basil Maclear was regarded.
The commandant in charge of the Royal Military College in Sandhurst when Basil Maclear was there was William Sapper, who wrote that Maclear was ‘the best of examples to young would-be officers’. He also stated that Basil Maclear was ‘upright, a man amongst men, leading a noble blameless life. He was worshipped by the cadets’. He ended his letter to Mrs Maclear by quoting a Latin phrase that would be made famous by the war poet Wilfred Owen. Sapper wrote, ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’, which translates as ‘It is a sweet and honourable thing to die for one’s country.’ Mrs Maclear also received sympathy from officials of the Irish Rugby Football Union, who said he was one of Ireland’s ‘most brilliant players, a thorough sportsman and a fine gentleman’.
Maclear’s death was reported extensively in newspapers across Britain and Ireland, and many fulsome tributes were paid to one of the finest rugby players of his generation. His body was never recovered, and today, like many thousands of other servicemen who died in the fields of Flanders, his name is inscribed on the Menin Gate, which is a memorial to the ‘Missing’.
Basil Maclear’s contribution to Irish international rugby, which stretched from his debut in 1905 to his final game in 1907, was immense, and he was the most talented member of the squad. If he were a player in today’s professional game he would be viewed as a national and international sporting celebrity, his every performance would probably be the subject of hours of broadcasting analysis, and he would attract many column inches in the written press.He was one of the game’s early superstars, and his style of play and the coverage that followed added to rugby’s growing appeal and popularity.
Every sport, whether it is rugby, football, GAA or hockey, needs characters, and those with an unusual backstory add to the colour and drama of the game. Maclear’s curriculum vitae does not read like that of a traditional Irish sporting hero. After all, he was born in Portsmouth, educated in Bedford, and was rejected by English rugby selectors. Yet this background did not deter Irish rugby fans from accepting him as one of their own.In Bedford, in Sandhurst and at the headquarters of Irish rugby, he is remembered as a schoolboy, a soldier and a sportsman, a talented wing three-quarter who on a November day in Belfast outran the South Africans and scored one of Ireland’s greatest ever tries.
2 Crossing the Line
‘AMAGNIFICENT SPECIMEN OF AN ATHLETE.’
– The Cork Weekly Examiner on Paddy Roche, Irish Olympian, 1907.
Wearing a white vest that accentuated his powerful frame, Paddy Roche stood on the cinder track and waited. His time was about to come. He stretched his limbs, and alongside him runners from Canada, the United States of America and Holland did the same.It was a pre-race routine that the Irishman was used to, but never in these circumstances. The crowd, the noise and the occasion were like no other he had ever experienced. Ireland’s finest sprinter was about to perform on the greatest stage in the world.
Suddenly, the competitors were called forward. They nervously took their positions at the starting line and waited for the crack of the pistol shot. When the race began Paddy Roche kicked out, pushed his legs, and as his heart thundered against his chest he found his stride. He pushed again using the power of his thighs, and propelled himself forwards as his arms cut through the air.
The 200 metre heat was all over in seconds, and the London crowd whistled, cheered and shouted in their thousands. On a summer’s day in the White City Stadium they watched as Roche, a 22-year-old from Cork, secured a place in the semi-final of the Olympic Games. It was a remarkable
