James Davey

A shoemaker by trade, James “Maffer” Davey learned his rugby at Trewirgie School in Redruth and then started playing for his home-town team at the age of 16 in 1896, and the following year he made the first of his 35 appearances for Cornwall. He played for Redruth for 13 years, apart from a brief spell when he went to work in the South African goldfields in 1902 and had the honour of captaining Transvaal in the Currie Cup. He returned to Redruth in 1907 and fly-half Davey had a memorable year in 1908 when, firstly, he made his international début for England against Scotland at Inverleith. He then won the County Championship as Cornwall won the title for the first time beating Durham 17-3 at Redruth with Davey scoring one of their five tries. It would be 83 years before Cornwall next won the title. Davey was then selected for the Anglo-Welsh (British Lions) tour to New Zealand and Australia and scored 15 points in 13 matches and played in the first Test at Dunedin. He returned from “down-under” to represent Cornwall in the Paris Olympics where they won the silver medal after losing 32-3 to Australia in the only game of the tournament. Davey went on to win his third and final international cap, for England, against Wales at Cardiff in January 1909. Davey had a spell playing for Coventry in 1908-09 and both club and player were suspended by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for breach of the amateur rules when the club allegedly paid Davey’s hotel accommodation when he stayed overnight in Coventry.