C.H. Abercrombie
Born 12 April 1886, Mozufferpore, India
Died 31 May 1916 at Sea on board HMS Defence
15th player to be capped by the Royal Navy Rugby Union
For the early years of RN rugby it is hard to decipher the exact order of caps. Abercrombie played in the first cap game in February 1907 and is ranked fifteenth as he is listed fifteenth in the list produced by the RNRU in January 1908 which for the first time listed those entitled to wear the Navy Cap.
4 caps
Played against the Army in 1907, 1910, 1911, 1913
Inter Service Record
Played 4 Won 3 Drew 0 Lost 1
Inter Service Titles n/a
1907 Royal Navy 15 Army 14
1910 Royal Navy 19 Army 10
1911 Royal Navy 13 Army 22
1913 Royal Navy 18 Army 8
Clubs
Berkhamstead
US Portsmouth RFC
Lieutenant Cecil Halliday Abercrombie Royal Navy was an accomplished rugby union player and county cricketer and was capped by the Royal Navy in both sports. He was also capped by Scotland on six occasions making his test debut playing as a forward in Scotland’s 14-0 win over Ireland in Belfast. His last game was against Wales which Scotland lost 8-0 despite their home advantage at Inverleigh. He scored one try for Scotland which was against France in 1911.
He lost his life during the First World War when serving onboard HMS Defence which was commissioned in the same year that Cecil won his first Navy cap, 1907. He was killed in action off Jutland.