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Clifton Rugby Football Club History | |
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Arthur Budd |
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Arthur Budd selected for England while playing for Blackheath. Born 14th October 1853 in Bristol. He is one of the few Cambridge University players who've gained international honours but not a blue.
He attended Clifton College from Jan 1864 - 1872 and Pembroke College, Cambridge from Oct 4th 1872 - 1877. He was then in Edinburgh although why he was there is unknown.
He started with Clifton RFC in 1872. He played in the Club v College match on 25th November 1876. He moved to Ravenscourt Park in 1876, then he played for Edinburgh Wanderers in 1877-78 before joining Blackheath.
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INTERNATIONAL RECORD: English Caps 1878/79,1881 |
Career Record: P5, W3, D2, L0, Tries 1, Cons 0, Pen 0, DropG 0 |
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11th March 1878 v Ireland (Lansdowne Road, Dublin) W 2G,1T-0 10th March 1879 v Scotland (Raeburn Place, Edinburgh) D 1G-1DG 24th March 1879 v Ireland (Oval, London) W 2G,2T,1DG-0 19th Feb 1881 v Wales (Blackheath) W 7G,6T,1DG-0 19th March 1881 v Scotland (Raeburn Place, Edinburgh) D 1DG,1T-1G,1T
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Arthur Budd was the son of William Budd who's work on the spread and prevention of fevers were very radical at the time. He is acknowledged as discovering the origins of Typhoid. He wrote Typhoid fever; its nature, mode of spreading, and prevention. London, Longmans, Green & Co. in 1873.



Above left: Arthur's Grandfather Samuel Budd Snr, a retired naval Surgeon, Middle: his father, William Budd, Above right: his uncle George Budd FRS who was a physician to King's College Hospital, London.
It has been suggested that his father, William Budd, was a possible model for Tertius Lydgate in George Elliot's Middlemarch, first published in 1871.
His mother was Caroline Mary Hilton, daughter of Giles Hilton, of Lords, Faversham, Kent. Giles Hilton became a partner in the Shepherd Neame brewery after marrying a niece of Julius Shepherd's. Geographic expansion was a major concern during this time, and the firm acquired pubs as far away as Dover. Finding suitable tenants and maintaining ale houses accounted for a considerable amount of the partners' time. The firm encountered financial trouble and had to mortgage a £3,000 piece of property in 1847. Hilton, who had diverse business interests, then withdrew from the partnership, making the brewery's position even more precarious. He is buried at St James Church, Sheldwich

Above 22 Park Street, now numbered 89 and home to George's Bookshop. Photo taken pre WW2. Home of the Budd family, from 1853 to 1859, when Arthur was born.


Above plaque on outside of 22 Park Street, now numbered 89 and home to Blackwell's. It has the wrong dates on it. The Budd family left this house in 1859.
They then moved to 13 Lansdown Place in 1860 which is on the north east side of Victoria Square in Clifton.
The 1861 the Budd family at 13 Lansdown Place is
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Where born |
| William Budd | Head | 49 | MD University Edinburgh | North Tawton, Devon |
| Caroline May Budd | Wife | 33 | Preston, Kent | |
| Mary Georgina Budd | Daug | 11 | Scholar | St. Augustines, Bristol |
| Arthur Budd | Son | 7 | Scholar | St. Augustines, Bristol |
| George Turnavine Budd | Son | 5 | Scholar | Clifton |
| Caroline Ethel Budd | Daug | 3 | Scholar | St. Augustines, Bristol |
| Frances Ellen Budd | Daug | 2 | Scholar | Clifton |
| Maria Teresa Budd | Daug | 6 months | Clifton | |
| Mary Peacock | Servant | 27 | Housemaid | Kelston, Somerset |
| Eliza Peacock | Servant | 15 | Housemaid | Kelston, Somerset |
| Ann Rogers | Servant | 25 | Parlour Maid | Chew Magna |
| Eliza Thomas | Servant | 25 | Cook | Beer, Devon |
| Mary Ann Quick | Servant | 24 | Housemaid | Tiverton, Devon |
| Harriet Foster | Servant | 16 | Housemaid | Banwell, Somerset |

Above 13 Lansdown Place
Arthur Budd attended Clifton College from Jan 1864 - 1872 and Pembroke College, Cambridge from Oct 4th 1872 - 1877.
In 1866 William Budd and his family then went to live at the Manor House in Clifton.

Above front of The Manor House. Photo taken pre WW2.


Above the Manor House, York Place, Clifton. Now part of Bristol University's Manor Halls of Residence. Budd lived there until 1873.

Above the Grange Cricket Ground, Stockbridge, Edinburgh where Edinburgh Wanderers played.
In 1877 Arthur Budd joined Blackheath scoring 3 tries in his first season
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| Back Row (L-R): ?, ?, A.Budd (Blackheath), ?. Middle Row (L-R): ?, ?, ?, ?, ?. Front Row (L-R): ?, ?, ?, ?, ?. On Ground (L-R): ?, ?. |
Above the England team that played Ireland on the 11th March 1878 with ex Clifton College and Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd and future Clifton player W.J.Penny. Image courtesy of the RFU.
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| Back Row (L-R): A.Budd, F.S.Ireland, A.S.Marsden, Aub. Spurling, G.Stokes, H.C.Harrison, P.Brunskill, N.Smith. Seated: W.H.White, W.J.Penny, H.D.Bateson, L.Stokes, G.W.Burton, A.Poland, G.Budd. On Ground: O.Richardson, G.Spurling, A.H.Jackson, R.Cuff, A.R.Layman. |
Blackheath 1st XV 1878-79 with ex Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd and future Clifton RFC player William Penny.
Arthur Budd’s second match for

Above the Calcutta Cup.
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| Back Row (L-R): H.Huth (Huddersfield), R.Walker (Manchester), L.Stokes (Blackheath), F.R.Adams (Richmond), S.Neame (Old Cheltonians), G.Harrison (Hull), N.F.McLeod (R.I.E.College), H.C.Rowley (Manchester), H.H.Taylor (St.Georges Hospital). Sitting (L-R): W.J.Penny (United Hospitals/Kings College Hospital), A.Budd (Blackheath), G.W.Burton (Blackheath), H.H.Springman (Liverpool), F.D.Fowler (Manchester). On Ground (L-R): W.A.D.Evanson (Richmond), G.F.Vernon (Reserve) (Blackheath). |
Above the England team that played Scotland on 10th March 1879 with ex Clifton College and Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd and future Clifton player W.J.Penny. This was the first England team to play for the Calcutta Cup. Image courtesy of the RFU.
His father, William Budd, died on 9th January 1880 at Castle Villa, Clevedon. He was buried at Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol.
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| Back Row (L-R): G.O.Jacob, A.Poland, H.Fowler, G.Stokes. Crouching: G.F.Vernon, A.Budd. Sitting: F.L.Pattisson, S.Neame, L.Stokes (Captain), G.W.Burton, H.Freeborn. On Ground: A.R.Layman, A.R.Veitch, A.H.Jackson, Aubrey Spurling. |
Above Blackheath 1st XV 1880-81 with Arthur Budd
Arthur Budd scored his only try for England against Wales on 19th February 1881.
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| Back Row (L-R): H.C.Rowley (Manchester), H.Vassall (Oxford University), A.Budd (Blackheath), G.W.Burton (Blackheath), C.H.Coates (Leeds), H.Fowler (Walthamstow), A.N.Hornby (Manchester). Middle Row (L-R): R.Hunt (Manchester), E.T.Gurdon (Richmond), C.Gurdon (Richmond), C.W.L.Fernandez (Leeds), C.Phillips (Birkenhead Park), W.W.Hewitt (Queen's House), L.Stokes (Captain) (Blackheath). Front: F.T.Wright (Edinburgh Academicals) (Emergency). H.H.Taylor (Blackheath)missed the train. |
Above the England team that played Scotland on 19th March 1881 with ex Clifton College and Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd. This was Stokes last match for England before he retired to concentrate on his medical career. He dropped a goal to earn a draw for England. Frank Thurlow Wright won his one and only England cap because Henry Herbert Taylor missed the train. This was Arthur Budds last International.
In 1881 Arthur Budd was living with his mother and sisters at 32 Charlesville Road, London. They were
| Name | Relation | Age | Occupation | Where born |
Caroline Mary Budd |
Head (Widow) |
53 |
No Profession |
Kent |
Mary Ann Budd |
Daughter |
31 |
No Profession |
Bristol |
Alice Maud Budd |
Daughter |
30 |
No Profession |
Bristol |
Arthur Budd |
Son |
27 |
Solicitor |
Bristol |
A. W. House |
Grandson |
7 |
Bristol |
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C. M. Dunn |
Servant |
35 |
Servant |
London |
C. Davis |
Servant |
18 |
Servant |
Monmouth |
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| Back Row (L-R): L.Stokes, G.W.Burton, J.Hammond, C.J.B.Marriott, A.Poland, J.M.Smith, G.O.Jacob, G.Twyford, E.J.Moore, R.A.Carruthers, A.Darandu, A.H.Jackson, John Smith. Front Row: W.N.Bolton, G.Standing, C.Templer, P.A.Newton, A.Spurling, R.S.F.Henderson, A.Budd. |
Blackheath 1st XV that played Newport on March 17th 1883 with Arthur Budd. Blackheath won by 2 tries to 1.
Arthur Budds final season for Blackheath was in 1888-1889 in which he had scored 1 try. His previous record for Blackheath was
| 1877-78 | 3 tries |
| 1878-79 | 12 tries |
| 1879-80 | 10 tries |
| 1880-81 | 2 tries |
| 1881-82 | 3 tries |
| 1882-83 | 1 try |
Between 1877 and 1889 he played 93 times for Blackheath and was captain in 1887-88 at the age of 34.
Budd was a leading member of his local Conservative Party.
Arthur Budd was a member of the RFU sub-committee that was set-up to draft new laws to illegalise all forms of payment for the 1886 RFU General Meeting. 200 delegates attended this meeting at the Westminster Palace Hotel on 4th Ocober 1886.
His mother, Caroline, died on 16th April 1887. Her obituarty appeared in The Times on 20th April 1887 and said
On the 16th inst, at 32, Charleville-road, West Kengsington, CAROLINE MARY, widow of the late WILLIAM BUDD, M.D., F.R.S., of Clifton, Bristol, and daughter of Giles Hilton, of Lords, Faversham, Kent, at 59.
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| Back Row (L-R): L.Stokes, G.W.Burton, A.Budd, N.Spurling, C.J.B.Marriott. Standing: A.Allport, P.H.Illingworth, W.M.Scott, H.B.Marriott, F.R.Alderson, R.D.Budworth, A.Spurling. Seated: A.Robinson, A.E.Stoddart, P.Christopherson, J.Hammond. On Ground: W.P.Carpmael, A.S.Johnson, R.B.Sweet Escott. |
Above Blackheath 1st XV 1888-89 with ex Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd and future Clifton RFC player Richard Budworth. This was Budds last season at Blackheath.
Arthur Budd was appointed President of the Rugby Football Union at its Annual General Meeting on the 4th October 1888 at the Westminster Palace Hotel.
In 1889, along with G.L.Jeffrey, he formed the London Society of Referees.
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Standing (L-R): A.N.Hornby, F.W.Burnand, W.Cail, J.W.H.Thorp, A.Budd, F.I.Currey, H.Fuller, F.H.Fox, G.F.Berney, R.Westray, J.H.Payne, A.B.Perkins, B.Kilner.Centre Row, Seated: H.L.Ashmore, H.W.T.Garnett, G.Rowland-Hill, J.Maclaren, J.H.S.Marcarther,. Front Row, seated: T.M.Swinburne, S.E.Sleigh, M.Newsome, R.S.Whalley. |
Arthur Budd went on to become Vice President of the RFU from 1886-1888 and President in 1888-89. Above the RFU Committee of 1890-91 with Arthur Budd standing 5th left. Budd's time as Vice President and President was a turbulent time. England had refused to join an international board with the view that since they governed a greater number of clubs they could not be expected to join such a Board on equal terms. Deadlock ensued and England played no matches with other Unions in 1887-88 or 1888-9.
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Back Row (L-R): F.I.Currey (Touch Line Judge), W.G.Clibborn, C.M.Wilkins(3/4 Back), W.E.Maclagan, A.Spurling, M.Bowley, J.T.Ward, L.Stokes (Referee), R.S.Whalley (Touch Line Judge). Middle Row: H.L.Ashmore (1/2 Back), A.Budd, E.T.Gurdon (Captain), H.Vassal (3/4 Back), G.R.Hill (1/2 Back), C.J.B.Marriott. Front Row: F.Pattisson, W.Hewitt, H.P.Clarke (Back) |
Above the "Old Crocks" v Blackheath A Team:March 1891 with ex Clifton RFC player Arthur Budd. Blackheath won by a try to nothing.
1892 - Ex Clifton player and ex RFU President Arthur Budd contributes to the book "FOOTBALL - THE RUGBY UNION GAME" - Rev F Marshall.
The Revd Francis Marshall was the self-appointed scourge of professionalism in the years before the Northern Union broke away from the RFU in 1895. Headmaster of King James Grammar School , Almondbury, near Huddersfield, he was a well-known rugby referee, who frequently smoked a cigar while officiating.


Above left the Revd. Francis Marshall. For more details see the Print section above. Above right a picture of Arthur Budd from the 1892 edition of "FOOTBALL - THE RUGBY UNION GAME"
Arthur Budd emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1893. He sailed on the 4th March 1893 on the Union liner "Scot" on the same day as Scotland routed the English forwards. England lost by 2 drop-goals to nil. The Scot made the journey to Johannesburg in a record time of 14 days and 18 hours. A record that stood for 14 years.

Above the Scot (photo circa 1907)
It is not known when he exactly returned to London. But it was before 1st November 1894 when he attended a RFU meeting at the Craven Hotel, Charring Cross.
He is quoted as saying in 1897 "The Northern Union is a most admirable drainpipe. A man who would cook accounts would steal your watch, and is capable of any kind of inequity. We are well rid of such persons."
On 27th November 1897 "Football" by A.Budd, C.B.Fry, B.F.Robinson & T.Cook. The Suffolk Sporting Series, was published by Lawrence & Bullen.
He was still working on the Rugby Football Committee in 1898. He attended the RFU meeting at the Westminster Palace Hotel on 22nd September 1898
Arthur Budd died on 27th August 1899. His obituary appeared in The Times on 29th August 1899 and said
Mr. ARTHUR BUDD, an old international Rugby football player, and the ex-president of the Rugby Union, died on Sunday in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to which he had been removed after a stroke of paralysis about 12 days ago. Mr.Budd, who was the son of a well known Gloucestershire doctor, was educated at Clifton. He had among his contempories Mr.H.G.Tylecote the Oxford cricketer, and Mr.J.A.Bush, the Gloucestershire wicket-keeper. Going up to Cambridge he rowed stroke in the college boat, and took a prominant part in football. In 1876 he joined the Blackheath Club, then under the captaincy of Mr.Leonard Stokes, who did so much develop back play and drop-kicking. Mr.Budd, who played for England in many of the international matches in the later seventies and early eighties, was noteworthy as a player in the scrummages, and to the latter-day fallacy of making the forwards sub-servient to the backs. Mr.Budd at first studied for the Bar, but relinquishing the law, he took to medicine, and passed through the St.Bartholomew's Hospital Schools.

Above St. Bartholomews Hospital where Arthur Budd died.
At the annual meeting of the Rugby Football Union at the Westminster Palace Hotel on 21st September 1899 a tribute to the work of Arthur Budd was made. The Times said on 22nd September 1899
The election of officers for the year was taken as an opportune moment by the chairman to pay tribute to the work of the late Mr. Arthur Budd, a past president of the Rugby Union and the famous Cambridge and Blackheath player, did for Rugby football. Not only was he one of the bulwarks by which the Rugby Union threw off the threatened professionalism, which ended in the withdrawal of the Northern Union clubs, but next to his fight for rigid amateurism his best endeavor was the settlement of the international dispute in which, by his tact and lucidity of statement he had a very big hand. These facts Mr. Thorp, felt were the best memorial of one of Rugby football's best friends.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about the Budd brothers, Arthur and George, in his 1924 autobiography entitled Memories and Adventures:
In my last year of study at Edinburgh I formed a friendship with this remarkable student [George]. He came of a famous medical family, his father [William] having been a great authority upon zymotic disease. He came also of a famous athletic stock, and was a great rugby forward himself, though rather handicapped by the Berserk fury with which he would play. He was up to international form, and his younger brother [Arthur] was reckoned by good judges to be about the best forward who ever donned the rose-embroidered jersey of England.
Arthur Conan Doyle was, for a short time, in partnership with George Budd, Arthur's brother, in Plymouth, in 1882. They had first met at University in Edinburgh.