From The Vaults

12 November 2023

#FromTheVaults - Newspaper Cutting, 1915

This newspaper cutting from 1915 features a photograph of three international rugby players in their military uniforms on the Western Front...

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12 November 2023

#FromTheVaults - Newspaper Cutting, 1915

This newspaper cutting from 1915 features a photograph of three international rugby players in their military uniforms on the Western Front...

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04 September 2023

#FromTheVaults - A Letter from a Rugby Schoolboy, 1811

It is 200 years since William Webb Ellis is said to have run carrying a football on the playing fields at Rugby School. This letter from our collection contains one of the earliest references to Rugby football...

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21 August 2023

#FromTheVaults - All Blacks and Springboks

With New Zealand and South Africa preparing for a Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Friday, we’re highlighting two items which have recently been loaned to the World Rugby Museum.

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31 July 2023

A Street Through Time

Charles Street, the former Groundsman of Blackheath Football Club, witnessed many of the finest rugby players of the late 19th and first half of the 20th Century. Here we share an audio interview by the BBC that we hold in our collection...

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03 July 2023

Allez les Bleus illustrations

The illustrations and cartoons reproduced in our current exhibition, Allez Les Bleus, chart the growing popularity of rugby in France during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. This week’s blog explores the stories behind some of these illustrations. The images were kindly supplied by Frederic Humbert.

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15 May 2023

#FromTheVaults - Fijian seven-dollar note

As the World Sevens Series arrives at Twickenham this weekend, we are shining a spotlight on these unusual Fijian banknotes in our collection...

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20 March 2023

#FromTheVaults - 1909 Varsity Match

The annual fixture between the Oxford and Cambridge university rugby teams has had its fair share of memorable moments and witnessed the breakthrough of several future international rugby stars. Ahead of this year’s Varsity Match at Twickenham, we are sharing the story of the 1909 game...

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04 February 2023

'A Football Match, Scotland v England'

To coincide with this year’s Calcutta Cup clash, a new painting has been unveiled at the World Rugby Museum. Commissioned by Oliver Donovan and painted by Robert Highton, the artwork recreates a famous lost painting from the 1880s.

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19 December 2022

#FromTheVaults - Snow at Twickenham

This month, we’re highlighting some photographs in our collection which show action from a rugby match which was played in very wintry conditions...

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14 November 2022

#FromTheVaults - L.A.N. Slocock letter, 1916

Following Remembrance Day, our object of the month is the last known letter sent home from the Western Front by England international, Lancelot Andrew Noel Slocock...

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14 October 2022

#FromTheVaults - Centenary of the Scottish RFU

Fifty years ago, the Scottish Rugby Union kicked off its Centenary season celebrations by hosting a match which saw some unlikely alliances...

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29 August 2022

#FromTheVaults - Anglo-Welsh Tour Souvenirs, 1908

What kind of souvenirs have you brought home from your summer holiday? When Tom Smith visited New Zealand and Australia as part of the British Isles touring team in 1908, he returned home with a boomerang and a cocoa pod...

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