The Welsh rugby international from Grangetown who died at Ypres
By Gwyn Prescott
Over 130 rugby internationals lost their lives in the First World War. Thirteen
of them played for Wales and the name of one can be found on the Grangetown
War Memorial. Well, that's not strictly correct, as David Westacott's surname
is recorded there as "Westercott".
Like several of his Cardiff
team-mates, Dai was a docker, an occupation which no doubt helped to develop
the immense strength for which he was renowned. He had a reputation for being
a hard grafter but despite being a powerful forward he was also surprisingly
fast and elusive with the ball in his hands. After two years with Cardiff, in
1905 he was invited to play for Glamorgan against the New Zealand tourists.
Glamorgan lost 9-0, but this was a somewhat flattering margin for the All Blacks
over what was essentially a scratch XV. Dai played well and it was no surprise
when later that season he was picked for Wales against Ireland in Belfast. Perhaps
unfortunately for Dai, Wales were expected to win this match. They had beaten
New Zealand earlier that season and were two thirds of their way to a successive
Triple Crown, having already despatched England and Scotland. Unluckily for
Wales, however, the weather intervened. The conditions during the journey across
the Irish Sea were absolutely atrocious. All the team were laid low with severe
seasickness and this seriously affected the Welsh performance on the day. The
game was lost 11-6. It seems that Dai was one of several players who, despite
the seasickness, were held responsible for the defeat and he was never selected
by Wales again. This was a clear injustice to such a gifted and hard-working
forward and it is hard to believe that a player of his quality did not deserve
more caps.
Although Dai was desperately
unlucky in his international career, he certainly proved his worth as a club player.
He was a regular member of the Cardiff team during one of their most successful
periods in their history. In his seven seasons with the club, only 30 fixtures
were lost out of the 221 played and he was a regular team-mate of some of rugby's
all-time greats like Gwyn Nicholls, Percy Bush, Ben Winfield and Rhys Gabe. One
game, however, stands out. This was Cardiff's crushing 24-8 victory over the touring
Australians in December 1908. During the match, Dai was badly injured by a serious
foul when he was kneed in the groin but, with no substitutes in those days, he
won the admiration of the Arms Park crowd by courageously staying on the field,
when he might easily have left with honour. And despite his injuries, he even
managed to break away spectacularly with the ball to create Cardiff's final try.
Dai retired in 1910, but made his
last appearance at the Arms Park three years later when he played in a special
charity match organised for the Senghenydd mining disaster relief fund. After
the war, his son David maintained the family connection with Cardiff, playing
for the club for several seasons.
In August 1914, Dai had been married to Clara Oliver for eight years and the
couple were living at 47 Hewell Street where they were bringing up their four
children David, Mary, Violet and Ivy. However, despite being a 32-year-old family
man, Dai volunteered early in the war. Enlisting in the Gloucestershire Regiment
in November 1914, he fought in the blood-soaked battles of Aubers Ridge and
Loos in 1915 and the Somme in 1916. Wounded on the Somme in August 1916, Dai
then spent several months in Britain recovering from his wounds. He went back
out to the Western Front in 1917 and served with the 2/6th Battalion Gloucestershire
Regiment during the Third Battle of Ypres. On 28 August 1917, while in a support
trench north-east of Ypres, Private David Westacott was tragically killed by
shellfire. Cardiff's sterling international forward had given his life for his
country.
Gwyn Prescott, is author of Call Them to Remembrance -The Welsh Rugby Internationals
Who Died In The Great War (2014 St. David's Press, £14.99 )
Welsh Academic Press
"Dai" Westacott was born on 10 October 1882 in Grangetown. After being introduced
to the game at Grange National School he came to prominence in Cardiff and District
rugby where he played for various Grangetown teams. In 1903, the promising 20-year-old
forward was snapped up by the Cardiff club and he quickly established himself
there. He soon became a popular stalwart in the Cardiff pack, and in 1904-5
played in all of Cardiff's 30 fixtures that season. In total, he represented
the "Blue and Blacks" 120 times over seven seasons. 
Remembered: Myrtle Hill with a photograph of her grandfather Dai Westacott
The location of his
place of burial was subsequently lost, so today he is one of 15 men named
on the Grangetown Memorial who are also commemorated by the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing at Zonnebeke, near
Ypres.