Percy Lawrie (rugby union)
England international rugby union player / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Percy William Lawrie (26 September 1888 – 27 December 1956)[1] was a rugby union wing who played 318 games for Leicester Tigers between 1907 and 1924 and twice for England between 1910 and 1911.
Birth name | Percy William Lawrie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 26 September 1888 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 27 December 1956(1956-12-27) (aged 68) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Leicester, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Wyggeston School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Accountant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lawrie is Leicester's leading try scorer with 206 tries, more than 30 ahead of nearest challenger Barry Evans; Lawrie broke the previous record of 153 on Boxing Day 1918, Leicester's first game after the Great War, against Leicestershire's 4th Battalion.[2] He was the club's top try scorer for six successive seasons between 1908–14 and became the first Leicester player to score a hat trick against the Barbarians.
Lawrie was captain of Leicester for 165 games between 1911–14 and then again between 1920–23[3] this was a record which stood until 2004 when Martin Johnson over took him.[4]
Lawrie made his international debut for England on 19 March 1910 against Scotland at Inverleith in the last game of the 1910 Five Nations Championship.[5] His only other England cap was the next year against the same opponents at Twickenham where he scored a try.[6]
During the war Lawrie served as a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery and following his retirement from playing rugby in 1924 he served on Leicester's committee until ill health forced his retirement in 1954. He died 2 years later on 27 December 1956 just half an hour before Leicester played the Barbarians.
On 9 February 2011 Lawrie was named 59 in Leicestershire's 100 Sporting Greats by the Leicester Mercury.[7]