Barrie Bennetts


Barzillai Beckerleg Bennetts MBE, also known as Barrie Bennetts born in Penzance and was a Cornish rugby union player who played at international level, touring Argentina with the 1910 Combined British rugby union side, an early incarnation of the British and Irish Lions.

Personal life

Barzillai Beckerleg Bennetts was born in Penzance in 1883 to Mr J H Bennetts, a local coal merchant. He was educated at Bridgend College, London and trained in the legal profession. By 1910 he was a solicitor for Boase and Bennetts in Penzance. He excelled in many sports and represented Cornwall at cricket, golf and hockey, and was President of the Cornwall RFU from 1945 to 1950. During the First World War he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, seeing action in France and being mentioned in dispatches. At the age of 57 he saw further military service when he was one of the first, in Penzance, to volunteer for the newly formed Home Guard. Bennetts was awarded the MBE for services to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1949 and was made a Lifetime Governorship for the RNLI in 1957. He died in 1958 at his brother's home in Alverton, Penzance.

Sports

Bennetts was an accomplished sportsman excelling in many sports including football, playing for Penzance Football Club and appearing in four Cornwall Senior Cup finals. He played cricket at minor counties level for Cornwall, making eleven appearances between 1906 and 1914. He also represented Cornwall at golf and hockey, and tennis would have probably been on the list if there was a Cornwall tennis team at the time. While in London training to be a solicitor he played rugby for Richmond. Bennetts played twice for Leicester Tigers, once in 1907 and once in 1910.