Wakefield RFC

Wakefield RFC was an English rugby union club, founded in 1901 and folded in 2004 as a result of poor finances, with a trading loss of £105,000 for the season and unsecured creditors' loans of approximately £640,000. The club's final season was in 2003–04 when they were relegated after losing to Coventry RFC in their final match. The club was based at College Grove in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

History

Foundation

Wakefield RFC was founded in 1901, six years after the schism in rugby that saw the formation of the Northern Union and the move of Wakefield Trinity, who had been the principal rugby club in the city, to the new code. On 15 June 1901, the Wakefield Express printed a short notice: “A movement is on foot to form a new rugby football club on purely amateur lines to play under Rugby Union rules, and a meeting to promote that object has been called”. One of the clubs first vice presidents was former England and British Lion international Osbert Mackie. England International JW Sagar was the club's first captain and he expressed the wish that the formation of the club would provide the opportunity for the local grammar school boys to continue in the game in the city rather than having to move elsewhere. Players to benefit included Bill Guest, a former Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) pupil between 1918 and 1922, who was to become one of the leading figures at Wakefield both as a player and administrator until his death in 1991. Silcoates School produced among others, Steve Townend, the club's second leading appearance maker and prolific point scorer, who was to join the coaching staff after finishing his playing days, eventually becoming Director of Rugby.

Wakefield

Coordinates: 53°40′48″N 1°29′31″W / 53.6801°N 1.4920°W / 53.6801; -1.4920

Wakefield is a city in West Yorkshire, England, on the River Calder and the eastern edge of the Pennines, which had a population of 76,886 in 2001.

Wakefield was dubbed the "Merrie City" in the Middle Ages and in 1538 John Leland described it as, "a very quick market town and meately large; well served of fish and flesh both from sea and by rivers ... so that all vitaile is very good and chepe there. A right honest man shall fare well for 2d. a meal. ... There be plenti of se coal in the quarters about Wakefield".

The Battle of Wakefield took place in the Wars of the Roses and it was a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War. Wakefield became an important market town and centre for wool, exploiting its position on the navigable River Calder to become an inland port.

In the 18th century, Wakefield traded in corn, coal mining and textiles and in 1888 its parish church acquired cathedral status. It became the county town and seat of the West Riding County Council in 1889 and the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Council from 1974 until it was dissolved in 1986.

Norman Arthur Wakefield

Norman Arthur Wakefield (28 November 1918 – 23 September 1972) was an Australian teacher, naturalist, paleontologist and botanist, notable as an expert on ferns. He described many new species of plants.

Wakefield was born in Romsey, Victoria, and educated at state schools in Orbost and at Scotch College, Melbourne with a BSc in biology. He joined the Victorian Education Department in 1934 and served as a teacher in various parts of East Gippsland.

During the Second World War Wakefield served with the Australian Army in Papua and New Guinea (1943–1944) and on Bougainville (1944–1945). He returned from his war service with a collection of ferns now housed in the British Museum and the National Herbarium of Victoria.

From 1955 to 1965 he lectured in natural history and science at the Melbourne Teachers’ College. In 1960 he graduated as a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, and in 1969 completed a MSc in paleontology at Monash University, as well as lecturing in biology at Monash Teachers’ College.

Wakefield (MBTA station)

Wakefield is a station on the Haverhill Line commuter rail line of the MBTA. This station services nearby Wakefield Square. It is officially located at 225 North Avenue, according to the MBTA. However the actual location is across the tracks, which run parallel to North Avenue. The station is also described by some as being located at 27-29 Tuttle Street, which runs behind the station between Albion and Chestnut Streets.

Wakefield Station was originally built in 1889 by the Boston and Maine Railroad, as Wakefield Upper Depot. Another former B&M station built in the 1950s is located to the north on the corner of Tuttle and Chestnut Streets, and a former freight house built by B&M sometime around 1845 can be found south of Wakefield Square along North Avenue. The 1950s station house is now a law office, and the station operates from sheltered platforms in front of the B&M Depot, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Bus connections