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Jimmy Peters, International Rugby Player


Jimmy Peters was born in 1879 to a West Indian father and an English mother.

After a childhood spent partly in a circus and partly in a Greenwich orphanage he became a star Rugby player - the only Black man of his day to play for England. His international engagements were between 1906 - 1908. After that, there was not another Black player capped for England until 1986.

photo shows tinted sepia photo of man in Rugby kit

photo of Jimmy Peters. Courtesy of the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.

The Museum of Rugby at Twickenham created an exhibition about Peters. It told the story of his life, and then looked at the position of Black people in the sport more recently, including Margaret Alphonsi who was capped for the England in 2003.

You can still read the complete exhibition material online here

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