Harry Tancred
 | |||
| Full name | Henry Eugene Tancred[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 25 May 1897[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Balmain, NSW [1] | ||
| Date of death | 15 November 1961 (aged 64)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Bellevue Hil, NSW | ||
| Height | 6'2" | ||
| Weight | 15 stone | ||
| School | St. Joseph's Rozelle | ||
| Notable relative(s) | Arnold Tancred Jim Tancred Peter John Tancred | ||
| Occupation(s) | Wholesaler/Exporter Meat Industry | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | number eight[1] | ||
| Amateur clubs | |||
| Years | Club / team | ||
| 1914-1921 | Petone Rugby Club Glebe-Balmain | ||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1919-1921 1923[1] |
All Blacks Waratahs |
? 2[1] |
(0)[1] |
Henry Eugene "Harry" Tancred (25 May 1897 – 15 November 1961) was a rugby union player and administrator who represented for New Zealand and Australia. He was an entrepreneurial businessman influential in meat wholesaling and exporting who together with his brothers, built Tancred Industries to become one of Australia's largest wholesale butchering firms. He was active in the thoroughbred industry as a racing administrator and racehorse owner.
Early life
Born in Balmain, New South Wales, Henry was the sixth of ten children born to Thomas Tancred, a butcher from California, United States of America, and his Victorian-born wife Anna, née O'Connor.[2] He was educated by the Christian Brothers at St Joseph's School, Rozelle in Sydney before his father took the family to New Zealand pursuing opportunities in the meat trade. There while still a teenager Tancred worked as a drover and a slaughterman.[2] Tancred returned to Sydney in the 1920s along with a number of his six brothers.
Rugby career
Tancred, a number eight played with the Petone Rugby Club from 1914.[2]
Upon his return to Sydney in the 1920s he was active as a player at the Glebe-Balmain club.[3] He made representative appearances for the New South Wales state side. In 1923 the New Zealand Māori rugby union team visited and Tancred appeared in two games of the three match series in which the Waratahs were undefeated. With no Queensland Rugby Union administration or competition in place from 1919 to 1929, the New South Wales Waratahs were the top Australian representative rugby union side of the period and a number of their 1920s fixtures, including Tancred's two appearances in Sydney in June 1923, were decreed in 1986 as official Test matches. Tancred thus claimed a total of two international rugby caps for Australia. His brothers Arnold and Jim were also Australian national rugby representatives both making the 1927–28 Waratahs tour of the British Isles, France and Canada. Harry would later be involved in the administration of both the Randwick and Drummoyne Rugby Clubs.[2]
Businessman
Tancred's great-grandfather was a butcher. His grandfather Peter established himself as a wholesale butcher in Kent St Sydney in 1844 before travelling to the USA to further his prospects. Peter's son Thomas, Henry's father, branched out in 1869 and started a wholesale and retail meat business on Glebe Island in Sydney [4] before taking the family to New Zealand. In the 1920s Henry and his six brothers returned to Sydney. Under Henry's leadership, they established the Tancred Bros meat business which by 1956 was the listed company, Tancred Bros Industries Ltd one of Australia's largest wholesale butchering firms.[2] Henry was founding Chairman and Managing Director of the business from 1932 till 1959 and from 1946-61 was a member of the Meat Board, the national producer-owned company that regulates promotes the meat industry in Australia.[2]
Racing interests
He was elected to the Committee of the Sydney Turf Club in 1941, appointed Vice-Chairman in 1945, served as Chairman from 1953–59, and retired from the Committee in 1961.[5] He owned the champion New Zealand bred stallion High Caste. In 2007 Tancred was inducted into the Sydney Turf Club Hall of Fame as an associate.[6]
References
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Scrum.com player profile of Harry Tancred". Scrum.com. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tancred Family ADB". adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ↑ "Harry Tancred Glebe Rugby History Fame". Drummoyne Rugby. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ↑ EasyStreet Retreat
- ↑ "Harry Tancred at Vic Racing". Racing Victoria. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ↑ "Harry Tancred in STC Hall of Fame". smh.com.au. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2010.