Spectacular 1827 William Webb Ellis Signed Letter

Autographed letter signed “W.W. Ellis”, Brasenose College, (Oxford), 2 July 1827, written while a student at Oxford University, to George Harris, Rugby (School), and acknowledging receipt of 60 Pounds from the Trustees of Rugby School “for the whole of my exhibition”. This letter is one page, measuring approximately 8 7/8” x 14 ¾”, with integral address leaf and an intact Brasenose College seal with postmark of the same 1827 date.

The term ‘exhibition’ refers to a form of scholarship from the Rugby School to a select number of students to either attend Oxford or Cambridge.

Webb Ellis came up to Brasenose College (Oxford) in 1825 graduating in 1829. Webb Ellis after graduation was then associated with several churches as Chaplain and Rector until becoming Rector of Magdalen Laver in 1855, serving there for fifteen years.

Provenance: Ex-Norris McWhirter (1925 – 2004), by family descent. Norris McWhirter was a British writer, political activist and co-founder with his brother Ross of the Guinness World Records. Previous to this, members of the Harris family who held the clerk position at Rugby School continuously from 1740 – 1949.

The place of Webb Ellis’ grave was unknown until 1959 when Ross McWhirter (three pages of notes that accompanied this letter written by Norris McWhirter, mentioned that his brother Ross (1925 – 1975) was murdered by the IRA) traced his grave to caveau no. 957 in the cemetery of Vieux Chateau in Menton, France.

Webb Ellis is probably the most famous name associated with the history of the sport of Rugby. Additionally, the Rugby World Cup is named for him, the Webb Ellis Cup.

We know of only two other Webb Ellis signed letters – one owned by the Rugby School and the other by the World Rugby Museum. According to Norris McWhirter's notes,there is one known signature of "W.W.Ellis, Rector", in a parish register of Magdalen Laver, Essex.

The controversy - did Webb Ellis invent the game of Rugby?   I’m not sure where the actual claim of invention came from; it certainly wasn’t from Webb Ellis himself. This was an unfortunate choice of wording that caused a stir that has become bigger than life. Did Webb Ellis pick up the ball and run with it, against the established rules of the game at the time - most certainly (see also the previous blog entry on Matthew Bloxam). Did others do the same in the years to follow, while it was still against the rules, of course. So, did Webb Ellis invent the game of rugby as a result of this run, the gist of the controversy - of course not.  There are very few instances of a sport being ‘invented” by one individual. In fact, the only major sport that I can come up with that is actually attributable to one individual is basketball, “invented” by James Naismith (see blog posting dated October 25, 2019).

The sport of rugby came about as result of an evolutionary process with a good number of feeder streams that eventually coalesced. Webb Ellis’ actions contributed to these changes in an important manner, as did the actions of others at later times. There were the schools, like Rugby, Eton, Charterhouse, Westminster, Harrow and a fair number more that each was playing a game within its own boundaries and with its own rules. Eventually they would settle on one set of rules when the Rugby Union was established in 1871. This is analogous in many ways to the games played by American colleges before the advent of conventions, conferences and associations to try to fix a set of rules so that colleges like Princeton, Harvard and Yale could play one another without having to set ground rules and concessions before each game (see our blog entry dated June 13, 2015 for a more detailed description of this period in American rugby football).  In the end, American football adopted the English Rugby game, and as Walter Camp wrote, "it is from the Rugby Union Rules that our American Intercollegiate game was derived". Every book on the history of early American football has a section or chapter that addresses how our game borrowed from the English game of Rugby and specifically mentions the contributions of the Rugby School and William Webb Ellis. Looking in our own library we found this in books written by Walter Camp, A.A.Stagg, D.G, Herring, Parke Davis, Morton Prince and a dozen others.

An extraordinarily rare, historically significant document.  This would be considered the centerpiece in the most advanced collections of football and rugby history.