Stanley Winmill

Birth name	Stanley Winmill
Date of birth	(1889-05-05)5 May 1889
Place of birth	Bedwellty, Wales
Date of death	25 June 1940(1940-06-25) (aged 51)
Place of death	Caerleon, Wales
Occupation(s)	collier policeman
Rugby union career
Position(s) Prop Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) <1912 - 1922> Cross Keys RFC Monmouthshire () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1921  Wales 4 (0)

Stanley "Docker" Winmill (5 May 1889 – 25 June 1940)^[1] was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Cross Keys and county rugby for Monmouthshire. He won four caps for Wales, playing in all four matches of the 1921 Five Nations Championship.

Rugby career

Winmill was a one club player, remaining with Cross Keys for his entire career. He captained the club on two occasions, in 1912-13 and for a three-year period between 1919-1922. His brother Joe was a notable player for Abertillery and both brothers were selected to play at county level for Monmouthshire. Winmill surpassed his brother Joseph in 1921 when he was selected for international duty, brought into the Wales team for the 1921 Five Nations Championship. His first match was against England at Twickenham, brought into the front row. The game ended in a solid win for England, Wales losing 18-3.^[2] His next match, at home against Scotland, also ended in a loss. Despite two losses on a run the Welsh selectors kept faith with Winmill and the final two matches of the tournament, at home to France and away to Ireland, both ended in Welsh victories.

Personal life

Winmill was born in Bedwellty in Monmouthshire. A collier by trade, he worked down the Nine Mile Point Colliery and in 1935 he was one of the 164 men who took part in the stay-down strike against scab labour. As a collier he lost an eye in an industrial accident, and later became a police officer working at his old colliery. In 1940 he tripped over a rail at the mine and injured his head in the fall, dying from the wound on 25 June.^[4]

Bibliography

• Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.

References