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Arthur Leyland
Harrison was born on February 3rd 1886 in Torquay, Devon, the son of
Lieutenant Colonel A J Harrison of the Royal Fusiliers and his wife
Adelaide
. After spending his early school years at
Dover
College
the young
Harrison
embarked on a Naval career commencing training as a cadet officer in 1902. He
was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant four years later in 1906, with promotion to
full Lieutenant following two years later in 1908.
From an early age
Harrison
was captured by the allure of the rugby field as well as that of his blossoming
naval career, although in many cases the two intertwined. A resolute forward
Harrison
was a stalwart member of the Hampshire branch of the United Services from the
time of his joining the fleet as a qualified officer in 1906 until the outbreak
of war in 1914. He also played for the Hampshire county side for the last two
years of this period from 1912. His growing reputation on the field during the
immediate pre war years as a county player soon brought him to the attention of
the
England
selectors’ and Harrison was picked for a debut cap against
Ireland
in a match held at Twickenham on February 14th 1914. Played in front
of the King and the Prime Minister Ireland started the game in a characteristic
frenzy, soon leading by seven points.
England
played a more conservative game and were able to score enough points against a
tiring Irish side to take the match by seventeen points to twelve.
Harrison
certainly played his part in the victory, along with his namesake H G Harrison
from the Army. In a match report from the Times it was said that “the
English forwards stiffened in the scrummage by the two Harrisons did better than
against
Wales
”, a clear reference to
England
’s previous match that had only just been won by ten points to nine.
This debut cap
for
England
was soon followed by another for the Royal Navy against the Army in their
annual match held on 7th March 1914 at the Queens Club and again
played in front of the King who was this time accompanied by
Prince Albert
. Despite poor weather on the day, rain combined with a not uncommon fog for
which the
Queens
club was well known was soon overcome by the quality of play. The match was
also aided by the referee, Mr Potter-Irwin, who played a large amount of
advantage rather than awarding penalties allowing an open game to emerge. The
game itself was largely balanced between the Navies half backs and the Armies
pack, whose weight and vigor eventually proved too much for the lighter Navy
forwards although they played like terriers. Although down by eighteen points to
three at half time twice in the second half the Navy managed to claw themselves
back to within seven points of the Army before finally succumbing by twenty six
points to fourteen, a final score that belied the closeness of the game.
The following
month, on April 13th, Harrison was again selected for
England
. This time he travelled to
Paris
to take on the French at Stade de Colombes.
England
, as was often their wont at this time, started slowly allowing the French to
score within five minutes of the kick off. It was not until the second half that
England
finally took control of the match outclassing the French in an emphatic if
still less than expected thirteen points to thirty nine victory.
Harrison
’s international season, and indeed career, was now over. The match in
France
had secured
England
a second consecutive grand slam, a feat that
Harrison
should have been justifiably proud to have assisted in.
With the outbreak
of war
Harrison
, as a serving Naval officer, was almost immediately engaged in active service
with the fleet. During the course of the war he was to participate in the
majority of the more important naval battles of the conflict. This included
action at the battles of Heliogoland Bight in 1914, Dogger Bank in 1915 and
Jutland
in 1916. For his service at Jutland
Harrison
was mentioned in dispatches In September 1916 and this was rapidly followed by
promotion to Lieutenant Commander in October of that year. Despite this
distinguished record it is for the raid on Zeebrugge in 1918 which was the
defining moment in
Harrison
’s naval career.
The
raid was originally proposed in 1917 by Sir John Jellicoe, but was not
officially approved until February 1918 when Sir Roger Keyes created a plan that
would block Zeebrugge. This would make it impossible for the Germans to use the
port for their submarines which posed a clear threat to allied shipping,
particularly in the
English Channel
. The raid was carried out on April 23rd 1918, led by HMS Vindictive
on board which
Harrison
had command of the Naval storming parties who were to disable the German shore
batteries. The raid started badly with unexpected winds making the smoke screen
planned to cover the Vindictive ineffective. Under heavy fire the Vindictive was
forced to moor in the wrong position which to all intents and purposes disabled
her guns, and effectively deprived the storming parties of their artillery
support. Just before this
Harrison
was hit by a shell fragment which both broke his jaw as well as knocking him
unconscious. When he came to
Harrison
immediately went ashore to take charge of his men, fully aware of the
importance of his part of the mission. Without
the German shore guns silenced the whole plan to block the canal would be in
jeopardy. With this in mind, and even though severely wounded, he marshaled his
men to attack. During the following action all members of
Harrison
’s party were either killed or wounded, with Harrison himself killed in action
after achieving only some of his aims. Although the three blocking ships Thetis,
Intrepid and Iphigenia did scuttle themselves in the port, it was not in the
positions previously planned. The result of this was that the raid achieved only
partial success with the Zeebrugge-Bruges canal being blocked for only a few
days before the German’s cleared a route around the blockships that their
submarines could navigate at high water. The raid itself was proclaimed a great
success by the allies despite its failure to reach its long term objectives and
the five hundred casualties sustained during the action. Eight Victoria Crosses,
Britain
’s highest award for valor in action, were awarded as a result of the
night’s fighting. For his courage and resolution in battle Lieutenant
Commander Arthur Leyland Harrison RN was posthumously awarded one of them.
Sources
"The
Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals", R Maule,
Breedon 1992
The
Times Online Digital Archive
The
London Gazette Online
Wikepedia
www.firstworldwar.com
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The
Rugby History Society