One of the most eye-catching memorials in St Kentigern’s churchyard, Aspatria has been there for 114 years.
But all those years down the line it is still attracting attention, something which is appreciated by Aspatria rugby union club.
For the memorial marks the final resting place of a club hero Joseph Davidson who played for England and who died in tragic circumstances.
Aspatria RU stalwart Barney Clegg is regularly asked about the memorial, particularly regarding the stone artwork on top.
It is believed to be a replica of the Cumberland Cup and it is then wrapped in what may well be an England shirt.
Barney says: “It is very much worth a visit by any rugby enthusiast who is wandering around the churchyard. To locate it – walk up the main entrance path to the door, turn left and walk a few paces and you will see the memorial directly ahead.”
Joseph – known as Joe – had died just three days after his 32nd birthday when along with his brother George he was buried alive in an accident at the family sand quarry.
George was rescued and continued to play for the Aspatria club, winning two County Cup winners medals and four County caps.
Joe was born in Aspatria on October 5 1878 and was a talented sportsman, for as well as rugby he was also good at cricket and boxing as well as athletics.
Although basically a forward he could play in any position and was an Aspatria first team player from an early age, gaining a County cap before his 19th birthday.
He played three times for the North and 43 times for Cumberland. He was a member of the Cumberland Cup winning side in 1899 and again 10 years later.
But the highlight was when he gained his first England international cap against Wales at Swansea and followed it against Scotland in the 1899 Home Nations Championship.
In the Calcutta Cup game he had the distinction of being the youngest player on the field, while his brother James was the eldest.
James, known as Jim, was a stonemason by profession and it seems highly likely that he was responsible for the magnificent memorial.
Jim Davidson was a prominent member of the Aspatria side for 15 years, playing as a forward and was a member of the team that won the Cumberland Cup in 1891, 92, 96 and 99.
He won forty-four Cumberland County caps; made a record number of eight appearances for the North in their annual games against the South; played several times for the Rest of England in their annual game against the County Champions, and although selected to represent England on seven occasions, would, through ill-health and injury, play in only five.
In the Calcutta Cup match in 1898, he was, according to one journalist, the ‘man of the match’. “When the whistle blew no man came off the field on either side fresher or more ready to renew hostilities than James Davidson,” he wrote.
Upon retirement from the game Jim became a respected official as chairman of the County Selectors Committee, and the Cumberland representative to the Rugby Union. He was also one of the principal administrators in the Aspatria Club and held numerous offices.
In 1898 he became the first recipient of a sporting testimonial in Cumberland. He died at Aspatria on 23 December, 1943 aged 74.
There’s a long inscription on the memorial, too, which is worth repeating:-
In deepest sympathy with his family this stone is erected by a few sorrowing friends and admirers of one whose valuable services to amateur sport were marked by a kindliness of disposition ever to be remembered.
In Rugby Union football his proficiency gained for him not only the deserved recognition of his many fellow players and that of the governing body of his native county of Cumberland but the further distinction of his selection in the International Teams to represent England.
Deeply deploring the melancholy accident by which a life so full of promise was so sadly terminated the subscribers to this memorial hereby desire to record their keen sense of his loss.
