A NORTH-EAST war hero who holds the dubious honour of being the first of 55 rugby players of the illustrious Oxbridge Blues to lose their lives in the First World War will be remembered at a special match.

Edward Fenwick Boyd of Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, is among those to be commemorated at the 133rd meeting of Oxford and Cambridge universities at Twickenham Stadium.

Thousands of students from the two universities were among those who signed up, but on December 11 the focus will be on the 55 Oxbridge Blues - 28 from Cambridge and 27 from Oxford.

Lieutenant Boyd, an Oxbridge Blue who played in the 1912 defeat to Cambridge at Queen’s Club, was killed in action aged 24 at the Battle of the Aisne on September 20, 1914.

An officer with the Northumberland Fusiliers, he was mentioned in dispatches for gallant and distinguished service.

His grandfather, who was also named Edward Fenwick Boyd, was an English industrialist who became the fourth president of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers.

Lt Boyd followed his father, mining engineer Robert Fenwick Boyd, to Rugby School in 1904 and went to Oxford in 1909.

His rugby career at Oxford was split between playing at forward for the Dark Blues and Blackheath.

He didn’t win his Blue until 1912, yet had been good enough to hold down a regular place in the Blackheath pack alongside the Pillman brothers, England internationals Cherry and Robert, and play against the top sides in the country.

Following his death, his colonel wrote to his parents: “Edward’s is indeed a character to remember and to endeavour to copy, his splendid courage and coolness under fire, without the smallest touch of bravado or undue recklessness, marked him out as a born leader of men.

“Before this last action I had already recommended him for some recognition on account of his extremely courageous leading and devotion to duty in the field, and only a day or two before he was killed I personally saw him steadying his men in the trenches, under a terrific shell fire, as calmly as if he were on peace manoeuvres.

“It was a magnificent example of cool and dauntless courage, and I am thankful that I was privileged to see it and to thank him for the glorious example he set to all ranks.”