Tasker Watkins: Difference between revisions

Sir Tasker Watkins VC GBE (November 18, 1918 - September 9, 2007), was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was Lord Justice of Appeal and deputy Lord Chief Justice, and was President of the Welsh Rugby Union from 1993 to 2004.

Biography

Born the son of a coal miner,^[1] Watkins was born in the small town of Nelson, Caerphilly, and educated at Pontypridd Grammar School.

World War Two

A lieutenant in the 1/5th battalion, The Welch Regiment, he was one officer in a group in Normandy post D-Day leading an assult on a Nazi machine gun post. After all the other officers were killed in the approach, Watkins continued to lead the group. The first Welsh man to be awarded a VC during the Second World War, his citation read:

On 16 August 1944 at Barfour, Normandy, France, Lieutenant Watkins' company came under murderous machine-gun fire while advancing through corn fields set with booby traps. The only officer left, Lieutenant Watkins led a bayonet charge with his 30 remaining men against 50 enemy infantry, practically wiping them out. Finally, at dusk, separated from the rest of the battalion, he ordered his men to scatter and after he had personally charged and silenced an enemy machine-gun post, he brought them back to safety. His superb leadership not only saved his men, but decisively influenced the course of the battle.

His Victoria Cross is on display in the Welch Regiment Museum located in Cardiff Castle.

Legal career

He later achieved the rank of major, and on leaving the army, entered the legal profession. He was called to the bar in 1948 and became a barrister at the Middle Temple. He became a QC in 1965 and in 1966 served as deputy to Sir Elwyn Jones on the tribunal into the Aberfan disaster. He became a High Court judge in 1971, the same year in which he was knighted. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal and became a Privy Counsellor in 1980. He later became deputy lord chief justice.

Welsh Rugby Union

Watkins played Rugby Union as an outside-half for the Army, Cardiff RFC and Glamorgan Wanderers. He became president of the Welsh Rugby Union in 1993, overseeing the switch from the amateur era to professionalism and the move from club to regional rugby in Wales. When he stepped down on 26 September, 2004 he became the first man since Sir David Rocyn Jones in 1953 to hold office for more than one season, and his 11 year of service made him the second longest serving president in the WRU's 123 year history. Watkins was appointed an honorary life vice patron of the WRU.^[2]

Other interests

Watkins served as president of the University of Wales College of Medicine for 11 years from 1987, and was president of the British Legion in Wales from 1947 to 1968. In April 2006 he was made a Freeman of the City of Cardiff, with Lord Mayor Freda Salway describing Watkins as "one of Wales' most notable citizens."^[3]

After falling at his home in Llandaff in August 2007, he was hospitalised at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Watkins died at the hospital on 9th September 2007.^[1][4]

References

See also

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)