Ernest E Booth, 1905 All Black, 1874-18/10/1935.

Ernest E Booth, 1909. Ref: PAColl-6776. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22408969

MR E. E. BOOTH. 

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Mr E. E. Booth, one of the 1900 All Blacks, died yesterday in Christchurch, at the age of 59. Mr Booth, who lived at Hampden, North Otago, came to Christchurch to see the Ranfurly Shield match between Otago and Canterbury recently, his state of health compelling him to travel in a bath chair. The journey, however, so affected him that he was unable to return, and a fatal illness developed. In Mr Booth’s first year in provincial football he was chosen as one of the All Blacks. His career in big football was short, and he represented Otago for the last time in 1907.  -Ashburton Guardian, 19/10/1935.

FAMOUS ALL BLACK DEAD

E. E. BOOTH'S CAREER 

MUCH TRAVELLED FOOTBALLER 

Mr Ernest Edward Booth, one-time famous Otago Rugby player and noted All Black, died in Christchurch yesterday after being laid aside for some time, at the age of 69 years, and his passing will be mourned by all who admired one of the keenest of footballers, a great player, and a true sportsman. 

Few names were better known in the Rugby world than that of E. E. Booth, and the famous old-time Otago Rugby player had a reputation that was much more than Dominion-wide. He was a splendid full-back, one of the best Otago ever produced, but he played many fine games as a three-quarter, and was probably one of the most versatile players that ever wore the New Zealand livery. Better known as the “General,” Mr Booth was a very popular player, and as a member of the Athletic Club (Oamaru), and later of the Kaikorai Club, he represented Otago on 28 occasions between 1896 and 1908 (inclusive), though the greater number of these games were played during the early part of the present century. He played for the South Island in 1902-04-06, and was a member of the Original All Blacks that toured Great Britain in 1905-06. He again represented New Zealand in a tour of Australia in 1907, and was one of the few New Zealand representative players who also represented New South Wales. 

Mr Booth played for New South Wales in 1908 and 1909, and for Australia against the “Wallabies ” on their return from Great Britain in 1909. He also played for the Leicester Club in England. 

Appropriately enough, the late Mr David Booth, E. E. Booth’s father, was an old York player in England, and was also a cousin of the Yorkshire and England players, Donald and Dinnie Jowett. Mr Ernest Booth came from Maheno, North Otago, but his first inkling of the game was gleaned in Wellington, where he attended the Willis Street School, later going to the Terrace and Clyde Quay Schools. The primary schools in Wellington then played for the Poneke Bowl, which was presented for annual competition by the famous club of that name. At that time Mr Booth played with Billy Wallace, Charlie Bush, Len McKenzie, Ken Tucker (afterwards well known as a New Zealand cricketer), Ed. Hayes, Kember, and others who became prominent later in Wellington representative football. 

Subsequently Mr Booth was prominently associated with the Gisborne High School, under the late Mr Morgan, a rabid Welsh Rugbyite. He later introduced Rugby at Bondi and played for the Randwick thirds, in which he was termed the “Maori.” 

Returning to Otago, he played first at Hampden, and then gradually drifted into North Otago Sub-union representative teams, first playing for Athletic in 1896 and afterwards for Oamaru until 1899. 

He first played for Otago against Southland in 1896, and in 1900 he joined up with the Kaikorai Club, journeying from Hampden, a distance of 57 miles, to play every week. He toured north that year with the Otago team, which he always considered one of the strongest he ever played in. He was a member of Otago touring teams again in 1904 and 1906, and he always considered the period from 1900 to 1907 one of the best in Otago’s history, which was not perhaps so much in evidence in representative football as in club games. 

In 1905 E. B. Booth went Home with the original All Blacks, the team that earned the appellation that each successive All Black team bears. Quite unconsciously Mr Booth was-partially responsible for the name. 

One day many of the players were training at West Ealing, a suburb of London, and the late John Buttery, of the ‘Daily Mail,’ was conversing with Mr Booth regarding notes on players, etc., as Booth was helping the 'Daily Mail’ on the tour. 

Gallaher and Gillett each wore black belts, and their elastic kneelets and anklets were dyed black. Mr Buttery queried what was the or this. “Oh,” said Mr Booth quite jocularly, “just to be all black.” Buttery merely said: “All black — a great idea.”  Then he boomed the name every day in the ‘Daily Mail,’ and the other papers snapped up the very apt phrase. 

In 1908 Mr Booth went to New South Wales on business, and began playing with the Newtown Club, which won the competition for the first time. He captained the team for two or three years, during which it won the competition. He represented New South Wales, playing through Queensland, and also in 1909 for Australia against the Wallabies on their return from Great Britain. Booth accompanied this team on their British tour, representing the Australian Press. The Newtown team toured all Queensland undefeated in 1911, travelling more than 6,000 miles from Cairns south. 

In 1908-09 he stopped in England for some time, and played several matches for Leicester in the Midlands. There were seven internationals in the team, and yet the famous Harlequins came along and beat them. Included in their team were Adrian Stoop, Birket, De Lambert, and other football notables. 

During the war he received a commission in the Australian forces, and was delegated almost continually to sports, entertainment, and Press work. In France he refereed in an interbrigade match near Hazelbrouck under shell fire, one ball being missed through a shell explosion. Following his return from the war, Mr Booth was in Southland acting as coach for the Southland Rugby Union, and in 1924 he accompanied the invincible All Blacks on their epoch making tour as a representative of the Australian Press Association. Then, finally, having business in England, he accompanied the Maori Rugby team through most of its tour of Great Britain and France, writing for North Island papers. 

Wherever he was Mr Booth showed interest in the game he loved so well, helping it along, coaching schools, advising players, and generally making a hobby of promoting the welfare of the game for the game’s sake. 

He had no enemies. his genial disposition won for him friends everywhere he went, and when Otago won the Ranfurly Shield for the first time at Christchurch recently, there were expressions of pleasure on all side that the “Old General,” as he was so familiarly called, was able to see the game though he had to be taken to the match in a wheel chair. It was to be the last game he ever saw, but he thoroughly enjoyed it, and expressed his great pleasure at Otago’s victory. He returned from Australia last year, and since then had not enjoyed the best of health, though he retained his interest in the Rugby game to the very end.  -Evening Star, 19/10/1935.

Oamaru Cemetery.