Herbert Henry Messenger (1883 - 1959)

Born 12 Apr 1883 in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Annie Maud (Carroll) Messenger — married 1911 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Annie Elizabeth (Thurecht) Messenger — married 1 Sep 1927 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died 24 Nov 1959 at age 76 in Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Russell Butler [send private message] and Australia Project WikiTree [send private message]

Herbert Messenger is managed by the Australia Project. Join: Australia Project Discuss: australia

Biography

Herbert Messenger is Notable.

Dally Messenger was one of Australia's first professional rugby footballers, recognized as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. 'The Master', as he was dubbed, represented New Zealand in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. While standing only 172cm (5' 7") in height, he was a powerful runner of the ball and a solid defender. He played for New South Wales in the very first match run by the newly created New South Wales Rugby Football League which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.

Dally Messenger

Formative years

Herbert Henry 'Dally' Messenger was born on 12th April 1883 in Balmain, New South Wales (Australia). ^[1][2] He was the third son of Charles Messenger, a boat builder from Surrey, England, and Melbourne-born Anne Atkinson. He grew up in another of Sydney's harbour-front suburbs, Double Bay, where his father owned a boat shed. It was whilst he attended Double Bay Public School that he 'earned' his nickname of 'Dally'; his potbelly as a child reminded people of the New South Wales premier, W B Dalley; without the 'e'. It was here also that he honed his rugby skills, while also playing cricket and indulging his other great sporting loves, sailing and canoeing. ^[1]

Rugby Union

Messenger first took up competitive rugby in 1900, playing for a local rugby union club called the Warrigals. After five years of persistently rejecting calls by officials of the Eastern Suburbs RUFC to move up to Sydney's grade competition, Messenger made the move in 1905, playing in the second grade. He began the 1906 season in first grade. He immediately won a following amongst the club's supporters due to his mesmeric ball skills, cheeky tricks, blistering acceleration, and accurate kicking game off either foot. He was selected as a centre for the New South Wales team that year and for Australia the following year. When talk of a professional rugby competition, or a rugby league, was being aired, Messenger was instantly interested in the development. He signed on with the new professional code in 1907. After he became a professional rugby league footballer, Messenger's rugby games were struck from the record books of the New South Wales Rugby Union and not restored for 100 years. ^[1]

Rugby League

Messenger played in the rebel series against a professional New Zealand team, the 'All Golds', and was invited to tour England with the New Zealand professional side. On arrival back in Australia, Dally played with the Eastern Suburbs club (now the Sydney Roosters) of the newly formed New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL). His popularity helped showcase the new game and the NSWRFL took full advantage of this. He was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was the debut match of the Australia national rugby league team. In rugby league's first year, besides playing for his club, Messenger made representative appearances for Metropolis (Sydney), NSW, and Australia as well as for New Zealand and, in one case, Queensland, he also represented Australasia. Towards the end of the 1908 season, Messenger was again selected to tour England, this time with the first Kangaroos, or 'Pioneers'. He captained Australia in the first two tests of the tour, missing the third through a knee injury. He was captain of Australia when they hosted the 1910 Great Britain Lions tourists. ^[1]

Marrying Annie Macaulay nee Carroll in 14th October 1911 at Sydney,^[3] Dally stood down from the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, instead leading his club to its first premiership. ^[4] For each of the three consecutive seasons 1910, 1911, and 1912 he was the NSWRFL's top point scorer. He led his club to a second premiership in 1912 and followed that with a third consecutive premiership in 1913. Retiring aged thirty years, he was awarded Life Membership of the NSW Rugby League in 1914. ^[1]

Life after 'footy'

After the end of his football career, Messenger joined Annie in running her Albion Hotel until 1917 when he briefly tackled a banana plantation at Buderim, Queensland. In July of that year, they became proprietors of the Royal Hotel, Manilla, New South Wales. ^[5]

After Annie died of influenza in 1919, Messenger obtained work as a carpenter in the NSW Department of Public Works. None of his various business opportunities proved to be as successful as his playing career. ^[5]

He married 47 year-old spinster, Annie Elizabeth Thurecht, on 1st September 1927 at Sydney. ^{[6] [7]} They had no children. Annie passed away in 1951 at Sydney.

Dally Messenger passed away, aged 76 years, on 24th November 1959 whilst visiting Gunnedah, New South Wales, six days after suffering a heart attack. He is buried in Botany Cemetery (Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park), Matraville, New South Wales. ^{[8][9] [10]} He was survived by his son, Dally, his two youngest brothers, and several nieces and nephews.

Legacy

• The Dally M Medal is awarded annually to the Australian rugby league's best player, as judged by an expert panel of commentators, whose votes are tallied at the conclusion of each regular playing season.
• The Dally Messenger Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground has been named after Messenger, in recognition of his many outstanding games of club and representative football.
• In 2003, he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
• In February 2008, he was named in a list of Australia's 100 greatest-ever players (1908–2007) commissioned by the NRL / ARL to celebrate the code's Australian centenary year. He went on to be named as an interchange player in the Australian rugby league's Team of the Century.
• Herbert 'Dally' Messenger was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. ^[11]
• Messenger was immortalized in 2008 by a life-size bronze sculpture created by artist Cathy Weiszmann and erected outside the Sydney Football Stadium.
• Messenger was inducted as a Rugby League Immortal in 2018. ^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Wikipedia profile: Dally Messenger; accessed 2 Nov 2019
2. ↑ official New South Wales birth death marriage record of birth has not yet been located
3. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #11527/1911
4. ↑ Marriage: "Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950"
   Nsw Pioneer Index - Federation Series 1889 - 1918; Registration Number: 11527
   Ancestry Record 1780 #3368104 (accessed 23 January 2023)
   Herbert H Messender's marriage to Annie M Macaulay in 1911 in Sydney, New South Wales.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Cunneen, Chris. Messenger, Herbert Henry (Dally) (1883–1959), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1986; accessed online 2 Nov 2019
6. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #10772/1927
7. ↑ Marriage: "Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011"
   Sydney Diocesan Archives, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61177 #484680 (accessed 23 January 2023)
   Herman Herbert Messenger (44) marriage to Annie Elizabeth Shurecht on 1 Sep 1927 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
8. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #34229/1959
9. ↑ : accessed 19 September 2020), memorial page for Herbert Henry “Dally” Messenger (12 Apr 1883–24 Nov 1959), Find a Grave Memorial no. 167381730, citing Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Matraville, Randwick City, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by Vox3000 (contributor 49056742)
10. ↑ Burial: "Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011"
    Sydney Diocesan Archives, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61177 #137974 (accessed 23 January 2023)
    Herbert Henry Messenger's burial was on 26 Nov 1959 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
11. ↑ Sport Australia Hall of Fame
12. ↑ Hauser, Liam. The Immortals of Australian Rugby League. Gelding Street Press, Sydney, 2019. ISBN 978-1-925946-03-1

See also:

• Wikipedia: Dally Messenger
• Wikidata: Item Q3012496, en:Wikipedia
• Hauser, Liam. The Immortals of Australian Rugby League. Gelding Street Press, Sydney, 2019. ISBN 978-1-925946-03-1.