Ron Stewart New Zealand All Blacks training jersey acquired by the Yorkshire County player Godfrey Scarth on the occasion of the match played at Bradf

Ron Stewart New Zealand All Blacks training jersey acquired by the Yorkshire County player Godfrey Scarth on the occasion of the match played at Bradford during the ''Invincibles'' Tour of 1924-25, by Hornig's Ltd., Cuba Street, Wellington, no silver fern emblem, black wool, padding across shoulders and upper back & chest, leather strip along collar and neck line, original lacing, the back applied with a large white cloth patch, inscribed in ink R. STEWART, 24, BRADFORD, OCT 18, 1924, and also bearing a pen & ink profile head portrait, some areas of wool damaged or eaten, but overall in reasonably good condition The loose-head Stewart was one of the youngest members of the 1924-5 ''Invincibles'' who made an unbeaten tour of the United Kingdom, France and Canada. Affected by injuries, he only appeared in ten of the thirty two matches and missed most of the second half of the tour. One of the games where he started was in the match v Yorkshire at Lidget Green, Bradford, 18th October 1924. New Zealand beat their hosts convincingly 42-4. On this occasion the Bradford & Yorkshire player Godfrey Scarth, who was the grandfather of the present consignor, acquired the shirt from Stewart. Scarth's Yorkshire County representative cap that he was awarded for this match is being offered as the previous lot. Standing 6' 1''and weighing between 14 & 15 stone, Stewart was very fast for a big man, and a fine line out leaper. He played 39 times for New Zealand. His record of five tests would have been much improved if matches against New South Wales, the only rugby playing state in Australia at that time, had been regarded as tests. At the end of World War II Stewart was one of the selectors of the ''Kiwis'' Army team which toured Great Britain. He also served as selector and on the management committee of the Southland Union in 1950. Ron Stewart died in Queenstown, Otago, 15th December 1982 aged 78. The present jersey was made by Hornig's but is not part of the official kit issued by the NZRFU for the 1924 Tour. It looks to be earlier in date than this, with its leather collar. It would seem that Ron Stewart brought over the jersey in a private capacity to train in. However with the team being supplied with ample jerseys to both play and train in, it was surplice to requirements. As such Stewart was able to present this jersey to his Yorkshire opponent Godfrey Scarth on the occasion of the Bradford match, most likely in an exchange for an item of Yorkshire kit. William Francis Hornig opened a menswear store in Cuba St, Wellington - ''Hornig's'' in 1907. Hornig was a keen rugby player for many seasons turning out for the Wednesday competition for Oriental RFC. Eventually he joined the club committee and was made a life member of that club. He joined the Wellington Rugby Union Committee in 1911. In 1909 there are reports of Hornig's being one of the official sellers of Athletic Park season tickets. In 1919 Hornig became Chair of the WRFU. By 1920 Hornig's is reported as ''Their reputation for football jerseys is so widely known that this season they sold over one hundred dozen, and sent jerseys further north than Auckland and as far south as Invercargill.'' Hornig joined the NZRFU Management committee 1923-28 and there is acknowledgement that Hornig's also supplied some of the jerseys while he was in that office. Hornig's went into receivership in 1933.