Lot-et-Garonne: The Incredible Story of Edward Josiah Horton, the Englishman Who Introduced Rugby to Alfred Armandy and Agen

Jean Dionis enthuses: “I have a scoop, real”. Last Friday, the big day for the opening of the new Alfred-Armandy Stadium, the temple of SUA rugby he is an ardent supporter of, Agen’s mayor announced that he had found a trace of Player 0 in Agen. The first player is the one who sent us the virus.” In the process, he tells the extraordinary story of Edward Josiah Horton, excerpts of which we reported in the Saturday, October 8 edition.. Jean Dionis’s words evaporated in the blink of an eye. No one realizes how amazing this story is.
Ten days before revealing this scoop, Mayor Lawrence receives an SMS from Valle. The Clarence native is a chartered accountant at Marmonte and Donaines. He was Mayor of Marmonte (2014-2020) when he was Heritage and Culture Assistant to Daniel Benguet. He is very deep into his family history.

He was expelled from England

Browsing through the papers a few days before the commencement ceremony at Armandi, he came across an article inspired by the front pages of SUA’s Golden Book. In the latter, “the idea of ​​playing rugby in Agen was born in 1900 from a very fortuitous meeting of a high school English reader, a dentist, his companion and a certain Alfred Armandi. The three were interested in water sports and boxing. […] Young athletes brought over from England and learned the rules of the new game.
Laurence Vallee knows that his grandfather was a dentist in Agen, as was Alfred Armandi. Lawrence’s maiden name was Hardern. Then she asks her grandfather Edward. He tells him about the eventful life of his own father: Edward Josiah Hardern, born December 3, 1859 in Leamington (Warwickshire, Great Britain) and died May 19, 1938 in Agen.
“At college, Lawrence Wale smiled and befriended Edward Josiah Hardern, a rugby enthusiast and one of Queen Victoria’s sons. Neither boy was persistent. Even after dissolution. His Majesty did not like this relationship. “Especially, says Jean Dionis, because this handsome man, who had learned rugby in the public schools, would be very close… to the Queen’s ladies”. This puts him out of English territory. “He has to join the Royal Navy for five years,” continues Mrs Vale.

Damage at Tonneins

He will discover the world. He travels and settles. He studied dentistry in London. He joined the English community of Bordeaux. He was welcomed with open arms as the British were famous for dental implants at that time.
One day, the boatman boards a sailboat, no doubt out of nostalgia. He wants to go to Caron Agen. His boat was damaged at “Les Roches” in Tonneins. No one in the area knows English except the college director’s daughter. Her name is Anne Elisabeth Celina Courtines. She was the great-grandmother of Lawrence Vallee.

The doctor who delivered his son Philip Cella

After this collection of family stories, Lawrence Valle wrote an SMS to Jean Dionis. He immediately called her. Pascal Genest also joined. He is the director of the Departmental Archives of the Agency. He makes a note for Agen Meyer.
“The marriage certificate of Edward Josiah Hordern and Anne Elisabeth Celina Courtines,” he writes, indicates that Edward Josiah, then 33, had already established himself as a dental surgeon in Agen at 24 boulevard de la Republic. The couple had three children, John on March 22, 1984, Agnes three years later, and finally Edward Hardern.
The conclusion of Pascal Genest’s note confirms Edward’s account and opens a new path: “It is quite possible that the English dentist Edward Josiah Hordern. Over 40 in 1900, he had a decisive influence on the young Alfred Armandi (the “e” was later added to his surname), then a young man, and imported from Agen from Great Britain Rugby. It was necessary to find a high school English reader, perhaps connected with Mr. Boulder, the English teacher at Agen High School, who was appointed by the mayor of Agen in 1893 to translate the documents given by Hardern. Marriage”.
But the story takes a turn for the worse. Lawrence Vallee’s grandfather, Edward, was a physician in Clarke. On February 14, 1962, Valentine’s Day, he took his bike to give birth to a certain Philippe Cella. 111 caps for the French team, an exceptional champion, he is a living legend of SUA. Just a stone’s throw away from the enclosure, the playing field was also inaugurated just before the inauguration of the Armandi stadium on Friday. It bears the name of Philippe Cella.