Education & Career :

Land Surveyor (1908).
Adam Francis Burdett (20 August 1882 – 4 November 1918, aged 36) was a South African rugby union player from Oudtshoorn. He was killed in World War I, while serving as a captain in the South African Service Corps. He took part in the 1906–07 South Africa rugby union tour, the original 'Springbok' tour. He was awarded two caps in November 1906, one against Scotland and one against Ireland. He played for Western Province. He was 5 feet 10 inches, and weighed 12 stone 9 pounds.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Natural causes is attributed those deaths due to causes that were not directly associated with the war. Included in this are wartime deaths resulting from, for example, theSpanish Influenza pandemic and its associated pneumonia problems and other attributions such as age and exhaustion. It also groups those who through Post Traumatic Stress committed suicide as a result of their experiences.

Detail :

Book: Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War Pg220: "Strong fast and fair, the perfect sportman"
Adam Francis Burdett was born at Oudtshoorn, South Africa, on 20 August 1882. Educated at the Diocesan College, or Bishops as it is more commonly referred to, in the suburb of Rondebosch, Cape Town, he was described as being feet feet ten inches tall, and weighing some twelve stone and nine pounds. It was at Bishops that he, like hundreds of other boys, was to learn rugby. In a school that had turned out more good backs than forwards he was an exception. A good tackler and hard-working forward, he was at his happiest in the open where his clever footwork and pace rendered him both prominent and dangerous.

He went up to Bishop's in 1899 and, starting with the third team, received his senior cap the following year. He played regularly for the school, finally captaining them in 1905. After leaving school in 1906 he was selected to play for the Villagers. However, absence from the town kept him out of the team for most of the season. He was also selected for the forward division. He played a good game, but nothing exceptional, and his selection came as somewhat of a surprise. Still, on the tour in England, he had justified his place, playing some really good game, particularly in the Internationals in which he took part.

At the outbreak of the First War he joined up and found himself serving in Tanganyika, German East Africa. While there he contracted malaria from which he never recovered. He was shipped home where he died 4 November 1918, just seven days before the end of the war. He is buried in Thaba Tshwane (old No. 1) Military Cemetery.

International Matches
17 November 1906. Scotland (0) 6 vs South Africa (0) Hampden Park, Glasgow.
24 November 1906. Ireland (3) 9 vs South Africa (12) 15. Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast.
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Masonic :

Resigned and rejoined on 17th January 1911

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley