Lieutenant-Colonel Tony Novis
1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment

I hope A. L. Novis will be available by the time International Matches come along—how superbly he played in the Irish match at Twickenham! Those two tries of his—one scored on the wing by sheer determination, the other when he moved into the centre and went like a snipe through the defence—those two tries, to my mind, put the whole standard of International Rugby up a notch or two, for when such things are possible, we still have true descendants of the Golden Age.

(Howard Marshall, The Bystander, 27 Sep 1933, 566)

Born on 22 September 1906 in Malabar Hill, British India, Anthony Leslie Novis was a rugby union international player and captained the English national team in 1933. He was educated at Oxford University. He played for numerous rugby teams including Leicestershire FC, Blackheath, and the Army as a commissioned officer in the Leicestershire Regiment since 1929. After prewar service in Palestine, he served as a company commander with the 2nd Battalion in the Western Desert.

At the Battle of Sidi Barrani on 10/11 December 1940, Novis would later report, “The company captured so many prisoners that it was impossible to detail men to march them back, and the best thing one could do was disarm them and point in the general direction where prisoners were being collected and send them off without an escort.” For the fight against the Italian forces, he earned the Military Cross:

During this action Major Novis’ brilliant handling of his Coy & timing of the attack enabled them to get in with a minimum of casualties. Later in the day an enemy strong point was encountered in a heavy dust storm. No arty or mortar support was possible and the position was eventually captured after about an hour’s resistance, “D” Coy attacking frontally and “C” Coy round the flank. In the later stages of this attack major Novis was seriously wounded. Throughout the day, he handled his coy brilliantly displaying the greatest gallantry and was an example of calmness and courage under fire to the officers and men under him.

Three years later, Novis was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. He led the unit into Normandy to replace the 6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in 49th Infantry Division at the beginning of July 1944. He was wounded at the end of the month near Le Havre and evacuated to England. After recovery, he resumed command in July 1945 as part of the army of occupation in Germany. He later commanded the 2nd Battalion in India until 1948, and retired from the army six years later.

Novis died on 2 November 1997 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.