Under Gallaher's leadership the Originals won 34 out of 35 matches over the course of tour, including legs in France and North America; the New Zealanders scored 976 points and conceded only 59.

The Originals Gallaher captained during 1905–06 helped to cement rugby as New Zealand's national sport, but he was relentlessly pilloried by the British press for his role as wing-forward.

[5] After the struggling in his drapery business in Ramelton, James decided to emigrate with his family to New Zealand as part of George Vesey Stewart's Katikati Special Settlement scheme.

[6] In May 1878 the Gallaghers – minus the sick James Patrick who at eight weeks old was too weak to make the trip[b] – sailed from Belfast on the Lady Jocelyn for Katikati in the Bay of Plenty.

[16][17] As the family's poor quality land was insufficient to make a living, the children's mother Maria soon became the chief breadwinner after she obtained a position teaching for £2 a week at the new No.

[7] In January 1886 David spent a week in Auckland hospital undergoing surgery to treat stunted muscles in his left leg which had led to curvature of his spine.

[23] In the late 1890s Gallaher took employment at the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company as a labourer;[24] by the time of his deployment for the First World War two decades later he had risen to the position of foreman.

[40] After disembarking in South Africa at East London on 14 March 1901,[41] Gallaher's contingent immediately embarked for Pretoria,[42] and it was there that, as part of forces under the command of General Herbert Plumer,[43] they set about their task of "rid[ding] the Northern Transvaal of Boer guerrillas and sympathizers.

In a letter he composed to his sister while recovering he wrote: we have been all over S[outh] Africa pretty well I believe, on the trek the whole time and it looks as if we will be trekking till the end of the Chapter.

We have a fair share of the fighting all the time and I am still alive and kicking although I have had a couple of pretty close calls, one day I thought I would have to say good bye to old New Zealand but I had my usual luck and so came out all right[46]Between late December 1901 and early January 1902 Gallaher and his contingent were involved in a number of skirmishes.

[48] Describing a later encounter to his sister, Gallaher wrote: "We had a total of 22 killed and 36 injured and a few taken prisoners[;] it was a pretty mournful sight to see the Red Cross bearers cruising around the field fetching all the dead and wounded who were laying all over the place".

[85] A week into the voyage to Britain aboard the SS Rimutaka, rumours circulated that some of the southern players were unhappy with the appointment of Gallaher, and with what they perceived as an Auckland bias in the squad.

[89][90] During the voyage to England the team conducted training drills on the ship's deck; for this the forwards were coached by Gallaher and fellow player Bill Cunningham,[91] while Stead was in charge of the backs.

[92] Consequently, the services of the NZRFU-appointed coach Jimmy Duncan were not used; his appointment had caused opposition from many in the squad who believed his expertise was not required, and that an extra player should have been taken on tour instead.

Reaction to the match was mixed – the team were accompanied by a cheering crowd and marching band following the win, but Gallaher's play at wing-forward provoked some criticism in the press.

[106] The New Zealanders then comfortably defeated Gloucester and Somerset before facing Devonport Albion, the incumbent English club champions,[107] who had not lost at home in 18 months.

[105] Billy Wallace contended that the New Zealanders' form peaked with the win over Blackheath; he recalled that "after this game injuries began to take their toll and prevented us ever putting in so fine a team again on the tour.

[141][142] What happened next has provoked intense debate: Deans was tackled by the Welsh and either fell short of the try-line, or placed the ball over it before being dragged back.

[147] Gallaher was gracious in defeat, but Dixon was highly critical of both Dallas and the Welsh newspapers, who he accused of "violently and unjustly" attacking New Zealand's captain.

[80] Before the New Zealand squad left Britain for North America, the English publisher Henry Leach asked Stead and Gallaher to author a book on rugby tactics and play.

[160] The book showed the All Blacks' tactics and planning to be superior to others of the time,[58] and according to Matt Elliott is "marvellously astute";[161] it received universal acclaim on its publication.

"[171] The success of the Originals provoked plans for a professional team of players to tour England and play Northern Union clubs in what is now known as rugby league.

[175][p] The NZRFU was denied representation on the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) – composed exclusively of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh members – until 1948.

While awaiting for his call-up to begin training he learnt that his younger brother Company Sergeant-Major Douglas Wallace Gallaher had been killed while serving with the 11th Australian Battalion at Laventie near Fromelles on 3 June 1916.

[186] Biographer Matt Elliott describes it as a "myth" that Gallaher enlisted to avenge his younger brother;[187] rather he claims that it was most likely due to "loyalty and duty".

[184] During the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October 1917 Gallaher was fatally wounded by a piece of shrapnel that penetrated through his helmet, and he died later that day at the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, Gravenstafel Spur.

[203][204] In 2011 New Zealand's then oldest living All Black, Sir Fred Allen, unveiled a 2.7-metre (8 ft 10 in) high bronze statue of Gallaher beside one of the entrances at Eden Park in Auckland.

[214] Paul Verdon, in his history of All Black captains, Born to Lead, writes: "The overwhelming evidence suggests Gallaher's leadership style, honed from time spent in the Boer War, was very effective.

[215] According to historian Terry McLean: "In a long experience of reading and hearing about the man, one has never encountered, from the New Zealand angle, or from his fellow players, criticism of his qualities as a leader.

"[214] In the view of the English rugby journalist E. H. D. Sewell, writing soon after Gallaher's death, the New Zealand captain was "a very quiet, taciturn sort of cove, who spoke rarely about football or his own achievements ...