Birth name | Alexander William Angus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 24 February 1889 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 22 May 1915 26) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Hooge, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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James Pearson (24 February 1889 – 22 May 1915) was a Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Centre. At the First World War, Pearson joined the Royal Scots as a soldier; he was killed in Second Battle of Ypres. [1]
Pearson was born in Dalkeith, Midlothian. He was educated at George Watson's College, where he played cricket for the Watsonians. A friend encouraged him to take up rugby as well, and he soon excelled at that as well. [2]
He played for Edinburgh District against Glasgow District in the 1910 inter-city match. Edinburgh won the match 26-5. [3]
He served as a Private with the 9th Battalion, Royal Scots during the war. Following the Second Battle of Ypres, he was shot and killed by a sniper while going for water in Sanctuary Wood in May 1915. [4]
He is buried at Sanctuary Wood Cemetery (plot VE 27) but also remembered on the special memorial to the 133 rugby players killed in the Great War, at Fromelles in north France. [5]
The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the Black Watch, the Highlanders, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 52nd Lowland Regiment, and 51st Highland Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland. However, after just a few months the battalion merged with the Royal Scots Battalion to form the Royal Scots Borderers.
The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers which was later itself merged with the Royal Scots, King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Black Watch, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Highlanders to form a new large regiment, the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Ludovic Stuart was a Scotland international rugby union player.
Dr. James Robertson Campbell Greenlees FRSE DSO & Bar was a Scottish rugby union footballer, physician and teacher. As a sportsman he played club rugby for Cambridge University R.U.F.C. and Kelvinside Academicals RFC and international rugby for Scotland. After leaving international rugby he became a referee, officiating at Test level.
Eric "Puss" MacLeod Milroy was a rugby union player who represented Scotland and Watsonians. He was capped twelve times for Scotland between 1910 and 1914, his first appearance coming as a surprise replacement for the Scottish captain, George Cunningham. He was selected for the 1910 British Isles tour to South Africa after other players were forced to withdraw. Due to illness, he only participated in three matches, and did not take part in any of the tests against South Africa. In 1914, he captained Scotland against Ireland, and against England in the last international match before the outbreak of the First World War.
Frederick Harding Turner was a Scotland international rugby union player.
Capt. William Ramsay Hutchison was a Scottish international rugby union player. He was killed in World War I.
Captain Lewis Robertson was a Scottish rugby union player. He played for London Scottish FC and was capped nine times for Scotland between 1908 and 1913. He also played for the Army from 1904 to 1914, and several other clubs.
William "Willie" Middleton Wallace was a rugby union player. He played fullback for Cambridge University RFC and was capped for Scotland in 1913–14.
Pte. Andrew Ross was a Scottish rugby union player from Edinburgh. He worked in the Merchant Navy as a marine engineer. He played for Royal High School FP and was capped several times for Scotland between 1905 and 1909.
George Holmes Gallie was a Scotland international rugby union player, who played at prop.
Glasgow District is a Scottish amateur rugby union team which plays in the amateur Scottish Inter-District Championship. The side evolved into the professional provincial side Glasgow Warriors when the Scottish Rugby Union embraced professionalism. However the amateur district is still used for the representation of amateur players in the Inter-District Championship; and this amateur championship guides the selection of Scotland Club XV international players.
Between August and November 1914, sixteen Heart of Midlothian Football Club players enlisted to fight in World War I. In doing so, they became the first British team to sign up en masse. The majority joined the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots, otherwise known as McCrae's Battalion. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the British Army lost nearly 20,000 men, including three of Hearts footballers who had signed up. The war ended up claiming the lives of seven of the Hearts players who had enlisted, with several others returning so severely wounded they were unable to play football again.
Edinburgh District is a Scottish amateur rugby union team which plays in the amateur Scottish Inter-District Championship. It draws its players mainly from the Edinburgh area, as well as others from the rest of east central Scotland; roughly corresponding to the old Lothian regional council area. Historically the Edinburgh District team played matches against touring teams visiting Scotland from abroad, and also competed in the Scottish Inter-District Championship.
Scotland's District rugby union sides are provincial representative teams, that in the amateur era capped the best amateur players from their area's club sides to play inter-district matches and matches against touring sides. These districts still survive at amateur level playing in an amateur Inter-District Championship and age-grade. The professional teams Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby remain provincial sides based on the traditional districts.
John Boswell was a Scotland international rugby union player. He was the 25th President of the Scottish Rugby Union. He served in the military in the Boer War and the First World War and won the Serbian medal Order of the White Eagle in 1917. He was a Writer to the Signet and owned Garallan House near Cumnock.
James Bishop was a Scotland international rugby union player.
Thomas Bowie was a Scotland international rugby union player.
Arthur Laing was a Scotland international rugby union player.
The 9th Battalion, Royal Scots was the highland (kilted) battalion of the Royal Scots. Formed in 1900 as a part-time Volunteer Force battalion in Edinburgh, in 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, it became a Territorial Force battalion. During the First World War it served on the Western Front. Post-war it was amalgamated with the 7th Battalion to form 7th/9th Royal Scots. Notable members of the battalion include James Pearson, Arthur Farrimond, Jimmy Broad, Robert Dudgeon, Major Archibald Alexander Gordon, Walter Lyon, FCB Cadell and William Geissler.