Lewis Robertson

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Lewis Robertson
Date of birth(1883-08-04)4 August 1883
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death2 November 1914(1914-11-02) (aged 31)
Place of death Ypres salient, Belgium
Rugby union career
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
Fettesian-Lorettonian ()
Edinburgh Wanderers ()
London Scottish ()
Army Rugby Union ()
Monkstown ()
United Services Portsmouth ()
Provincial / State sides
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1910 Edinburgh District ()
1911 Whites Trial ()
International career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1908–13 Scotland 9
----
Military career
Buried
AllegianceFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Service / branchFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
Years of service1903–1914
RankCaptain
Unit1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Battles / wars First World War

Captain Lewis Robertson (4 August 1883 – 3 November 1914) 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.

Contents

After leaving school, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and, passing out with honours, he joined the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1903. He was killed in World War I from wounds received in action at Ypres. He is buried at the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

Early life

Lewis Robertson was born on 4 August 1883, the third son of James, a wine merchant, and Agnes Rae Robertson of Edinburgh. [1] [2] His siblings were Agnes, William, James, Katherine, Jessie, and Frances. [3] He attended Cargilfield Preparatory School, and Fettes College, and then went on to RMC Sandhurst. [1]

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Robertson played rugby for Fettesian-Lorettonian, London Scottish, Monkstown, Edinburgh Wanderers, and United Services Portsmouth. He also represented RMC Sandhurst against RMA Sandhurst in 1902, and the Army in the annual match against the Navy from 1909 to 1914. In the last year, he was captain of the Army XV but he voluntarily offered to relinquish his position because he deemed himself out of form and unworthy of it, according to an article published after his death in Windsor Magazine . [1]

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District against Glasgow District in the 1910 inter-city match, while with Edinburgh Wanderers. Edinburgh District won the match 26–5. [4]

He played for the Whites Trial side against the Blues Trial side on 21 January 1911, while with London Scottish. He scored a drop goal in a 26–19 win for the Whites. [5]

International career

He earned nine caps for Scotland between 1908 and 1913. [6] The first was against England in March 1908, and three years passed before he was selected a second time, for the match against Wales in February 1911. The following year, 1912, he played in every game for Scotland (except the France match), including the one against the South African side on tour of the Home Nations. He was selected for the France match but did not play due to a family bereavement. In 1913, he played in the three matches against the Home Nations, his last against England in a close-fought match at Twickenham, which the home side won by one try to nil. [7]

International appearances

OppositionScoreResultDateVenueRef(s)
Flag of England.svg  England 16–10Win21 March 1908Inverleith [8]
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 10–32Lost4 February 1911Inverleith [9]
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 21–6Lost3 February 1912Swansea [10]
IRFU flag.svg  Ireland 10–8Lost24 February 1912Lansdowne Road [11]
Flag of England.svg  England 8–3Won16 March 1912Inverleith [12]
South Africa Flag 1910-1912.svg  South Africa 0–16Lost23 November 1912Inverleith [13]
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 0–8Lost1 February 1913Inverleith [14]
IRFU flag.svg  Ireland 29–14Won22 February 1913Inverleith [15]
Flag of England.svg  England 3–0Lost15 March 1913Twickenham [16]

Military career

Memorial to the 133 rugby players killed in the Great War, at Fromelles Rugby players memorial at Fromelles.jpg
Memorial to the 133 rugby players killed in the Great War, at Fromelles

Robertson passed out of RMC Sandhurst with honours, and joined the 1st Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders as Second Lieutenant on 22 April 1903. [1] [17] His regiment transferred to Dublin in 1905. [7] He was promoted to Lieutenant effective 11 March 1909. [18] In January 1911, he was appointed an Assistant Superintendent of Gymnasia. [19] At the outbreak of the First World War, Robertson was recalled to the depot in Inverness, and was then briefly at Aldershot before his regiment crossed to France in September 1914 to fight on the Aisne. [7] On 2 November 1914, Robertson was in the trenches at Ypres, when he was wounded in the arm. After having the wound dressed, he returned to his company and was wounded a second time, more seriously, and he died the following day. [1]

He is buried at the Ypres Reservoir Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery (Grave II. A. 4.) [2] and is also among the 133 names of rugby players killed in the Great War on the memorial at Fromelles in north France.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Clutterbuck & Dooner 1917, p. 335.
  2. 1 2 "Casualty Details: Robertson, Lewis". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
  3. McEwen 2014.
  4. "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search".
  5. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000576/19110123/110/0009.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Lewis Robertson at ESPNscrum
  7. 1 2 3 Sewell 1919.
  8. "Scotland v England".
  9. "Scotland v Wales".
  10. "Wales v Scotland".
  11. "Ireland v Scotland".
  12. "Scotland v England".
  13. "Scotland v South Africa".
  14. "Scotland v Wales".
  15. "Scotland v Ireland".
  16. "England v Scotland".
  17. "No. 27545". The London Gazette . 21 April 1903. pp. 2529–2530.
  18. "No. 28242". The London Gazette . 16 April 1909. p. 2968.
  19. "No. 28458". The London Gazette . 20 January 1911. p. 501.

Bibliography

Further reading