Sammy Sampson

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Sammy Sampson
Birth nameRalph William Fraser Sampson
Date of birth(1913-09-26)26 September 1913
Place of birth Chile
Date of death31 January 2003(2003-01-31) (aged 89)
Place of death Bishopton, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1937-47 London Scottish ()
- Kelvinside-West ()
- Co-Optimists ()
Provincial / State sides
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1938 Blues Trial ()
1939 Scotland Probables ()
-
1947		 Middlesex
London Counties		 ()
International career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1939-47 Scotland 2 (0)
- Barbarians

Sammy Sampson (26 September 1913 – 31 January 2003) was a Scotland international rugby union player. [1]

Contents

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Sampson played for London Scottish. [2]

He played for the Co-Optimists. [3]

He played for Kelvinside-West. [4]

Provincial career

He played for Blues Trial against Whites Trial on 17 December 1938. [5]

He then played for Scotland Probables against Scotland Possibles on 14 January 1939. [6]

He played for Middlesex and London Counties after the Second World War. [7] He captained London against Australia in 1947 on Boxing Day. [8]

International career

He played for Scotland twice in the period 1939 to 1947. [9]

He also played for the Barbarians. [3]

Military career

He joined the London Scottish Territorials in 1937. When the war started he was commissioned in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders 6th battalion, but he transferred to the Royal Air Force. [3]

He was a Spitfire pilot in the Second World War. He joined the 602 City of Glasgow squadron. He flew in the Dieppe Raid and destroyed two Focke-Wulfs and damaged two Dorniers. [7] [10]

He then joined the 131 County of Kent squadron, and downed another five Focke-Wulfs. [7] [10]

He was appointed to command the Free French wing, and taught them how to fly the Spitfire. He flew 189 operations in the war. [7]

After the war, he commanded the West of Scotland Air Training Corps[ clarification needed ]. [7]

He wrote a book Spitfire Offensive: A Fighter Pilot's War Memoir recounting his actions. [3]

Business career

He was a managing director of Ault & Wiborg Company. This was a firm that supplied printing ink to newspaper groups. [7]

Family

His family were based in Chile and were railway entrepreneurs in the country. [7]

He married Margaret Lenny in 1946. They met at a London Scottish ball that same year. [7]

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References

  1. ↑ "Ralph William Fraser Sampson". ESPN scrum.
  2. ↑ The Essential History of Rugby Union:Scotland. Nick Oswald and John Griffiths. Headline Publishing. 2003.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Spitfire pilots and aircraft database - G/C Ralph William Fraser Sampson RAF". allspitfirepilots.org.
  4. ↑ "Register" . Retrieved 14 July 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  6. ↑ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Ralph Sampson Scottish rugby international hooker, leading industrialist, and distinguished Spitfire pilot". HeraldScotland. 21 February 2003.
  8. ↑ "Register" . Retrieved 14 July 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Sammy Sampson - Test matches". ESPN scrum.
  10. 1 2 "Sampson, Ralph William Fraser "Sammy" - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com.
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