William Ritchie (rugby union)

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William Ritchie
Birth nameWilliam Traill Ritchie
Date of birth(1882-03-11)11 March 1882
Place of birth Dunedin, New Zealand
Date of death22 May 1940(1940-05-22) (aged 58)
Place of death Timaru, New Zealand
University St John's College, Cambridge
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
Cambridge University ()
Provincial / State sides
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1903 Anglo-Scots ()
1905 Provinces District ()
International career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1905 Scotland 2 (0)

William Ritchie (11 March 1882 – 22 May 1940) was a Scotland international rugby union player. [1]

Contents

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He went to St John's College, Cambridge.

Ritchie played for Cambridge University. [2]

Provincial career

He played for Anglo-Scots against South of Scotland District on 26 December 1903, having played the day before for Cambridge University in their match against West of Scotland at Partick. [3]

He played for the Provinces District side against the Cities District side in January 1905, while still with Cambridge University. [4]

International career

He was capped by Scotland twice, in 1905. [5]

Military career

He served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, in the 40th Reinforcements, New Zealand Field Artillery in the First World War. [6] He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). [7]

Family

Both his father and grandfather were ministers in the Church of Scotland.

His father John Macfarlane Ritchie (1842-1912) was from Orkney. His mother was Ella McLaren (1853-1932) from Glasgow. Both had emigrated to the Scottish expatriate city of Dunedin in New Zealand; and they married there in 1875. They had a number of sons, including William, and one daughter. [6]

William married Dorothy Cecil Dibbs (1883-1942) from Sydney, Australia in 1909. They had 3 children. [6] One son, Dennis Gordon Ritchie, was in the Royal New Zealand Air Force and died in a forced landing at Ardmore Airport in New Zealand in 1944. His body was pulled from the wreckage but he died in the hospital. [8]

Death

William Ritchie died in Bidwill Private Hospital in Timaru. He is buried in Timaru Cemetery. [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "William Traill Ritchie". ESPN scrum.
  2. ↑ Scotland. The Essential History of Rugby Union. Nick Oswald and John Griffiths. Headline Book Publishing. 2003
  3. ↑ "Register" . Retrieved 7 August 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  5. ↑ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - William Ritchie - Test matches". ESPN scrum.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Profile | South Canterbury Museum". museum.timaru.govt.nz.
  7. ↑ "William Traill Ritchie - Online Cenotaph - Auckland War Memorial Museum".
  8. ↑ http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=38440
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