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SPORTS HISTORY BLOG

Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport

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There has been a notable movement in the last few years to rediscover the last resting places of famous Scottish footballers, and I have to applaud, in particular, the efforts of supporters at Celtic and Rangers in researching and recognising the pioneers of those clubs.
   This week the excellent Celtic Graves Society is co-ordinating a 125th anniversary celebration of the club's first match in 1888 by arranging for flowers to be placed on the graves of the eleven players in that match. Easier said than done: while eight of the players can be found within a few miles of Glasgow, the other three are in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania and Prague. Read about it at the Celtic Graves website or follow @celticgraves on twitter for updates and photos.
   Meanwhile on the other side of Glasgow, the fine work of the Gallant Pioneers website continues to promote the early history of Rangers. They have a regular Founders Trail to visit key places, and make the point - which applies to so many clubs: 'We were told often enough that people just weren't interested in the history of the Club but time and again the supporters have proved them wrong.'
   And just to prove how much interest there is, Gary Ralston's book on the Gallant Pioneers has just been republished in paperback by the author and is now selling briskly on Amazon.
   Regular visitors to this blog will know I've long had a similar interest in early Scotland internationalists, particularly those who played in the first match in 1872. Pictured above are two gravestones, for Joe Taylor (left) in Glasgow, and JJ Thomson in London. I've now located ten out of the eleven players, although not all have a headstone.
   The team captain, Robert Gardner, continues to elude me. He died in 1887 away from home, in South Queensferry, while working on the Forth Bridge project, and there is no record of a local burial. Chances are, therefore, that he was taken back to Glasgow but I have scoured the available burial records (on barely legible microfilm in the Mitchell Library) without success.  It's a challenge, certainly, but when I do find him I will be making sure he is properly commemorated.

Out of interest, here are the final resting places of the other ten, starting with those in Scotland:
James Smith (1876): Urquhart Old Cemetery, Elgin.
Joseph Taylor (1888): Cathcart Cemetery, Glasgow.
David Wotherspoon (1906): Southern Necropolis, Glasgow.
Alexander Rhind (1923): Tomnahurich Cemetery, Inverness.
William Muir Mackinnon (1942): Westburn Cemetery, Cambuslang.

Elsewhere:
Robert Leckie (1886): Olifants Bosch, South Africa.
James Biggar Weir (1889): Warrina, South Australia.
Robert Smith (1914): Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.
James John Thomson (1915): East Finchley Cemetery, London.
William Ker (1925): Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington DC.

The full stories of why they were in those far-flung places can, of course, be read in my book First Elevens: the birth of international football

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An important piece of Scottish sporting history is coming up for auction soon. This superb silver rowing trophy was awarded at the first Glasgow Regatta in 1829, held on the River Clyde. It was won by a boat called The Glasgow, belonging to James Hunter, which took part in the race of 'Four Oard Gigs pulled by Gentlemen'.  The trophy apparently turned up when a couple were clearing the house of an elderly uncle who had died, and it has been consigned to McTear's in Glasgow for their fine silver sale on 25 June. No estimate price available yet, but it is the kind of thing that I hope our national museum will pull out all the stops to bid for. See www.mctears.co.uk for further details. 
   The City of Glasgow Regatta is one of the oldest annual sporting events in the country, and is now at about the 185th edition. I am no expert on rowing, in fact it seems to have little recorded history in Scotland, but in the 19th century this event was a major attraction in the city and drew huge crowds to the banks of the Clyde. 1829 was, of course, also the year the Oxford v Cambridge boat race started, which gives some idea of the Glasgow Regatta's antiquity and importance.

Footnote: the trophy sold for £1,000 at McTears. See this link for a full description.
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The trophy may relate to this undated handbill in the Glasgow University archives. The first item is a rowing match for four-oared gigs, the prize being a silver bowl presented by John May Esq.

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There's often something unexpected when researching old footballers, but I had never come across the Fremantle Lumpers' Union before now. But they helped to solve a mystery that has been challenging me recently: what happened to Charles Winton Heggie?
   Heggie was a Rangers forward in the 1880s, not one of the greats but he had a fine eye for goal and was duly selected to play for Scotland against Ireland in March 1886. He was the outstanding player in a 7-2 victory, scoring no less than four of Scotland's goals - yet he was never capped again. He wound down his career at St Bernard's in Edinburgh, and was also an occasional referee, but there was no indication as to what happened to him after that. With an unusual name, it was little difficulty to confirm his date of birth (26 September 1862), a marriage in 1886 to Mary McIntosh, and a son William born in 1889. The family were in the 1891 census in Glasgow, with the father recorded as a spirit shopman. I subsequently tracked Mary Heggie and young William to Detroit in the USA, and it seemed they emigrated around 1892. But where was Charlie? There were no death or census records here or in the USA, and he seemed to have simply vanished.
   The breakthrough came in an entirely unexpected location, and it was thanks to a memorial advert placed by the good old Fremantle Lumpers' Union in the Western Australian newspaper: 'The members of the above Union are respectfully invited to follow the remains of their late comrade, Mr Charles Winton Heggie, of Wharf Street, Queen's Park, and formerly of Cottesloe, to the place of interment, the Presbyterian Cemetery, Karrakatta.' He had died in Perth, Australia, on 15 July 1925, and I soon found further death notices inserted by his wife - but not his first wife. It all became clear, Heggie had deserted Mary or perhaps the other way round, and both had emigrated in opposite directions to the other side of the world. Once in Australia, he remarried a woman called Emily Perkin in 1906, and started a second family.
   All the remained was to find out what a Lumper is, or was. It's not hard to guess, they lump things around at the docks in Fremantle, the seaport next to Perth, and it seems they were quite a big thing in that part of the world. I've yet to find out what Heggie's exact role was with them, but the mystery of what happened to another Scotland international has finally been put to rest.

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All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.