SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport
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Today I gave the second of my talks on early sport in Scotland's capital, with The Birth of Rugby in Edinburgh.
It covers the origins of the handling game, from medieval beginnings through the haphazard games of the early 19th century, to the rapid developments that kicked off in the 1850s.
Rugby football arrived in Edinburgh in 1854 almost by accident, and by the end of the decade it had been adopted by the major schools because of the influence of Tom Brown's Schooldays and the cult of Muscular Christianity.
The event at the City Art Centre was part of the Edinburgh 900 celebration, and attracted a large audience.
For anyone unable to attend, I have now put the full illustrated talk into a single pdf document, which can be opened by clicking on this link.
You can also read my first talk, on The Birth of Football in Edinburgh at this link.
It covers the origins of the handling game, from medieval beginnings through the haphazard games of the early 19th century, to the rapid developments that kicked off in the 1850s.
Rugby football arrived in Edinburgh in 1854 almost by accident, and by the end of the decade it had been adopted by the major schools because of the influence of Tom Brown's Schooldays and the cult of Muscular Christianity.
The event at the City Art Centre was part of the Edinburgh 900 celebration, and attracted a large audience.
For anyone unable to attend, I have now put the full illustrated talk into a single pdf document, which can be opened by clicking on this link.
You can also read my first talk, on The Birth of Football in Edinburgh at this link.
The Scotland team that faced England in the first rugby international in 1871.
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The second of two rugby matches between Dollar and Alloa, played on 20 November 1869. [Alloa Journal, via British Newspaper Archive]
A couple of football match reports from 1869 caught my eye.
Dollar and Alloa, neighbouring towns in Clackmannanshire, were playing 15-a-side to rugby rules, and what really stood out was the name of the Dollar captain, which the papers gave variously as Bombajee Dadabhoy or Bomont G Daddabhoy.
He was clearly of Asian origin, and having previously written about the multi-ethnic nature of Scottish team sport in its earliest days, I was intrigued to find out more about a man who appears to be the first recorded Indian rugby player.
The correct spelling of his name was Bomanjee Dadabhoy, and he was one of three Parsi boys from Bombay [Mumbai] who had been sent to Scotland to finish their schooling at Dollar Institution (now Dollar Academy). They all feature in the school registers although Bomanjee does not appear to have devoted much time to study, only taking classes in Mathematics and Drawing.
Dollar and Alloa, neighbouring towns in Clackmannanshire, were playing 15-a-side to rugby rules, and what really stood out was the name of the Dollar captain, which the papers gave variously as Bombajee Dadabhoy or Bomont G Daddabhoy.
He was clearly of Asian origin, and having previously written about the multi-ethnic nature of Scottish team sport in its earliest days, I was intrigued to find out more about a man who appears to be the first recorded Indian rugby player.
The correct spelling of his name was Bomanjee Dadabhoy, and he was one of three Parsi boys from Bombay [Mumbai] who had been sent to Scotland to finish their schooling at Dollar Institution (now Dollar Academy). They all feature in the school registers although Bomanjee does not appear to have devoted much time to study, only taking classes in Mathematics and Drawing.
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name appears in the Dollar Institution class register, although he appears not to have attended many classes! [from Dollar Academy Archive]
However, Bomanjee certainly made an impact on his fellow pupils, and a flavour of this comes in letters written by Alice Cadenhead, a 12-year-old boarder at the school. In November 1868 she told her parents about the newly-arrived Parsis: 'They look so funny, they wear splendid ties all worked in every colour and little black caps of velvet with blue tassels coming over their shoulders.'
Another contemporary, Archibald Gibb, also recalled their arrival in a letter he wrote to the school magazine many years later: 'We had several Parsees from Central India, grown-up men they were who, when they arrived in Dollar, wore frock coats and fez caps, and were naturally objects of great interest to all the other boys.'
Bomanjee quickly got involved in social activities and was given a part in the school play, The Rose of Amiens. He then took up dancing, albeit to the despair of young Alice Cadenhead: 'I got that great fat Parsee for a Madrille. I could hardly dance for laughing and Boman didn't know anything about the dance, he just trotted about after me.' Two weeks later she wrote: 'I am oppressed by a Parsee who will dance with me, and he can't dance one bit but does nothing but tread on my toes.'
He was also active in sport, recorded as a cricket umpire and coming second in Throwing the Hammer at the school sports. But he must have been a keen rugby player as by the autumn he was named captain of the Dollar team, which was founded in 1868 and notionally independent of the school.
Bomanjee's team first travelled to Alloa on 23 October 1869, where the home team won comfortably by a goal and four tries to nil. Four weeks later, on 20 November, the Dollar side got their revenge, winning by a single goal (a converted try), helped by an 'uncommonly short' pitch of just 70 yards length.
The only other player named in either report was Matthew Brydie, the Alloa captain. Born in 1846, he was a solicitor who had recently graduated from Edinburgh University but sadly he went bankrupt in 1883. A couple of years later he was committed to an asylum in Edinburgh where he remained until his death in 1912.
Another contemporary, Archibald Gibb, also recalled their arrival in a letter he wrote to the school magazine many years later: 'We had several Parsees from Central India, grown-up men they were who, when they arrived in Dollar, wore frock coats and fez caps, and were naturally objects of great interest to all the other boys.'
Bomanjee quickly got involved in social activities and was given a part in the school play, The Rose of Amiens. He then took up dancing, albeit to the despair of young Alice Cadenhead: 'I got that great fat Parsee for a Madrille. I could hardly dance for laughing and Boman didn't know anything about the dance, he just trotted about after me.' Two weeks later she wrote: 'I am oppressed by a Parsee who will dance with me, and he can't dance one bit but does nothing but tread on my toes.'
He was also active in sport, recorded as a cricket umpire and coming second in Throwing the Hammer at the school sports. But he must have been a keen rugby player as by the autumn he was named captain of the Dollar team, which was founded in 1868 and notionally independent of the school.
Bomanjee's team first travelled to Alloa on 23 October 1869, where the home team won comfortably by a goal and four tries to nil. Four weeks later, on 20 November, the Dollar side got their revenge, winning by a single goal (a converted try), helped by an 'uncommonly short' pitch of just 70 yards length.
The only other player named in either report was Matthew Brydie, the Alloa captain. Born in 1846, he was a solicitor who had recently graduated from Edinburgh University but sadly he went bankrupt in 1883. A couple of years later he was committed to an asylum in Edinburgh where he remained until his death in 1912.
Bomanjee Dadabhoy is recorded as a member of the Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge in London in 1871
I have been trying to establish more about the life of Bomanjee Dadabhoy, who may well be the first non-white rugby footballer. However, tracking him down has proved a challenge, not helped by the variations in spelling his name.
However, what is clear is that after he left Dollar he went to London, where he can be found in the 1871 census lodging in Ladbroke Grove. He also signed up for The Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge, and from their records it can be established that he was born in Bombay about 1850, and had embarked on a career as a civil engineer.
Thereafter, the trail goes cold. He is listed in other masonic records, in Lahore in the 1880s and in Meerut a decade later, but I have been unable to find any records of Bomanjee in newspapers or family history sites. A Parsee Foot-Ball Club was active in Bombay in the early 1870s, but again he is not mentioned.
Bomanjee must have come from a prominent family to have been able to afford to go to Dollar, and was perhaps related to Dadabhoy Naoroji who became a British MP, but there are no obvious leads – nor have I found any photos. Any information would be welcome!
Two other Parsi boys went to Dollar at the same time, both of whom featured in the school prize lists. A little more is known about them: Hormusjee Pestonjee Cola spent some years at a boarding school on Merseyside before coming to Scotland, then returned to Bombay; and Sorabjee Cursetjee Cama attended University College School in London prior to Dollar, but sadly he never went home as he died of a fever in March 1870, aged 20.
The cosmopolitan nature of life at Dollar Institution at that time was emphasised by the presence of three Chinese pupils, Wei Ah Yuk, Wong Ching and Woo Ah See. They all performed well academically but do not seem to have been active on the sporting front.
While Bomanjee Dadabhoy's fleeting appearance in Scottish rugby gives just a tantalising glimpse, the wider picture of the story of Dollar Football Club's Parsi captain is that this is further evidence of Scottish sport being considerably more ethnically diverse than other parts of the UK in the 1860s and 1870s.
Prominent black and Asian sportsmen in Scotland of that era included James Robertson (Gambia, rugby), Alfred Clunies-Ross (Malay, rugby), Andrew Watson (Guyana, football), Robert Walker (Sierra Leone, football), Thomas Marten (Java/Chinese, football) and William Forman (USA, athletics).
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name can be added to that list, and I have little doubt that more will be discovered.
I would like to thank Janet Carolan, archivist at Dollar Academy, for her kind assistance in checking school archives and supplying contemporary records.
However, what is clear is that after he left Dollar he went to London, where he can be found in the 1871 census lodging in Ladbroke Grove. He also signed up for The Marquis of Dalhousie masonic lodge, and from their records it can be established that he was born in Bombay about 1850, and had embarked on a career as a civil engineer.
Thereafter, the trail goes cold. He is listed in other masonic records, in Lahore in the 1880s and in Meerut a decade later, but I have been unable to find any records of Bomanjee in newspapers or family history sites. A Parsee Foot-Ball Club was active in Bombay in the early 1870s, but again he is not mentioned.
Bomanjee must have come from a prominent family to have been able to afford to go to Dollar, and was perhaps related to Dadabhoy Naoroji who became a British MP, but there are no obvious leads – nor have I found any photos. Any information would be welcome!
Two other Parsi boys went to Dollar at the same time, both of whom featured in the school prize lists. A little more is known about them: Hormusjee Pestonjee Cola spent some years at a boarding school on Merseyside before coming to Scotland, then returned to Bombay; and Sorabjee Cursetjee Cama attended University College School in London prior to Dollar, but sadly he never went home as he died of a fever in March 1870, aged 20.
The cosmopolitan nature of life at Dollar Institution at that time was emphasised by the presence of three Chinese pupils, Wei Ah Yuk, Wong Ching and Woo Ah See. They all performed well academically but do not seem to have been active on the sporting front.
While Bomanjee Dadabhoy's fleeting appearance in Scottish rugby gives just a tantalising glimpse, the wider picture of the story of Dollar Football Club's Parsi captain is that this is further evidence of Scottish sport being considerably more ethnically diverse than other parts of the UK in the 1860s and 1870s.
Prominent black and Asian sportsmen in Scotland of that era included James Robertson (Gambia, rugby), Alfred Clunies-Ross (Malay, rugby), Andrew Watson (Guyana, football), Robert Walker (Sierra Leone, football), Thomas Marten (Java/Chinese, football) and William Forman (USA, athletics).
Bomanjee Dadabhoy's name can be added to that list, and I have little doubt that more will be discovered.
I would like to thank Janet Carolan, archivist at Dollar Academy, for her kind assistance in checking school archives and supplying contemporary records.
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To mark Black History Month, this is the story of a pioneering black rugby player.
Edwin Oxley was one of Scotland’s leading rugby players in the 1930s, captain of Edinburgh side Heriot's FP, yet he was never capped by his country. According to some accounts, including his old school, the reason for this snub was that he was black.
However, while he was undoubtedly discriminated against in a time of endemic racism, there is perhaps a more prosaic reason for his non-selection for Scotland: he was born in England. In fact, he spent the first 13 years of his life in Staffordshire before he was able to join his birth mother in Edinburgh.
His father was James Oxley, a black medical student from Trinidad at Edinburgh University. While in Scotland he had a relationship with Isabella Nichol, the unmarried daughter of a local joiner, and when she fell pregnant she went far away to Burton-on-Trent to have the baby, presumably to avoid the inevitable stigma of an illegitimate child, and a black one at that.
However, while he was undoubtedly discriminated against in a time of endemic racism, there is perhaps a more prosaic reason for his non-selection for Scotland: he was born in England. In fact, he spent the first 13 years of his life in Staffordshire before he was able to join his birth mother in Edinburgh.
His father was James Oxley, a black medical student from Trinidad at Edinburgh University. While in Scotland he had a relationship with Isabella Nichol, the unmarried daughter of a local joiner, and when she fell pregnant she went far away to Burton-on-Trent to have the baby, presumably to avoid the inevitable stigma of an illegitimate child, and a black one at that.
The Heriot's FP team of 1929, Scottish champions for the second successive year. Edwin Oxley is in the back row, second from right.
Born on 4 May 1907 in a small terraced house in Burton, the infant Edwin was fostered to a local family, his foster mother Mary Lukin taking care of him until he was 13, while he attended school in the town.
Meanwhile his parents did marry in Edinburgh early in 1910, using the Scottish system of 'marriage by declaration' but it appears to have been purely for practical reasons as six weeks later his father sailed for America, never to return. Dr James Edwin Tyndall Oxley, who had just graduated with first class honours in medicine, settled in Pennsylvania, where he married for a second time in 1919 (apparently without seeking a divorce) and raised another family. He died in 1927 of pneumonia.
Edwin's mother, meanwhile, remained in Edinburgh and he finally joined her there in 1921, enrolling at George Heriot's, a fee-paying school. Clearly her financial circumstances had improved and it may be that the father sent money to cover the boy's education.
At school he was given the nickname Sam, short for 'Sambo', which went unquestioned at the time and stuck throughout his life. He stood out as probably the only black pupil but, as an athletic and personable young boy, he fitted in well, and ended up captaining the school rugby team as well as playing for its cricket eleven.
When he left school in 1927 it was a daunting time for a black man to enter adult life in Edinburgh. This was the year of the infamous 'colour bar' in the city, imposed by some bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings about race could run high.
It was little surprise that he stuck to the people he knew, and continued to play rugby with Heriot's FP. They were then one of Scotland's top sides, and were the country's unofficial champions in 1928 and 1929. A wing forward, he remained with the club throughout the following decade, captaining the team for three seasons and regularly praised in the media, but whenever representative sides were named, he was never in the mix.
Meanwhile his parents did marry in Edinburgh early in 1910, using the Scottish system of 'marriage by declaration' but it appears to have been purely for practical reasons as six weeks later his father sailed for America, never to return. Dr James Edwin Tyndall Oxley, who had just graduated with first class honours in medicine, settled in Pennsylvania, where he married for a second time in 1919 (apparently without seeking a divorce) and raised another family. He died in 1927 of pneumonia.
Edwin's mother, meanwhile, remained in Edinburgh and he finally joined her there in 1921, enrolling at George Heriot's, a fee-paying school. Clearly her financial circumstances had improved and it may be that the father sent money to cover the boy's education.
At school he was given the nickname Sam, short for 'Sambo', which went unquestioned at the time and stuck throughout his life. He stood out as probably the only black pupil but, as an athletic and personable young boy, he fitted in well, and ended up captaining the school rugby team as well as playing for its cricket eleven.
When he left school in 1927 it was a daunting time for a black man to enter adult life in Edinburgh. This was the year of the infamous 'colour bar' in the city, imposed by some bars and restaurants against African and Asian students. Although that racist ban caused such condemnation that it was soon withdrawn, it reflected a society where feelings about race could run high.
It was little surprise that he stuck to the people he knew, and continued to play rugby with Heriot's FP. They were then one of Scotland's top sides, and were the country's unofficial champions in 1928 and 1929. A wing forward, he remained with the club throughout the following decade, captaining the team for three seasons and regularly praised in the media, but whenever representative sides were named, he was never in the mix.
Praise for Oxley in The Scotsman after his appearance for Edinburgh & Glasgow in 1935 (British Newspaper Archive)
It is easy to speculate that the Scottish Rugby Union, a notoriously reactionary body, would have baulked at the idea of picking a black man for Scotland. At the time, it was not the done thing to challenge the selectors, yet one wonders if they knew he was English-born and had a simple excuse at the ready.
At the very least, he would have been a natural fit for the Edinburgh team in the annual inter-city clashes with Glasgow (and would not have been the first black player for Edinburgh, as James Robertson did so in the 1870s). But perhaps because the inter-city matches were seen as trials for the international team, he never got the nod.
His only honour was being picked for a one-off Glasgow & Edinburgh Select which faced the All Blacks at Old Anniesland in October 1935. The match was narrowly lost 8-9 but although he did well he was not named in the next Edinburgh fifteen – 'a notable omission' according to one newspaper.
At the very least, he would have been a natural fit for the Edinburgh team in the annual inter-city clashes with Glasgow (and would not have been the first black player for Edinburgh, as James Robertson did so in the 1870s). But perhaps because the inter-city matches were seen as trials for the international team, he never got the nod.
His only honour was being picked for a one-off Glasgow & Edinburgh Select which faced the All Blacks at Old Anniesland in October 1935. The match was narrowly lost 8-9 but although he did well he was not named in the next Edinburgh fifteen – 'a notable omission' according to one newspaper.
A fine assessment of Oxley's worth in The Scotsman after another Sevens success in 1938 (BNA)
One area where Oxley excelled was Rugby Sevens, and he led Heriot's to a superb haul of medals in the prestigious Borders tournaments. With him in the team, they won at Jedforest three times, Melrose twice, Langholm four times, Hawick and Selkirk once each.
He finally retired from the game in 1939 and was immediately taken onto the Heriot’s selection committee, retaining his link to the club for many years.
Meanwhile he went into business as a commercial artist, running Oxley Studios in Cockburn Street, and his work sometimes turns up at auction. In 1947 he married Inga Peace, a fashion illustrator, and although they had no children they remained together until his death. Sadly, he died early in 1969, aged 61, after taking an overdose.
He finally retired from the game in 1939 and was immediately taken onto the Heriot’s selection committee, retaining his link to the club for many years.
Meanwhile he went into business as a commercial artist, running Oxley Studios in Cockburn Street, and his work sometimes turns up at auction. In 1947 he married Inga Peace, a fashion illustrator, and although they had no children they remained together until his death. Sadly, he died early in 1969, aged 61, after taking an overdose.
This linocut by Edwin Oxley of George Heriot's, his old school, was sold at Ramsay Cornish auction house in 2020
While Oxley's story is little known, thankfully he has not been forgotten, and the Heriot's School Magazine The Quadrangle recently published a lengthy article about him. They paid tribute to his achievements: "We know that Eddie Oxley was a great player who was undoubtedly deprived of an international career because he was black; that this charismatic man was a gifted artist and a creative and successful businessman. What we don't know is how he coped with and felt about the social mores of the time; with being a black man operating in, and apparently embraced by, polite Edinburgh society; a person patronised with what we now know as the 'casual racism' of his popular moniker 'Sam', and yet loved and revered by so many people."
From my researches in recent years, it is clear that Eddie Oxley is just one example of Scotland's hidden history of black sportsmen and women, who overcame discrimination to make their mark in sport. I hope that bringing their achievements to a wider audience will inspire a greater appreciation of the challenges they faced, and I am convinced that there are more stories waiting to be uncovered.
Edwin James Oxley, rugby player.
Born 4 May 1907 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Died 19 January 1969 in Balerno, Edinburgh.
From my researches in recent years, it is clear that Eddie Oxley is just one example of Scotland's hidden history of black sportsmen and women, who overcame discrimination to make their mark in sport. I hope that bringing their achievements to a wider audience will inspire a greater appreciation of the challenges they faced, and I am convinced that there are more stories waiting to be uncovered.
Edwin James Oxley, rugby player.
Born 4 May 1907 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Died 19 January 1969 in Balerno, Edinburgh.
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After buying a copy of a rare football handbook, I was intrigued to find out more about the author and his other sporting books.
The little volume by 'Straw Hat' on Rugby & Association Football was one of Dean's Champion Handbooks, which had attractive cover designs and were published to capitalise on the growing desire of the population to take up sport. They came out in the 1890s, and are now very difficult to find.
'Straw Hat' was the pseudonym of James Jeffery, who had an interesting story as a talented sportsman who combined school teaching with journalism.
The little volume by 'Straw Hat' on Rugby & Association Football was one of Dean's Champion Handbooks, which had attractive cover designs and were published to capitalise on the growing desire of the population to take up sport. They came out in the 1890s, and are now very difficult to find.
'Straw Hat' was the pseudonym of James Jeffery, who had an interesting story as a talented sportsman who combined school teaching with journalism.
Jeffery, born in 1834, went to school in Clapham and then qualified as a teacher at Battersea Training College. In 1858 he was appointed as Assistant Master at Epsom College, where his duties included running the school cricket team and he probably also played football. He held the post until 1879 when he set up a private Preparatory School for the College, which he ran until about 1900. He died in Epsom in 1907.
Meanwhile, he also carved out a career as a sports writer, initially concentrating on angling as 'Straw Hat' in the Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. His enthusiasm for sports must have appealed to Dean & Son Ltd of Fleet Street, who had started a series of sporting handbooks in the early 1890s based on previously published works about cricket, cycling and swimming. To expand their range, they employed Jeffery and he churned out several books including Football, Croquet, Tennis and Rowing, with an adaptation of the book on Swimming. The cheap editions sold for sixpence, while the hardbacks with colourful covers were a shilling.
Meanwhile, he also carved out a career as a sports writer, initially concentrating on angling as 'Straw Hat' in the Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. His enthusiasm for sports must have appealed to Dean & Son Ltd of Fleet Street, who had started a series of sporting handbooks in the early 1890s based on previously published works about cricket, cycling and swimming. To expand their range, they employed Jeffery and he churned out several books including Football, Croquet, Tennis and Rowing, with an adaptation of the book on Swimming. The cheap editions sold for sixpence, while the hardbacks with colourful covers were a shilling.
The listing of Dean's Champion Handbooks in 1898, including the cheap sixpenny booklets and the shilling hardback books.
James Jeffery, known as 'Straw Hat'
Jeffery was not just an enthusiastic writer, he also tried to improve the sporting experience and invented various gadgets such as a new type of batting glove, a kind of cricket practice net, and a spinning reel for angling.
While most of his book about football is about playing technique, he does provide an interesting anecdote about the early days of football before codification, describing a match played at Wimbledon in the 1860s when his team, which was a 'non-hacking club', came up against a school which did play the hacking game. I believe, from his description, that 'Josh' was the athlete GR (George Richard) Nunn, who was schooled at Epsom.
While most of his book about football is about playing technique, he does provide an interesting anecdote about the early days of football before codification, describing a match played at Wimbledon in the 1860s when his team, which was a 'non-hacking club', came up against a school which did play the hacking game. I believe, from his description, that 'Josh' was the athlete GR (George Richard) Nunn, who was schooled at Epsom.
James Jeffery's recollection of early football in south London
Epsom College cricket XI in 1863, with James Jeffery in striped shirt at the back (Epsom College Archive)
At the end of the day, James Jeffery was not a hugely important writer on sport, but his work in the Champion series does provide an interesting insight into the late Victoria era. And if nothing else, the attractive cover designs deserve to be appreciated by a wider audience.
Illustrated below are three more of Dean's Champion Handbooks, on billiards, swimming and golf. The images come from dealer catalogues, so they are not particularly sharp.
Illustrated below are three more of Dean's Champion Handbooks, on billiards, swimming and golf. The images come from dealer catalogues, so they are not particularly sharp.
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Scotland have always played in blue, right? Well, not in the first rugby international of 1871, if you believe what you can read online. According to Wikipedia and even recent reports in The Times, the Press & Journal and BBC History magazine, the Scotland team on that historic day wore brown shirts.
It is a myth, however - one of those mistaken stories which has persisted over the years. Now, on the 150th anniversary of the match, it is time to set the record straight.
It all goes back to one newspaper report, the Glasgow Herald's account of the game, which stated 'the Scotch' wore a brown jersey with a thistle. As the Herald was one of the first newspapers to be digitised, a researcher must have come across this version which has been widely quoted ever since. However, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
It is a myth, however - one of those mistaken stories which has persisted over the years. Now, on the 150th anniversary of the match, it is time to set the record straight.
It all goes back to one newspaper report, the Glasgow Herald's account of the game, which stated 'the Scotch' wore a brown jersey with a thistle. As the Herald was one of the first newspapers to be digitised, a researcher must have come across this version which has been widely quoted ever since. However, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
Glasgow Herald, 28 March 1871, with a match report which mistakenly describes Scotland in brown jerseys.
It is abundantly clear from other reports that Scotland played in dark blue, with England in white, as they have done ever since.
North British Daily Mail, 28 March 1871 (BNA)
The Scotsman, 28 March 1871 (BNA)
There was some uncertainly in the English press in advance of the match, with Bell's Life and The Sporting Life both reporting in the build-up that Scotland would wear scarlet jerseys, but they were careful to correct that mistake in their match reports. The Scottish papers, including The Scotsman and North British Daily Mail, were clear beforehand that Scotland would have dark blue jerseys.
When match reports appeared the day after the game, every paper mentioned Scotland's dark blue, with the sole exception of the Glasgow Herald who, inexplicably, went for brown.
One question which has never been answered is why Scotland traditionally play in blue, and England in white. The reasons behind the choice of colours are not explained, although there was clearly a logic as the Scotland and England association football teams made the same decisions for their first match in 1872.
Not only have these colours persisted ever since, but also the team badges: Scotland's rugby players had a thistle, England a rose, and the same emblems are still found today. In football, the national team emblems of lion rampant for Scotland and three lions for England have also been retained.
When match reports appeared the day after the game, every paper mentioned Scotland's dark blue, with the sole exception of the Glasgow Herald who, inexplicably, went for brown.
One question which has never been answered is why Scotland traditionally play in blue, and England in white. The reasons behind the choice of colours are not explained, although there was clearly a logic as the Scotland and England association football teams made the same decisions for their first match in 1872.
Not only have these colours persisted ever since, but also the team badges: Scotland's rugby players had a thistle, England a rose, and the same emblems are still found today. In football, the national team emblems of lion rampant for Scotland and three lions for England have also been retained.
Advert in the Scotsman, 28 March 1871 (BNA)
A final piece of trivia is where Scotland bought their blue shirts. There were two main sports shops in Edinburgh at the time and JC Stewart was proudly able to advertise the day after the game that he had supplied the jerseys and thistle badges of the Scotland Twenty. His great rival Percival King, however, provided the match ball.
The St Andrews Gazette, 1 April 1871 confirmed the team colours and the supplier of the match ball, but also commented that the English players were 'altogether a more handsome set of men than the Scotch'. (BNA)
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The engraving of the Scotland v England match of 1871, as drawn by John McLaren Ralston (copyright, not to be reproduced without permission)
The discovery of this unique illustration of the world's first rugby football international has brought to life one of the most important moments in sporting history.
Scotland met England on 27 March 1871 at Edinburgh Academicals' ground in Raeburn Place but although both teams were photographed there were not thought to be any pictures of the match in progress.
However, when I came across this engraving in a print dealer's catalogue I soon realised its significance. Previously unknown to historians, it was published four weeks after the match in a short-lived publication called The Illustrated Newspaper, originally in black and white then colourised at a later date.
It is signed J McL R, the initials of John McLaren Ralston (1849-83), a talented 22-year-old Glaswegian artist who was starting to make a name for himself in a career that brought admiration from, among others, Vincent van Gogh.
What makes Ralston's illustration all the more intriguing is that his elder brother William (1841-1911) famously drew the sketches of the first association football international, which took place the following year.
Scotland met England on 27 March 1871 at Edinburgh Academicals' ground in Raeburn Place but although both teams were photographed there were not thought to be any pictures of the match in progress.
However, when I came across this engraving in a print dealer's catalogue I soon realised its significance. Previously unknown to historians, it was published four weeks after the match in a short-lived publication called The Illustrated Newspaper, originally in black and white then colourised at a later date.
It is signed J McL R, the initials of John McLaren Ralston (1849-83), a talented 22-year-old Glaswegian artist who was starting to make a name for himself in a career that brought admiration from, among others, Vincent van Gogh.
What makes Ralston's illustration all the more intriguing is that his elder brother William (1841-1911) famously drew the sketches of the first association football international, which took place the following year.
William Ralston's drawings of the first association football international in 1872, the year after his brother Jack drew the rugby match in Edinburgh.
The brothers' style of illustration has strong similarities and it has been said by art historians that John (known as Jack) was the more talented of the two and taught William how to draw. They certainly had an excellent artistic pedigree as their father Peter ran a well-known photographic studio in Glasgow city centre, good enough to earn a royal warrant. Peter Ralston took his sons into the business, and both used it as a springboard to launch their careers.
When Jack Ralston headed over to Edinburgh in 1871, he joined an enthusiastic crowd of around 4,000 crammed into Raeburn Place to witness the inaugural rugby international. He had ample opportunity to draw a number of character studies and used a degree of artistic licence to capture the scene, placing his focus on the spectators in the foreground. They are paying scant attention to the match, some of them engaged in discussion or argument and they are clearly well-to-do, including a finely dressed lady. Whether they relate to specific individuals is hard to say.
When Jack Ralston headed over to Edinburgh in 1871, he joined an enthusiastic crowd of around 4,000 crammed into Raeburn Place to witness the inaugural rugby international. He had ample opportunity to draw a number of character studies and used a degree of artistic licence to capture the scene, placing his focus on the spectators in the foreground. They are paying scant attention to the match, some of them engaged in discussion or argument and they are clearly well-to-do, including a finely dressed lady. Whether they relate to specific individuals is hard to say.
The players, by contrast, are almost incidental, a blur of movement in the background. There is just enough detail to show that the forwards are engaged in a mighty scrum while some backs stand aside from the struggle, ready to intercept a loose ball or breakaway run. An umpire in top hat, perhaps the legendary HH Almond, watches intently.
There are other interesting aspects to the scene, as it appears to confirm that the playing surface was laid out between the slope of the ancient archery mound, which used to be a feature of ground, and its boundary on the east side. The English team actually complained that the pitch was too narrow, just 55 yards wide. Also of interest, the goalposts are much shorter than in modern times.
The idea that the international pitch was squeezed into a corner of Raeburn Place is emphasised by the absence of spectators behind the north goal, a slope would have given a good vantage point but was on neighbouring farmland and separated from the sports field by a burn. In the distance can be seen the buildings of South Inverleith Mains Farm, which was bought by the city and demolished in 1889 to create what is now Inverleith Park.
There are other interesting aspects to the scene, as it appears to confirm that the playing surface was laid out between the slope of the ancient archery mound, which used to be a feature of ground, and its boundary on the east side. The English team actually complained that the pitch was too narrow, just 55 yards wide. Also of interest, the goalposts are much shorter than in modern times.
The idea that the international pitch was squeezed into a corner of Raeburn Place is emphasised by the absence of spectators behind the north goal, a slope would have given a good vantage point but was on neighbouring farmland and separated from the sports field by a burn. In the distance can be seen the buildings of South Inverleith Mains Farm, which was bought by the city and demolished in 1889 to create what is now Inverleith Park.
Contemporary map of the Academy ground at Raeburn Place, showing the location of the 'mound' with a flagstaff (FS) on top. South Inverleith Mains farm is just to the north. (National Library of Scotland)
The day ended in an unexpected – and much celebrated – victory for the Scotland twenty by a goal and a try to a try, yet until now the only known images relating to this historic match were the posed team groups. The Scotland photo was taken in front of the pavilion by ER Yerbury, just before the start of play, while the England team had two photos taken that morning 'in plain clothes and in uniform' by Ross and Pringle of George Street.
Ralston was only 22 at the time and his drawing of the scene was an exciting addition to his portfolio. He must have taken it directly to his publisher as he is recorded in the London census just five days later. Over the coming decade he was in much demand as an engraver and his prolific output appeared in journals such as the Illustrated London News, not to mention many books. He covered a range of contemporary, rustic and historic scenes and among them are more sporting subjects such as bowls, croquet and curling. His talent was even admired, somewhat incongruously, by Vincent van Gogh, who described one Ralston print as 'exquisitely done'.
Ralston was only 22 at the time and his drawing of the scene was an exciting addition to his portfolio. He must have taken it directly to his publisher as he is recorded in the London census just five days later. Over the coming decade he was in much demand as an engraver and his prolific output appeared in journals such as the Illustrated London News, not to mention many books. He covered a range of contemporary, rustic and historic scenes and among them are more sporting subjects such as bowls, croquet and curling. His talent was even admired, somewhat incongruously, by Vincent van Gogh, who described one Ralston print as 'exquisitely done'.
Jack Ralston's signature 'J McL R' in the corner of the illustration
Sadly, Ralston's star shone only briefly. He lived in Hampstead while he worked as an engraver for London publications, but then he fell ill. He returned to Glasgow and died on 11 July 1883 in the family home at 2 Kersland Street, aged 34 and unmarried. His cause of death was given vaguely as 'debility'.
Rugby football, on the other hand, went from strength to strength, and the Raeburn Place ground, which opened in 1854 as a school sports field, is itself currently being transformed. Jack Ralston's impressions of the first match will go on public display for the first time at the new Museum of International Rugby, due to open there in 2020.
You can also read an article about this discovery in The Times newspaper.
The full story of the first football internationals, both rugby and soccer, is detailed in my book 'First Elevens', available here price £9.99 post free.
Rugby football, on the other hand, went from strength to strength, and the Raeburn Place ground, which opened in 1854 as a school sports field, is itself currently being transformed. Jack Ralston's impressions of the first match will go on public display for the first time at the new Museum of International Rugby, due to open there in 2020.
You can also read an article about this discovery in The Times newspaper.
The full story of the first football internationals, both rugby and soccer, is detailed in my book 'First Elevens', available here price £9.99 post free.
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Royal High School FP team 1871-72 (from the club centenary history, published in 1968)
by Andy Mitchell
Look closely at the team photograph of the Royal High School Former Pupils team from 1871: it may come as something of a surprise that one of the players is black.
Standing between two well-known Scotland internationalists, Angus Buchanan and Alexander Petrie, he is identified in the caption as JG Robertson.
So, who was he? Can he claim to be the world's first black rugby player?
Finding out about Robertson took some detailed research to identify him and unravel his fascinating story. It turns out he was a prominent rugby player on both sides of the border who would surely have faced significant social barriers because of his colour, yet appears to have been accepted and integrated.
Look closely at the team photograph of the Royal High School Former Pupils team from 1871: it may come as something of a surprise that one of the players is black.
Standing between two well-known Scotland internationalists, Angus Buchanan and Alexander Petrie, he is identified in the caption as JG Robertson.
So, who was he? Can he claim to be the world's first black rugby player?
Finding out about Robertson took some detailed research to identify him and unravel his fascinating story. It turns out he was a prominent rugby player on both sides of the border who would surely have faced significant social barriers because of his colour, yet appears to have been accepted and integrated.
Robertson in a slightly later Royal High School team photo. The team wore dark blue and red hooped jerseys.
According to the club website, between 1871 and 1875 Robertson played a total of 46 games for Royal High School FP, one of the founders of the Scottish Rugby Union. He appears in two more team photos, and also made four appearances for the Edinburgh representative team against Glasgow. Other than that, he is barely mentioned in sports histories. There was no JG Robertson in the 1871 or 1881 census in Edinburgh, and I could find nobody of that name in the Royal High School archives.
The answer is that he was the son of Dr Daniel Robertson, a Perthshire-born surgeon who had gone to Gambia in 1834 after graduating from Edinburgh University, and rose to become colonial secretary. Daniel Robertson devoted his entire working life to Gambia and spent over 30 years there before retiring in the mid-1860s. There is no record of him marrying, and the assumption must be that he had a relationship with a Gambian woman which produced two sons: James George Robertson was born about 1854 in Bathurst, Gambia, and his younger brother John three years later.
James was sent to Scotland for his education, initially boarding in Crieff (1861 census) before going to live in St Andrews, where his father and younger brother joined him. James attended Madras College from 1866-70, did well educationally and matriculated at St Andrews University in 1870, but left after his first year.
In the autumn of 1871 he went to Edinburgh University to study medicine and throughout his five years in the capital he played rugby for Royal High School FPs. It would have been natural for him to join the University's thriving sports teams, yet he chose not to. The obvious question is 'Why?' as the major unknown factor in this story is the lack of an obvious connection between him and the school. One can speculate that he may have gone to the Royal High as a boy, or his father had a connection, but I have not yet found any proof.
The answer is that he was the son of Dr Daniel Robertson, a Perthshire-born surgeon who had gone to Gambia in 1834 after graduating from Edinburgh University, and rose to become colonial secretary. Daniel Robertson devoted his entire working life to Gambia and spent over 30 years there before retiring in the mid-1860s. There is no record of him marrying, and the assumption must be that he had a relationship with a Gambian woman which produced two sons: James George Robertson was born about 1854 in Bathurst, Gambia, and his younger brother John three years later.
James was sent to Scotland for his education, initially boarding in Crieff (1861 census) before going to live in St Andrews, where his father and younger brother joined him. James attended Madras College from 1866-70, did well educationally and matriculated at St Andrews University in 1870, but left after his first year.
In the autumn of 1871 he went to Edinburgh University to study medicine and throughout his five years in the capital he played rugby for Royal High School FPs. It would have been natural for him to join the University's thriving sports teams, yet he chose not to. The obvious question is 'Why?' as the major unknown factor in this story is the lack of an obvious connection between him and the school. One can speculate that he may have gone to the Royal High as a boy, or his father had a connection, but I have not yet found any proof.
James G Robertson stands between two Scotland internationalists, Angus Buchanan and Alexander Petrie
A talented forward with the knack of scoring key tries, Robertson found acceptance within the Edinburgh rugby-playing community, as four times he was selected to play against Glasgow. The first time was on 6 December 1873, then again the following month, and in February and December 1875. Although these matches were effectively international trials, he was never mentioned as a possible internationalist.
JG Robertson graduated from Edinburgh University in 1876 with the joint degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Master in Surgery
In 1876 Robertson graduated from Edinburgh University in medicine and surgery, in the same ceremony as Scotland rugby legend RW 'Bulldog' Irvine. He found his first job in County Durham where he was appointed resident medical officer at Gateshead Dispensary. It was not the end of his rugby days by any means and over the next few years he played regularly. He first appeared for Northumberland (a club, not the county) early in 1878, where he would have found a familiar face in the team: PB (Patrick Bruce) Junor, a Glasgow Academical who had played for Royal High School FP (also without a past pupil connection) before coming to Durham in 1874.
Dr Robertson went on to captain the North Durham club, which was based in Gateshead, from 1879-82 and may have played for Darlington after that, although records are not clear.
He married local girl Emily Joel in Newcastle in 1879, and they had three sons and a daughter. The 1891 census shows the family living in Gateshead, joined by James’s father. However, Daniel died in 1892 and this may have been the catalyst for the family to move on, as in 1894 James Robertson purchased a medical practice in Ashwell, Hertfordshire. He became a prominent figure in local life, not only as the town's doctor but also as president of Ashwell tennis club and a committee member for the cricket club.
However, his life ended unexpectedly in February 1900. He had been doing his usual rounds but when he came home he collapsed and died in front of his wife. The funeral three days later attracted over 300 mourners and he was buried in St Mary's Churchyard. He was only 46, and left almost £10,000 in his will.
JG Robertson's story is important as he is the first known black footballer, of any code, yet I have not found a single reference to Robertson's colour in contemporary accounts.
Dr Robertson went on to captain the North Durham club, which was based in Gateshead, from 1879-82 and may have played for Darlington after that, although records are not clear.
He married local girl Emily Joel in Newcastle in 1879, and they had three sons and a daughter. The 1891 census shows the family living in Gateshead, joined by James’s father. However, Daniel died in 1892 and this may have been the catalyst for the family to move on, as in 1894 James Robertson purchased a medical practice in Ashwell, Hertfordshire. He became a prominent figure in local life, not only as the town's doctor but also as president of Ashwell tennis club and a committee member for the cricket club.
However, his life ended unexpectedly in February 1900. He had been doing his usual rounds but when he came home he collapsed and died in front of his wife. The funeral three days later attracted over 300 mourners and he was buried in St Mary's Churchyard. He was only 46, and left almost £10,000 in his will.
JG Robertson's story is important as he is the first known black footballer, of any code, yet I have not found a single reference to Robertson's colour in contemporary accounts.
Alfred Clunies-Ross, Scotland rugby cap 1871
Andrew Watson, Scotland football cap 1881-82
His story has strong echoes with two other non-white Scottish players of that era. Alfred Clunies-Ross, who was half Malay, played in the first Scotland rugby team in 1871; he was also educated at Madras College, studied medicine at Edinburgh University but played for a club side (Wanderers) and then went to London where he played for Wasps. A decade later, the Scotland football team in 1881 was captained by Andrew Watson, born in Guyana to a Scottish father and local woman, then educated in Britain; he played for Parkgrove and Queen's Park, then went to London where he played for Swifts, Corinthians and Bootle.
The common thread for all three is that their colour was barely mentioned (if at all) in newspaper reports, and there is virtually nothing to indicate that they suffered discrimination due to their colour. This raises the question as to whether their social class allowed them to rise above racial discrimination.
It also make me wonder why attitudes then changed, making it harder for non-white players to participate in high level sport: from Arthur Wharton onwards, their colour was regularly highlighted and discrimination in sport became the norm.
The common thread for all three is that their colour was barely mentioned (if at all) in newspaper reports, and there is virtually nothing to indicate that they suffered discrimination due to their colour. This raises the question as to whether their social class allowed them to rise above racial discrimination.
It also make me wonder why attitudes then changed, making it harder for non-white players to participate in high level sport: from Arthur Wharton onwards, their colour was regularly highlighted and discrimination in sport became the norm.
In the course of my research I have accumulated a fair bit of additional detail about JG Robertson and his family. If you would like more information, or may be one of his descendants, please get in touch via the form on the Contact page.
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Alexander Crombie (centre) was first captain of Edinburgh Academical Football Club in 1858. This image comes from the club's 50th anniversary dinner menu.
The well-known story of how rugby came to Scotland is that the Crombie brothers, Alexander and Francis, brought the rulebook with them when they came to Edinburgh in 1854 having learned the game at Durham Grammar School. Rugby rules were adopted by the Edinburgh Academy and soon followed by other city schools.
What intrigued me was, why had the Crombies been in Durham in the first place? The Crombie family had been living in Edinburgh for over ten years by this time.
In fact, it was all due to a shameless charlatan of a schoolteacher - a fascinating example of how unconnected events can lead to an unexpected outcome.
Alexander and Francis were born in 1836 and 1838 respectively at Thornton Castle, the family seat, then lived in Kent with their lawyer father (also called Alexander) before they all settled in Edinburgh New Town around 1843.
In 1847, when they were aged 10 and 9, both boys went to Merchiston Castle School on the outskirts of Edinburgh. They probably played football here, as the school had a playing field directly opposite. But more importantly they were taught by a charismatic teacher called Edward Humphreys.
In 1850, Humphreys left Merchiston to set up his own private school, Salisbury House in Newington, and the Crombie boys followed him there. They boarded, despite the family home being so close, and did well, judging by the number of prizes they won.
Then early in 1852, out of the blue, Humphreys was appointed as headmaster of Cheltenham Grammar School (now known as Pate's). With little regard for his existing pupils, he closed his school in Edinburgh immediately, and took up his new post.
This left parents and pupils in the lurch, and Alexander Crombie senior had to find a new school for his two boys in a hurry. For whatever reason, he chose Durham and they enrolled there in March 1852.
Durham Grammar had recently taken up Rugby rules for school football, and therefore the brothers learned to play football that way. Alexander stayed until December 1853, while Francis remained until the autumn of 1854 when he came home to complete his education at Edinburgh Academy.
What intrigued me was, why had the Crombies been in Durham in the first place? The Crombie family had been living in Edinburgh for over ten years by this time.
In fact, it was all due to a shameless charlatan of a schoolteacher - a fascinating example of how unconnected events can lead to an unexpected outcome.
Alexander and Francis were born in 1836 and 1838 respectively at Thornton Castle, the family seat, then lived in Kent with their lawyer father (also called Alexander) before they all settled in Edinburgh New Town around 1843.
In 1847, when they were aged 10 and 9, both boys went to Merchiston Castle School on the outskirts of Edinburgh. They probably played football here, as the school had a playing field directly opposite. But more importantly they were taught by a charismatic teacher called Edward Humphreys.
In 1850, Humphreys left Merchiston to set up his own private school, Salisbury House in Newington, and the Crombie boys followed him there. They boarded, despite the family home being so close, and did well, judging by the number of prizes they won.
Then early in 1852, out of the blue, Humphreys was appointed as headmaster of Cheltenham Grammar School (now known as Pate's). With little regard for his existing pupils, he closed his school in Edinburgh immediately, and took up his new post.
This left parents and pupils in the lurch, and Alexander Crombie senior had to find a new school for his two boys in a hurry. For whatever reason, he chose Durham and they enrolled there in March 1852.
Durham Grammar had recently taken up Rugby rules for school football, and therefore the brothers learned to play football that way. Alexander stayed until December 1853, while Francis remained until the autumn of 1854 when he came home to complete his education at Edinburgh Academy.
The Laws of Football printed in 1851 at Rugby School, probably the same booklet that Francis Crombie brought to Edinburgh Academy in 1854. (This copy was sold at auction for £13,000 in 2016)
He was in the right place at the right time. 1854 was also the year when Edinburgh Academy opened its new sports field at Raeburn Place, and the little booklet of rules from Durham gave a new structure and purpose to the game which Edinburgh schoolboys had played for generations. In his two years there Francis was appointed as the school’s first ever Captain of Football which recognised not just his sporting prowess, but his understanding of the game.
By the end of the decade, the Rugby code had gained widespread popularity. Not until 1867 was the non-handling association football taken up by Queen’s Park in Glasgow, and the association game did not reach Edinburgh until 1873.
Meanwhile, elder brother Alexander matriculated at Edinburgh University to study Law, and while there he helped to found the Academical Football Club early in 1858, becoming its first captain.
The Crombie brothers are rightly credited with introducing Rugby football to Scotland, but what is particularly interesting is the back story to Mr Humphreys, the disappearing teacher. He was a fake academic and a financial fraud.
Edward Rupert Humphreys was born in Dublin in 1820, and went to Heversham School in Westmorland before matriculating at Cambridge University in 1836 to study medicine. He did not graduate and in 1838 was listed as an insolvent debtor.
He found a teaching post near Manchester, where he married in 1841, but two years later was declared insolvent for a second time. His response was to run away and somehow he landed a job as head master of a school on Prince Edward Island, in what is now Canada.
In four years there, during which his first wife died and he remarried, Humphreys did such a good job at reinventing himself that in 1848 he was able to return to Britain as Head Classical and English master at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. What is more, he acquired credibility by writing textbooks, becoming a Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, and crowned it all in 1850 by persuading both Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities to give him honorary degrees.
What they based their decisions on is not recorded but he could now legitimately describe himself as Reverend Dr Humphreys LLD. He was, to all intents and purposes, an outstanding teacher and scholar, and on that basis, he left Merchiston in 1850 and set up his own school across the city in Salisbury Place.
By the end of the decade, the Rugby code had gained widespread popularity. Not until 1867 was the non-handling association football taken up by Queen’s Park in Glasgow, and the association game did not reach Edinburgh until 1873.
Meanwhile, elder brother Alexander matriculated at Edinburgh University to study Law, and while there he helped to found the Academical Football Club early in 1858, becoming its first captain.
The Crombie brothers are rightly credited with introducing Rugby football to Scotland, but what is particularly interesting is the back story to Mr Humphreys, the disappearing teacher. He was a fake academic and a financial fraud.
Edward Rupert Humphreys was born in Dublin in 1820, and went to Heversham School in Westmorland before matriculating at Cambridge University in 1836 to study medicine. He did not graduate and in 1838 was listed as an insolvent debtor.
He found a teaching post near Manchester, where he married in 1841, but two years later was declared insolvent for a second time. His response was to run away and somehow he landed a job as head master of a school on Prince Edward Island, in what is now Canada.
In four years there, during which his first wife died and he remarried, Humphreys did such a good job at reinventing himself that in 1848 he was able to return to Britain as Head Classical and English master at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. What is more, he acquired credibility by writing textbooks, becoming a Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, and crowned it all in 1850 by persuading both Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities to give him honorary degrees.
What they based their decisions on is not recorded but he could now legitimately describe himself as Reverend Dr Humphreys LLD. He was, to all intents and purposes, an outstanding teacher and scholar, and on that basis, he left Merchiston in 1850 and set up his own school across the city in Salisbury Place.
Edward Humphreys
The Crombies’ father must have been impressed by Humphreys’s plausibility as he sent both of his boys to board there. And a grateful Humphreys returned the compliment, naming his next son Alexander Crombie Humphreys. In the light of subsequent events, it is more than possible that Crombie had been persuaded to lend Humphreys money to get the school going.
However, although the school promised much it seems to have struggled as there were constant adverts in the local papers for new recruits. Hence when Cheltenham Grammar School advertised for a new head, Humphreys had no qualms about applying and abandoning his own school in the middle of the session.
Cheltenham had been flagging for years and in 1852 he set about restoring the school’s fortunes with gusto. He introduced science to the curriculum – for which he was personally thanked by Prince Albert – increased the school roll, was popular with parents and governors, and held in such high regard that even when he was successfully prosecuted for flogging a boy, he was applauded on his return to school.
However, he borrowed heavily and ran up extensive debts, reported to have reached £26,000. In 1859, for the third time, he was declared insolvent in the London Gazette and his response, yet again, was to disappear across the Atlantic. If that was not bad enough, he scandalised the town by doing so with the wife of one of the school governors (who was also one of his debtors), each of them abandoning a large family. The newspapers were full of the affair, and although a tearful Emily Comyn came home a couple of months later, Humphreys never returned. He would have faced a substantial claim for damages had he done so.
Yet, astonishingly, he reinvented himself in Boston where carried on teaching as if nothing had happened. In those pre-internet days, it is not as if anyone could google him. He was appointed Principal of South End Collegiate School, became a naturalised American, and even persuaded his wife Margaret and six children to join him there. Perhaps anything was better than the scorn they faced in Cheltenham.
Humphreys escaped scandal to such an extent that when he died in 1893 the Gloucester Journal described the former headmaster as ‘a distinguished classical scholar’ without any reference to his murky past. Humphreys was undoubtedly a charlatan, but without his shameless behaviour the history of Scottish sport might have been very different.
As a postscript, the son named after the rugby-playing family, Alexander Crombie Humphreys (1851-1927), went on to have a legitimately brilliant academic career, rising to be president of the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and is known as the father of engineering economics.
However, although the school promised much it seems to have struggled as there were constant adverts in the local papers for new recruits. Hence when Cheltenham Grammar School advertised for a new head, Humphreys had no qualms about applying and abandoning his own school in the middle of the session.
Cheltenham had been flagging for years and in 1852 he set about restoring the school’s fortunes with gusto. He introduced science to the curriculum – for which he was personally thanked by Prince Albert – increased the school roll, was popular with parents and governors, and held in such high regard that even when he was successfully prosecuted for flogging a boy, he was applauded on his return to school.
However, he borrowed heavily and ran up extensive debts, reported to have reached £26,000. In 1859, for the third time, he was declared insolvent in the London Gazette and his response, yet again, was to disappear across the Atlantic. If that was not bad enough, he scandalised the town by doing so with the wife of one of the school governors (who was also one of his debtors), each of them abandoning a large family. The newspapers were full of the affair, and although a tearful Emily Comyn came home a couple of months later, Humphreys never returned. He would have faced a substantial claim for damages had he done so.
Yet, astonishingly, he reinvented himself in Boston where carried on teaching as if nothing had happened. In those pre-internet days, it is not as if anyone could google him. He was appointed Principal of South End Collegiate School, became a naturalised American, and even persuaded his wife Margaret and six children to join him there. Perhaps anything was better than the scorn they faced in Cheltenham.
Humphreys escaped scandal to such an extent that when he died in 1893 the Gloucester Journal described the former headmaster as ‘a distinguished classical scholar’ without any reference to his murky past. Humphreys was undoubtedly a charlatan, but without his shameless behaviour the history of Scottish sport might have been very different.
As a postscript, the son named after the rugby-playing family, Alexander Crombie Humphreys (1851-1927), went on to have a legitimately brilliant academic career, rising to be president of the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and is known as the father of engineering economics.
- Published on
Sometimes an autograph book has a sad story to tell, and this was really poignant: I found this photo of the Edinburgh Academy rugby team from 1914, taken at the start of term just after the Great War broke out. Opposite the photo are the signatures of the players, all of whom joined up to fight straight from school.
The attrition rate was high, as six were killed in action: they included an early victim of the Red Baron, the Dux of the school, and a boy killed within days of his brother. Four more were wounded and only six came through unscathed.
I have now donated the autograph book to the school in the hope they can use it for research and education. Here is a look at the sixteen players in the squad, starting with the fallen:
Andrew Blyth McCulloch Bogle (Lieutenant, Royal Scots) Killed on 14 July 1916 at Delville Wood, he is buried in Quarry Cemetery, Montauban.
William Graham Notman (2nd Lieutenant, 3rd Highland Light Infantry) Dux of the school, he was killed on 13 August 1916 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, also on a family grave in Edinburgh’s Dean Cemetery.
Thomas Arthur Ritchie (Lieutenant, East Lancs Regiment) Missing, presumed killed in action on 18 October 1916.
Ian Gilmour Cameron (2nd Lieut, Cameron Highlanders, attached to Royal Flying Corps) Shot down on 9 November 1916 by Manfred von Richthofen, the ‘Red Baron’, over the Somme at Beugny.
[Thomas] Ian [Thomson] Sloan (2nd Lieutenant, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) Killed during an attack at Roeux on 23 April 1917. He was a piper in the school band and the Ian Sloan Cup, commissioned by his brothers, is awarded to this day as a piping trophy at the Academy.
James MacLaren (Captain, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) Having survived a gas attack at Ypres in 1915, he was killed on 21 November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai, just two days after his brother William.
The attrition rate was high, as six were killed in action: they included an early victim of the Red Baron, the Dux of the school, and a boy killed within days of his brother. Four more were wounded and only six came through unscathed.
I have now donated the autograph book to the school in the hope they can use it for research and education. Here is a look at the sixteen players in the squad, starting with the fallen:
Andrew Blyth McCulloch Bogle (Lieutenant, Royal Scots) Killed on 14 July 1916 at Delville Wood, he is buried in Quarry Cemetery, Montauban.
William Graham Notman (2nd Lieutenant, 3rd Highland Light Infantry) Dux of the school, he was killed on 13 August 1916 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, also on a family grave in Edinburgh’s Dean Cemetery.
Thomas Arthur Ritchie (Lieutenant, East Lancs Regiment) Missing, presumed killed in action on 18 October 1916.
Ian Gilmour Cameron (2nd Lieut, Cameron Highlanders, attached to Royal Flying Corps) Shot down on 9 November 1916 by Manfred von Richthofen, the ‘Red Baron’, over the Somme at Beugny.
[Thomas] Ian [Thomson] Sloan (2nd Lieutenant, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) Killed during an attack at Roeux on 23 April 1917. He was a piper in the school band and the Ian Sloan Cup, commissioned by his brothers, is awarded to this day as a piping trophy at the Academy.
James MacLaren (Captain, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) Having survived a gas attack at Ypres in 1915, he was killed on 21 November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai, just two days after his brother William.
Four were wounded:
Patrick Millar Matthew (Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery) Invalided out after being wounded and gassed in 1917, suffering from shellshock. He took over the Victoria India Rubber Company from his father and died in 1977.
John Lindsay (Captain, Black Watch) Captain of the rugby XV and also a member of the cricket XI, he was son of a minister in Bathgate. Joined Black Watch in 1915, won the Military Cross, and was wounded and taken prisoner in 1918. Died 1972.
John Hyndford Carmichael (Lieutenant, A&S Highlanders) Wounded in France 1918, awarded the Military Cross, he remained in the army, serving in India until his retirement as Lt Col. Died 1968.
Alan Dunlop Foster (Lieutenant, King's Own Scottish Borderers) Captain of the XV in 1915/16 he was commissioned in the KOSB on leaving school and was wounded in France 1918. Went to Durham University where he played in the cricket and rugby teams, and spent most of his career on hydro-electric schemes in Iran, dying there in 1948.
The remaining six all came through the conflict without injury:
William Playfair Vassie (Captain, Black Watch) Later a poultry farmer in Essex, he died in 1945.
Claude William Macgregor (Lieutenant, Royal Navy) Remained in the Navy after the war, becoming a Commander. Died 1956.
Alan Daniel Mackinlay Gordon Laing (Lieutenant, 114th Mahrattas, attached to RAF). Qualified as MRCVS (vet) and emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand. Died 1975.
Henry Munro Somerville (Lieutenant, Royal Scots) Won the Military Cross. Became a Chartered Accountant in Leeds and died in 1977.
Thomas Gibson (Captain, Tank Corps) Qualified as Doctor of Science (in agriculture), died in 1973
George Alexander Bain (Captain, 3rd Gurkhas) Remained in the army, rising to Brigadier, made an OBE. Retired to Chagford, Devon and died in 1982, the last survivor of the team.
Patrick Millar Matthew (Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery) Invalided out after being wounded and gassed in 1917, suffering from shellshock. He took over the Victoria India Rubber Company from his father and died in 1977.
John Lindsay (Captain, Black Watch) Captain of the rugby XV and also a member of the cricket XI, he was son of a minister in Bathgate. Joined Black Watch in 1915, won the Military Cross, and was wounded and taken prisoner in 1918. Died 1972.
John Hyndford Carmichael (Lieutenant, A&S Highlanders) Wounded in France 1918, awarded the Military Cross, he remained in the army, serving in India until his retirement as Lt Col. Died 1968.
Alan Dunlop Foster (Lieutenant, King's Own Scottish Borderers) Captain of the XV in 1915/16 he was commissioned in the KOSB on leaving school and was wounded in France 1918. Went to Durham University where he played in the cricket and rugby teams, and spent most of his career on hydro-electric schemes in Iran, dying there in 1948.
The remaining six all came through the conflict without injury:
William Playfair Vassie (Captain, Black Watch) Later a poultry farmer in Essex, he died in 1945.
Claude William Macgregor (Lieutenant, Royal Navy) Remained in the Navy after the war, becoming a Commander. Died 1956.
Alan Daniel Mackinlay Gordon Laing (Lieutenant, 114th Mahrattas, attached to RAF). Qualified as MRCVS (vet) and emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand. Died 1975.
Henry Munro Somerville (Lieutenant, Royal Scots) Won the Military Cross. Became a Chartered Accountant in Leeds and died in 1977.
Thomas Gibson (Captain, Tank Corps) Qualified as Doctor of Science (in agriculture), died in 1973
George Alexander Bain (Captain, 3rd Gurkhas) Remained in the army, rising to Brigadier, made an OBE. Retired to Chagford, Devon and died in 1982, the last survivor of the team.
From the same autograph book, a dapper photo of Ian Cameron, who would be shot down by the Red Baron in 1916.
Edinburgh Academy was, of course, not alone in losing so many young sportsmen. Here is a story about its counterpart in Glasgow: http://www.glasgowacciesrfc.com/glasgow-academicals-1st-xv-1913-14/
- Published on
While the association footballers took their time building up to a full international in 1872, their rugby counterparts beat them to it by a year and a half. Five Scottish club captains mooted the idea of a challenge to England to play an international under rugby rules, and together they penned a letter, dated 6 December 1870, laying down the gauntlet to the English.
we, as representing the football interests of Scotland, hereby challenge any team selected from the whole of England to play us a match, twenty-a-side
Published in Bell's Life, The Field and the Scotsman, the signatories were John Arthur (Glasgow Academicals), Benjamin Hall Blyth (Merchistonians), and Francis Moncreiff (Edinburgh Academicals), Alexander H Robertson (West of Scotland) and JH Oatts (St Salvator FC).
The full letter is well known in rugby lore (you can read the full text here), as are four of the signatories: Arthur, Moncreiff and Robertson all took part in the match when it was played in March 1871, while Hall Blyth served as president of the fledgling Scottish Rugby Union. But who was Oatts? He has always been something of a mystery figure but now I can reveal his identity.
John Henry Oatts was a student at St Andrews University, where he attended St Salvator College and captained the university football team, which played under rugby rules. He had entered the university in 1866 after a couple of years at Madras College, where his sister Harriett was also enrolled, but appears to have made slow progress. He reached second year in 1868, and third year in 1870-71, but does not appear in the roll for fourth year, which indicates he failed to graduate. However, if not suited for academia, he certainly thrived on the sporting atmosphere and among his contemporaries at school and university were several early rugby internationalists, including Alfred Clunies Ross, Robert Munro and Duncan Irvine.
Born in 1850 in Jessore, Oatts was the only surviving son of an indigo planter in Bengal, where he spent his early years, and as soon as he had finished his studies at St Andrews he returned to the east to continue running the family estates called Porehatty and Hizrapore. He was an active volunteer in the Bengal Light Horse, married in 1885 and had four children, but their lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when the indigo trade collapsed in the 1890s following the invention of synthetic dyes. The estates went bankrupt and were sold off for a pittance in 1896 (although it was an uncle, James Tweedie, who appears to have borne the brunt of the financial misfortune).
There was nothing for it but to return to Scotland. Oatts lived in Edinburgh for a few years, playing golf at Glencorse (where another sporting hero, Leslie Balfour Melville was also a member). He then moved south and spent his remaining years in Bedford, where he died in 1930.
The full letter is well known in rugby lore (you can read the full text here), as are four of the signatories: Arthur, Moncreiff and Robertson all took part in the match when it was played in March 1871, while Hall Blyth served as president of the fledgling Scottish Rugby Union. But who was Oatts? He has always been something of a mystery figure but now I can reveal his identity.
John Henry Oatts was a student at St Andrews University, where he attended St Salvator College and captained the university football team, which played under rugby rules. He had entered the university in 1866 after a couple of years at Madras College, where his sister Harriett was also enrolled, but appears to have made slow progress. He reached second year in 1868, and third year in 1870-71, but does not appear in the roll for fourth year, which indicates he failed to graduate. However, if not suited for academia, he certainly thrived on the sporting atmosphere and among his contemporaries at school and university were several early rugby internationalists, including Alfred Clunies Ross, Robert Munro and Duncan Irvine.
Born in 1850 in Jessore, Oatts was the only surviving son of an indigo planter in Bengal, where he spent his early years, and as soon as he had finished his studies at St Andrews he returned to the east to continue running the family estates called Porehatty and Hizrapore. He was an active volunteer in the Bengal Light Horse, married in 1885 and had four children, but their lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when the indigo trade collapsed in the 1890s following the invention of synthetic dyes. The estates went bankrupt and were sold off for a pittance in 1896 (although it was an uncle, James Tweedie, who appears to have borne the brunt of the financial misfortune).
There was nothing for it but to return to Scotland. Oatts lived in Edinburgh for a few years, playing golf at Glencorse (where another sporting hero, Leslie Balfour Melville was also a member). He then moved south and spent his remaining years in Bedford, where he died in 1930.
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Author
All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.