Scottish International Rugby Players Born in Midlothian
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Scottish Rugby International Players born in Midlothian Captain David McLaren Bain, Gordon Highlanders, born in Edinburgh, was the second son of William Bain, a Bank Company Secretary, and Edith Bain, of 42 Moray Place, Edinburgh. His siblings were William, Mary and George. In the 1901 Census the household also had a Nurse, a Cook, a Table Maid and two House Maids. In 1909 and 1910 he was in the Edinburgh Academy XI, being played chiefly for his bowling. Between 1911 and 1914, he played eleven times for Scotland (won 4, lost 7). He died on 3 June 1915, age 24, and is buried in Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert. (The following is from "The Rugby Roll of Honour" by E H D Sewell, published in 1919) Captain David McLaren Bain, 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, attached 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, was killed in action near Festubert on June 3, 1915, aged 23. Born at Edinburgh on September 10, 1891, Bain was educated at Edinburgh Academy Preparatory School from 1897-1900, at Edinburgh Academy from 1900-10, and at Trinity College, Oxford, from 1910-14. He was a forward in the Academy 1st XV from 1907-10, and Captain of the XV in the season of 1909-10. He was in the XI in 1909-10, and Vice-Captain of it in 1910. He was in the Fives team in 1909-10 and Captain of it in 1910, and in the Shooting VIII in the same two years. Bain played for Oxford against Cambridge in 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, was Secretary of the Oxford University Rugby Union Club in 1912-13, and Captain in 1913-14. He played for Trinity at Rugby football, cricket, and golf. Bain had the rare honour of being chosen reserve for Scotland against England at Inverleith in 1910, while still at Edinburgh Academy. A few boys, notably the Neilsons of Merchiston and J. G. Milton of Bedford, have played in International football while still at school, and K. G. Macleod also would have achieved this rare feat if the Fettes authorities had given their permission. In March 1911 Bain made the first of eleven appearances for Scotland in the Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham. He played in every match for Scotland of the two years 1912 and 1913 against England, Wales, and France; against the South Africans in 1912; against Ireland in 1913 and 1914; and against Wales in 1914. Bain captained the Scots against Wales in 1914, and only those who wanted somebody else to captain the side said he did not do it well. Then he was deposed, and Eric Milroy captained Scotland in the next match; that, too, like the Calcutta Cup one, was lost. The fact was Scotland had not at the time a better team than either the Irish or English ones; no captain could have won either of these games. But a trifle like that does not trouble those who had prophesied a Scottish victory. They have to hang somebody, so, after the Irish 2 tries to nil at Dublin in 1914; they hung Bain, and said it would never have happened had Freddy Turner been in command. When with Milroy in cornmand Bain not playing, Scotland again lost, they said it was the referee! Such things have to pass for fair and "expert" criticism. Bain was, in fact, a jolly good captain, both by example and precept. In some respects he was better than Turner, who spoke hardly enough, though more when in charge of a Club than an International side. Bain was one of those forwards one saw not very much of in the loose, which is generally a good sign, tending to mean that if he is any good at all he is very good. He was certainly a sure tackler good at the line-out, and with an excellent knowledge of the game. Off the Rugby field at Oxford, he was a member of Vincents in 1910, and President of it in 1913-14. On going up he was chosen Senior Commoner of his year. He was also a member of the Claret Club and Triflers of Trinity College. When war came he was about to go in for the examination for the Egyptian Civil Service. Both the Headmaster of the Academy and the Head of his College wrote most warmly to his mother of his fine example and great influence for good. Bain, who had been in the Academy O.T.C. from its beginning, joined the Army early in August 1914, and went into training at Aberdeen, where he was in charge of musketry, and also assistant-adjutant. He went to the Front in France in December 1914, and was wounded at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915. Promoted Captain early in May, he returned to France on May 20, to meet a soldier's death less than a fortnight later. He was killed by the shell which wrecked his dug-out. His Commanding Officer wrote of him that "he was beloved by all ranks, and his tall commanding figure, riding at the head of his men, will long be missed", and that he had himself lost a dear friend. Many of his fellow-officers wrote in similarly appreciative strain. David Bain was in every respect a popular man, and his kindly face, lit up by peculiarly pale bluey gray eyes, will long remembered and mourned. Surgeon David Revell Bedell-Sivright, MB, BA, Royal Marines Medical Unit, born in Edinburgh, was the first son of William Henry Revell Bedell-Sivright, a Landed Proprietor, and Grace Edith Bedell-Sivright, of Redcliff, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, later of: North Cliff, North Queensferry, Fife. His siblings were John, William and Eleanor. He died on 5 September 1915, age 34, of acute septicaemia aboard HM Hospital Ship Dunluce Castle, and is commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Between 1900 and 1908, he played 22 matches for Scotland (won 12, lost 10). In 1904, he captained Great Britain versus Australia in Sydney, winning 17-0. Regarded as a pioneer of the wing forward role and the hardest man to play for Scotland, he was the only Scot ever to play in three Triple Crown winning sides (1901, 1903 and 1907). He was the only player to tour with both the 1903 and 1904 British Isles sides (captain on the 1904 Australasia tour), and captained Scotland. After he retired from international rugby he became the 1909 Scottish heavyweight amateur boxing champion. In 1902, his brother, John Vandaleur Bedell-Sivright, played one losing match for Scotland. He died of Cardiac Failure on 27 November, 1920, age 39. (The following is from "The Rugby Roll of Honour" by E H D Sewell, published in 1919) Surgeon David Revell Bedell-Sivright, Royal Navy, died of blood poisoning on Gallipoli on September 5, 1915, aged 34. Born at North Cliff, North Queensferry, on December 8, 1880, Bedell-Sivright was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and at Cambridge University. He was in the XV at Fettes, and for four years, 1899-1902, at Cambridge, being Captain of it in 1901 and 1902. From 1905-9 he played for Edinburgh University, and as he was Captain of the XV for two seasons, enjoyed the rare distinction of having been Captain of two University fifteens. One of the most remarkable forwards in the history of Rugby football, D. R. Bedell-Sivright played in twenty-two International matches for Scotland, and captained the National Fifteen against the New Zealand team of 1905. If a plebiscite was taken on the question: "Who was the hardest forward who ever played International football?" Sivright would get most votes if the voting was confined to players, and probably so in any event. M. C. MacEwan, the Ryans, L. Robertson, and some others would all be in the running, but this Fettesian would win. It has been placed on record that only once in his football career was Sivright ever even hurt! That was when he made the slip, a remarkable one for so experienced a player, of attempting to tackle Basil Maclear "high". It was a wiser, though not a very much chastened, Sivright who, a few minutes later, jog-trotted back to rejoin the game from his temporary bed of straw outside the touch-line at Inverleith in February 1907. I can see him now, with his well-known gait, his elbows sticking out, and head hanging forward a trifle, as he fairly plunged into the back of the scrum, almost viciously, as though burning to redeem his character for invulnerability. Of him one who knew him well in Edinburgh has sent the following appreciation. “My earliest recollections of Sivright are, when I was a small boy at school in Edinburgh, seeing him tearing down the football field, the terror of all School sides, and the admiration of the young Fettes boys. Going straight from Fettes up to Cambridge, he very quickly made his mark in the first-class Rugby world, gaining his Blue the first season. He was always a very, very hard player, and took an absolute delight in the game. To the uninitiated onlooker he appeared to be a rough player, but this was not so; it was only his great strength that made him a danger to the other side. I have only once seen, or heard of, him being laid out on a football field, and that was at an International match between Scotland and Ireland, when he and Basil Maclear collided; it was a case of one giant coming up against another, and Sivright, probably being in a disadvantageous position, went under.