Andrew Ramsay "Bunny" Don-Wauchope (29 April 1861 – 16 January 1948) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

back who played club rugby for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and Fettesian-Lorettonian. Don Wauchope played an important role within the early growth of Scottish rugby and after retiring from international rugby he became a referee and was the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

. He was considered Scotland's outstanding half-back of the early 1880sGriffiths (1987), 2:5. and is credited as being one of the pioneers of modern half-back play. Born into the Don-Wauchope Baronetcy, Don-Wauchope was an all-round sportsman, representing his school and then university in rugby and athletics. He was a prolific try scorer, scoring six tries in his international career, though as a try was not worth any points at the time his scoring record remains blank. Don-Wauchope was also a keen cricketer, he went on to represent

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, playing in the very first encounter between Scotland and Ireland in 1888.

Personal history

Don-Wauchope was born in

Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton ( sco, Brigtoun, gd, Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east of Glasgow city centre. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is bounded by Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north ...

in 1861 to Sir John Don-Wauchope, 8th Baronet of Newton and Bethia Hamilton Buchanan. He was the second son of the Baronet, and the title passed onto his elder brother John Douglas when their father died in 1893. Don-Wauchope was educated at

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

before graduating to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1880. He graduated from Cambridge with a BA in 1884, and whilst at university he won sporting Blues in rugby and in athletics for hurdling. Don-Wauchope became a stock-broker by profession and in 1903 he married Emma Margaret Salmond, daughter of Sir William Salmond. By 1941 he had taken up residency in

Saint-Briac-sur-Mer Saint-Briac-sur-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Briac on Sea''; ; Gallo: ''Saent-Beriac''), is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine Department in Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer are called ''briacins'' in Fre ...

in France, and died in 1948 in Paris.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Don-Wauchope first came to note as a rugby player while studying at Cambridge. He won two sporting Blues for rugby in 1880 and 1881, and captained the Cambridge University team. Whilst still at University, Don-Wauchope and A.R. Paterson of

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. L ...

organised the first meeting of the Fettesian-Lorettonian Club,Marshall (1892), pg 65. until then a loose collection of former school pupils that had played cricket together the previous season. The Club was founded in 1881, and Don-Wauchope became captain of the Fettesian-Lorettonian club. While at Cambridge, Don-Wauchope took his Fettesian-Lorettonian team, firstly on tours of Scotland, and then venturing into North England. After playing several games against more well founded Scottish teams, such as West of Scotland and Edinburgh Wanderers, the club faced English teams, Manchester and Huddrsfield. Although losing my narrow score lines in Scotland, the Fettesian-Lorettonian team won both matches in England, which saw the ''Athletics News'' report "...persons who saw the doings of the Fettes-Loretto boys in Huddersfield and Manchester are willing to swear that a better team never existed, and a general wish has been expressed that Don-Wauchope should bring his grand team into the North of England once more." In 1883 he was playing for

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

. Later that same season, he moved to

Edinburgh Wanderers Edinburgh Wanderers is a former rugby union club, founded in 1868. It was latterly a tenant of the Scottish Rugby Union, playing home fixtures at Murrayfield Stadium for nearly 75 years. In 1997 it merged with Murrayfield RFC to form Murrayfiel ...

Provincial career

He was capped by Edinburgh District for the inter-city match in 1883. He was capped by East of Scotland District in their match against the West of Scotland District in January 1884.

International career

He was chosen to represent

in the

1881 Events January–March * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The C ...

international friendly with England. The game ended in a draw, and although not present for Scotland's next encounter, against Ireland, he was again playing at half-back for the next match to England. The game was played at Manchester, with Scotland winning by two tries to nil, the first time Scotland had beaten the English on their own soil. After playing in the very first Scotland match against Wales in early 1883, scoring his first international try in the game, Don-Wauchope was incapacitated for the rest of the season with a knee injury. He regained his place for all three matches of the

1884 Home Nations Championship The 1884 Home Nations Championship was the second series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 12 April 1884. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. England won the champ ...

, paired at half back with Oxford University rival Augustus Grant-Asher. After victories over Wales and Ireland, where he scored another try, this time against Ireland; the Scottish team were beaten by England in a contentious game at Blackheath. The next season saw Scotland draw to Wales, beat Ireland, and refuse to face England. Don-Wauchope played in both games of the 1885 Championship and in the home clash with Ireland, not only scored his third international try, but was also joined at half-back with his younger brother Patrick Hamilton Don-Wauchope. This was Patrick's first international game, and he would go on to win five more caps for Scotland. The 1886 Championship saw Scotland win the tournament trophy for the first time, with wins over Wales and Ireland, and a draw against England. Don-Wauchope scored a try in the encounter with Wales and two in a massive victory over the Irish. Although missing all of the 1887 international matches, Don-Wauchope played one final game for his country in

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

. Played at home against Ireland, he was given the honour of the Scotland captaincy, leading his team out to a final victory.

International matches played

Scotland * 1881, 1882, 1884, 1886 * 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888 * 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886

Referee career

After his retirement from playing international rugby, Don-Wauchope kept his connections with the sport when he became a referee. He first officiated an international match in 1889 when he took charge of the Home Nations Championship encounter between Wales and Ireland. It had been a busy day for Don-Wauchope, as he had spent the morning chairing a meeting of the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

.Godwin (1984), 22. He went on to referee another two international games, in

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

and

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

Administrative career

Don-Wauchope became the 17th

President of the Scottish Rugby Union The President of the Scottish Rugby Union is the figurehead of rugby union in Scotland. Origin In 1873, and directly after the Scotland versus England international match, representatives from eight Scottish rugby union sides came together in Gla ...

. He served the 1889-90 term in office.

References

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