Sir Augustus Gordon Grant-Asher (18 December 1861 – 15 June 1930)Godwin, p30 was a

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 ...

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 ...

player. He also represented Scotland as a cricket player.Bath, p104

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Grant-Asher went to

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 ...

, and went up to

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

after that. He played for

Oxford University RFC The Oxford University Rugby Football Club (Oxford University RFC or OURFC) is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham. History Men's team ...

, as well as the

Fettesian-Lorettonian Club The Fettesian-Lorettonians Club is a Scotland, Scottish sporting club made up of former pupils of Fettes College and Loretto School. The club was founded in 1881 and has seen members of its club represent the Scotland national rugby union team. ...

, and

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 1885 while with

. He was capped by East of Scotland District for their match against West of Scotland District. This was at the end of January 1886; and he was now with Fettesian-Lorettonians.

International career

One of the earliest Scottish players, he was capped 7 times for between 1882 and 1886. He played at half back. R.J. Phillips, the first historian of Scottish rugby said: :''"no one has arisen to bear comparison with A.R. Don Wauchope at quarter or half back, where he and A.G.G. Asher still hold claim as the greatest pair to have played together for their country."''

Administrative career

He was president 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 ...

from 1929 to 1930.

Cricket career

At Oxford, he played in 10

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches for the

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

team in 1883 and 1884, winning a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

for cricket in 1883. He also played for the

Scotland national cricket team The Scotland national cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, and also some other venues. Scotland became Associate Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1994

Other sports

Grant-Asher was also Scotland's

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

champion.

Law career

In later life he was a

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

Honours

He was appointed CBE in the

1918 Birthday Honours The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, 3 June a ...

and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

1927 Birthday Honours The 1927 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

Death

He is buried in the churchyard of Insh Church,

Kincraig Kincraig ( gd, Ceann na Creige) is a village located north of Kingussie and south of Aviemore in Highland, Scotland. Its original name was Boat of Inch, reflecting the ferry boat crossing of the Spey River that once operated here. The name was ...

, near

Kingussie Kingussie ( ; gd, Ceann a' Ghiùthsaich ) is a small town in the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of the Highland council area of Scotland. Historically in Inverness-shire, it lies beside the A9 road, although the old route of the A9 serves as the ...

, Highland.

References

;Sources # Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ) # Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, ) # Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; ) 1861 births 1930 deaths Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire East of Scotland District players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Edinburgh Wanderers RFC players Fettesian-Lorretonian rugby union players History of rugby union in Scotland Indian rugby union players Knights Bachelor Oxford University cricketers Oxford University RFC players People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Rugby players from Maharashtra Rugby union officials Scotland international rugby union players Scottish cricketers Scottish rugby union players Scottish solicitors Sportspeople from Pune {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub