Eric Gordon Loudoun-Shand MC TD (born Eric Gordon Shand; 31 March 1893) was a

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 ...

international who played for

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 ...

and captained

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 th ...

's Rugby side in the 1919

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

. During what would have been the prime of his playing career he fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Biography

Eric Gordon Shand was born on 31 March 1893 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. He was one of the ten children of John Loudoun Shand and his wife Lucy, and was the youngest of the five brothers. His father, who originated from Scotland, adopted his middle name Loudoun as the first part of a double-barrelled surname, and all members of the family followed suit. His father, John Loudoun Loudoun-Shand (died 2 February 1932 at Craigellie, Alleyn Park, Dulwich. Aged 86 years) was a prominent plantation owner in what was then called Ceylon. Arriving in the Island in 1864 Mr. Loudoun-Shand did a lot of planting chiefly in the Dimbula and Dickoya districts and in 1879 and 1880 was elected Chairman of the Planters' Association of Ceylon in what was a difficult period. Known as "Silver-tongued Shand" due to his oratory prowess, in 1882 and 1884 he was Planting Member of the Legislative Council. He was also an Honorary Life Member of the Ceylon Association in London. His mother died in September 1930The Straits Times, 22 September 1930, Page 10 in Ceylon. She had travelled there in 1872 to be married. Along with his four brothers, Eric attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

. His eldest brother, William, followed his father into the planting business. The second of the brothers Stewart was a recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. Alexander, the third brother, became a Commander in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

and was the head of the

Royal Australian Naval College The Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), commonly known as HMAS Creswell, is the naval academy of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). It consists of the RAN School of Survivability and Ship's Safety, Kalkara Flight, the Beecroft Weapons Range an ...

. The fifth of the five brothers was C. B. Loudoun-Shand who resided Delta,

Pussellawa ''Pussellawa'' si, පුස්සැල්ලාව. ta, புசல்லாவ, is a l town in Kandy District, Sri Lanka. It is located along the A5 road between Gampola and Nuwara Eliya. Legend says ancient kings of Gampola Kingdom est ...

for a while. He was known as 'Bosun' Loudoun-Shand and was the Colonel of the volunteer force '

Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps The Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps was a regiment of the Ceylon Defence Force, which existed between 1900 and 1949. It was a volunteer (reserve) regiment based in Kandy, made up of only Europeans that were tea and rubber planters of the hills of Sri ...

' .

Rugby career

Eric learnt his rugby at

. Whilst there he played in an unbeaten first XV in 1909 which contained five future internationals dubbed the 'Famous Five'. These five would all go on to play in the 1913

Varsity match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

, (and also produced the captains of both

Oxford 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 ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

in 1919), and all served in the

. They were Eric Loudoun-Shand himself and

Grahame Donald Air Marshal Sir David Grahame Donald, (27 July 1891 – 23 December 1976), often known as Sir Grahame Donald, was a Royal Naval Air Service pilot during the First World War, a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer between the wars and a senior ...

who both went on to play for Scotland,

William David Doherty William David Doherty, M.A., M.Ch., F.R.C.S., known as George Doherty was a medical superintendent of Guy's Hospital, London, and a former captain of the Ireland national rugby union team. Early life William David Doherty was born on 17 July ...

who went on to play for and captain Ireland, Jenny Greenwood who went on to play for and captain England and the record-breaking

Cyril Lowe Cyril Nelson "Kit" Lowe, (7 October 1891 – 6 February 1983) was an English rugby union footballer who held England's international try scoring record for over sixty years, a First World War flying ace credited with nine victories, and suppose ...

. From Dulwich College, Eric went to

. He was selected to play as a Centre in the 1913 varsity match against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. In that same year he was selected to play for

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

on 15 March. In that match, which Scotland lost by 3-point to nil due to LG Brown's try, he wore the number 4 shirt. On the opposing side were two of his former school teammates, CN Lowe and JE Greenwood. His international career was then interrupted by the outbreak of the

. He joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps and during the war rose to the rank of Major and received the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. He was also a holder of the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

. He did not return to international rugby, but he did make a return for

in 1919. He captained the side and his opposing captain was his former school teammate J. E. Greenwood. It was due to a chance encounter with Eric Loudoun-Shand that Greenwood was allowed to captain the Cambridge side that year. It was within the prerogative of the Oxford captain to deny Cambridge the chance to field Greenwood, who had left the university just prior to the war. However, the long association proved to be to Greenwood's good fortune. Eric Loudoun-Shand played that match with a severely injured arm, an injury from the Great War. So bad was this injury that he later had to have the arm amputated.J.E. Greenwood, ''A Cap for Boots'', p98 (Hutchinson Benham:London) 1977

Personal life

In 1923 Eric married Dorothy Feldtmann with whom he had a son Keith born in 1927.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudoun-Shand, Eric 1893 births 1972 deaths People educated at Dulwich College King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Recipients of the Military Cross Rugby union centres Scotland international rugby union players Oxford University RFC players Rugby union players from Edinburgh Scottish amputees British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Edinburgh