James 'Hamish' Cooper Dawson (29 October 1925 – 19 October 2007) 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 it ...

international who represented

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

from 1947 to 1953 gaining 20

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Dawson was educated at

Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational independent day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully independent ...

Strathallan School Strathallan School is an independent boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 7–18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff ...

in Perthshire and

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

. He was a talented all-round sportsman, particularly swimming, cricket and rugby. Dawson received 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 ...

for

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 ...

, playing 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 the 1943-44 season. He played club rugby for

Glasgow Academicals RFC The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873. History Glasgow Hawks In 1997 the decision was made to ...

London Scottish FC London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is currently playing in the RFU Championship. The club share the Athletic Ground wi ...

and the

Barbarians FC The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...

Provincial career

Dawson was capped for Glasgow District. He played for the Cities District side in their match against Australia in October 1947. He turned out for the

Scotland Probables 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 ...

side in 1947.

International career

Dawson made his debut for Scotland in a 16-7 loss to Australia at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

during their 1947-48 tour of Great Britain, one of eight new Scotland caps that day. His first three caps were played at lock, which included a 9-8 victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at Murrayfield and a 14-0 loss to Wales in Cardiff in the

1948 Five Nations Championship The 1948 Five Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

. Dawson's next seventeen caps were played at prop starting with an 8-0 victory over France in the 1949 Five Nations Championship in Paris. This was followed by a 6-5 win over Wales at Murrayfield and a 13-3 defeat to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at the same venue. He played all four matches in the 1950 Five Nations Championship, starting with a third consecutive victory over France, 8-5 in Edinburgh. Scotland lost 12-0 to Wales and 21-0 to Ireland in Cardiff and Dublin respectively. Regaining some pride with a 13-11 win 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 ...

at Murrayfield. In 1951 Dawson played on five occasions for Scotland, starting with a 14-12 loss to France in Paris. On 3 February, he scored his only points for Scotland with a try in a 19-0 win against Wales at Murrayfield. Three weeks later Scotland lost narrowly to Ireland, 6-5 in Edinburgh, starting a run of 17 consecutive matches without a win, lasting until 1955. Dawson also played in the 5-3 defeat to England at

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 ...

; Scotland avoiding the 1951 Five Nations Championship

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

on points difference. Later that year Scotland suffered a record 44-0 loss to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

at Murrayfield, with South Africa losing only once on their 31-game 1951-52 rugby tour. Dawson played in all four matches of the

1952 Five Nations Championship The 1952 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-third series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-eighth series of the northern hemisphere rugb ...

. Scotland losing all four matches: 13-11 to France in Edinburgh, 11-0 to Wales in Cardiff, 12-8 to Ireland in Dublin and 19-3 to England at Murrayfield. Dawson played his last match for Scotland against England at Twickenham in a 26-8 loss in the

1953 Five Nations Championship The 1953 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rug ...

, Scotland receiving the 'wooden spoon' for the second consecutive year.

Military career

In 1943 he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, initially serving as a midshipman based at HMS King Alfred and then transferring to

HMS Ulysses (R69) HMS ''Ulysses'' was a U-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. She was later converted into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F17. Service history Second World War ...

in the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships o ...

. Dawson then served as a sub-lieutenant on a minesweeper in Hong Kong until December 1946.

Outside of rugby

After the war, he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1948. He rose through the ranks of Ritchies Paper Products Limited finally becoming managing director in 1968.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Hamish 1925 births 2007 deaths Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Barbarian F.C. players Cities District players Glasgow Academicals rugby union players Glasgow District (rugby union) players London Scottish F.C. players Oxford University RFC players People educated at Strathallan School People educated at the Glasgow Academy Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II Rugby union players from East Ayrshire Scotland international rugby union players Scotland Probables players Scottish rugby union players People from Mauchline Rugby union locks