John Dobson (6 September 1886 – 16 July 1936) 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 played at the Hooker position.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

After studying at Glasgow Academy, Dobson then played for

Glasgow Academicals 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 ...

. He captained the side for two years.

Provincial career

He played for the Cities District on 8 January 1910. He was capped by Glasgow District in

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

. He played for the

Whites Trial White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

side against the

Blues Trial Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

side on 21 January 1911, while still with Glasgow Academicals. He was lined up to play again for the

side against the

side on 21 December 1912 but an injury to G. Donald from Oxford University created a berth for him instead in the Blues. The Blues won the match 27- 8. Days later Donald announced his retirement from

. He never received a Scotland cap.

International career

Dobson was capped by

for 6 matches from 1911 to 1912.

Military career

He served in the First World War. He was a captain with the 3/5th Scottish Rifles (Cameronians); and then the 17th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps. Severely wounded he was awarded the Military Cross.

Business career

Dobson was a woollen merchant and manufacturer; Dobson and his brothers were partners in the firm David Black and Company. On Dobson's death in 1936 it was stated that this woollen business was founded 150 years before. Dobson became a director of Wylie and Lochhead Ltd; a governor of the Glasgow Academicals War Memorial Trust; a member of Merchants House; a member of the Glasgow Liberal Club; and treasurer of Kelvinside Parish Church.

Family

One of his brothers, Jimmy Dobson, was also a

international

player. Another brother, Edward Dobson, died in Flanders in 1917 in the First World War. A remaining brother William Sharp Dobson worked in the woollen business in the warehouse. He also had two sisters, Jane Boyd Dobson and Charlotte Sharp Dobson. All of the brothers played for Glasgow District in the inter-city match against Edinburgh District. Dobson married Florence Marie Williamson in September 1920. They had two daughters.

Death

Dobson died suddenly in July 1936. Newspaper reports state the death was on Friday 17 July; the National Probate Index of Scotland states 16 July. The National Probate Index of Scotland date of death is taken here. He left a sizeable estate of £50,493, 16 shillings and 8 pence. Both of his surviving brothers and his wife were executors of his estate. The ''Belfast Telegraph'' stated that he was one of the finest forwards in the immediate pre-war years of Scottish rugby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, John 1886 births 1936 deaths Blues Trial players Cities District players Glasgow Academicals rugby union players Glasgow District (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Glasgow Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Whites Trial players Rugby union hookers