John Howard Wilson (3 March 1930 – 10 March 2015) 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 ...

and British sportsman who played 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 ...

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 ...

. He also played representative rugby union for Edinburgh and the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located a ...

Early life

Howard was born at Boghall farm in the

Pentland Hills The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. Etymology The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentlan ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

on 3 March 1930. His father was Professor Adam Stewart Brown Wilson, who managed the farm for the

University of Edinburgh 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 15 ...

and his mother was Lilias Glendinning Wilson (née Taylor). He was the second of four children and was educated at George Watsons College in Edinburgh.

Rugby career

He played for the George Watsons first xv whilst at school and during national service from 1948 to 1950 (based in

Hameln Hamelin ( ; german: Hameln ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Hi ...

, Germany) he played for the

. On returning to the UK he played representatively for Edinburgh in 1951 and 1952. He was capped just once for the

Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, ...

. His only Test came against Ireland on 28 February at Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh 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 ...

. On return to Scotland in 1958 he played for

Watsonians Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, and changed its policy in the 1980s to be a fully open club, ...

and

Howe of Fife The Howe of Fife is the broad, low-lying valley of the River Eden, lying between the Ochil Hills and the Lomond Hills in Fife, Scotland. ''Howe'', in Scots means a hollow or a plain bounded by hills. The alternative terms ''Laich of Fife'' and ...

Later life

In 1955 Howard moved to

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

to work as an agriculturalist for the UK government. It was there he met his wife Shiela Mary Brooke, a nurse with whom he had two daughters and a son. Moving back to Scotland in 1958 he lived in Edinburgh and worked predominantly in agriculture. Howard died after a short illness at Whim House,

West Linton West Linton ( gd, Liontan Ruairidh) is a village and civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, but since local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. M ...

on the 10 March 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John Howard 1930 births 2015 deaths People educated at George Watson's College Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Howe of Fife RFC players Watsonians RFC players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Midlothian Rugby union props