Captain Lewis Robertson (4 August 1883 – 3 November 1914) was a Scottish

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 for

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 wit ...

and was capped nine times for between 1908 and 1913. He also played for the Army from 1904 to 1914, and several other clubs. After leaving school, he attended the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

and, passing out with honours, he joined the

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Al ...

in 1903. He was killed in

World War I 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 ...

from wounds received in action at

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

. He is buried at the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.

Early life

Lewis Robertson was born on 4 August 1883, the third son of James, a wine merchant, and Agnes Rae Robertson of Edinburgh. His siblings were Agnes, William, James, Katherine, Jessie, and Frances. He attended

Cargilfield Preparatory School Cargilfield Preparatory School is a private co-educational prep school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1873. It is a day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 3–13 and caters for approximately 300 pupils. It prepares pupils mai ...

, and

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

, and then went on to

RMC Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Robertson played rugby for Fettesian-Lorettonian, London Scottish, Monkstown,

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 ...

, and United Services Portsmouth. He also represented RMC Sandhurst against RMA Sandhurst in 1902, and the Army in the annual match against the Navy from 1909 to 1914. In the last year, he was captain of the Army XV but he voluntarily offered to relinquish his position because he deemed himself out of form and unworthy of it, according to an article published after his death in ''

Windsor Magazine ''The Windsor Magazine'' was a monthly illustrated publication produced by Ward Lock & Co from January 1895 to September 1939 (537 issues). The title page described it as "An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women". It was bound as six-monthly ...

''.

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District against Glasgow District in the 1910 inter-city match, while with Edinburgh Wanderers. Edinburgh District won the match 26–5. 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 with London Scottish. He scored a drop goal in a 26–19 win for the Whites.

International career

He earned nine

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 Java ...

for between 1908 and 1913. The first was against in March 1908, and three years passed before he was selected a second time, for the match against in February 1911. The following year, 1912, he played in every game for Scotland (except the France match), including the one against the South African side on tour of the

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

. He was selected for the France match but did not play due to a family bereavement. In 1913, he played in the three matches against the Home Nations, his last against England in a close-fought match 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 ...

, which the home side won by one try to nil.

International appearances

Military career

Robertson passed out of RMC Sandhurst with honours, and joined the 1st Battalion

as Second Lieutenant on 22 April 1903. His regiment transferred to Dublin in 1905. He was promoted to Lieutenant effective 11 March 1909. In January 1911, he was appointed an Assistant Superintendent of Gymnasia. At the outbreak of 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 ...

, Robertson was recalled to the depot in Inverness, and was then briefly at Aldershot before his regiment crossed to France in September 1914 to fight on the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.trenches at Ypres, when he was wounded in the arm. After having the wound dressed, he returned to his company and was wounded a second time, more seriously, and he died the following day. He is buried at the Ypres Reservoir Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery (Grave II. A. 4.).

References

Bibliography

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