Colonel Michael John Campbell-Lamerton (1 August 1933 – 17 March 2005) was a

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 ...

international player. He was also a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer.

Military career

He was educated at Ottershaw School near Chertsey, Surrey.

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

took him to the

Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division. In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...

in 1952, the start of 33 years' service in the Army during which he served in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. He and his lifelong friend, David Gilbert-Smith, led two platoons of the

during the

Battle of the Hook Battle of the Hook refers to several engagements during the Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), ...

, recovering positions overrun by the Chinese offensive. Campbell-Lamerton had already escaped a life-threatening injury at school when, aged 15, he was struck on the chest by a javelin; he courted death again on foot patrol in Korea when he trod on a mine. Hearing the faint click, he remained still while the corporal with him, who fortunately had worked in bomb disposal during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, rendered it safe. Three years later, serving in

during the EOKA campaign, he fell 60 ft from a helicopter in full combat gear, sustaining severe back, hip and leg injuries. In his military career, he rose to the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

, leading him to command a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, thence to the

Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town ...

, where he was commander of Old College and Victory College.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played rugby for his regiment (The 'Dukes'), the

Army Rugby Union The Army Rugby Union (ARU) is the governing body for rugby union in the British Army and a constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The ARU was formed on 31 December 1906 and marked the fulfilment of Lieutenant J. E. C. "Birdie" Partr ...

and Combined Services, and club rugby with Halifax,

Blackheath Rugby Club Blackheath Football Club is a rugby union club based in Well Hall, Eltham in south-east London. The club was founded in Blackheath in 1858, and is the fourth-oldest rugby club in continuous existence in the world, after Dublin University Fo ...

and

London Scottish RFC 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 ...

Provincial career

He played for the Blues Trial side against 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 in 1962 and 1963.

International career

His debut for Scotland came against

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 Colombes on 7 January 1961. He went on to gain 23 Scotland caps as he appeared in the next five seasons, twice as captain in 1965.Bath, p123-4 He was picked for the

1962 British Lions tour to South Africa In 1962 the British Lions rugby union team toured Southern and Eastern Africa. Overall the tourists played twenty-five matches, winning sixteen, losing five and drawing four. The Lions were unsuccessful in the test series against , losing by ...

, playing all four internationals at number eight. But when the Lions team was selected for the 1966 tour, he was 32, no longer captain of his country and the leadership was expected go to Alun Pask, the outstanding Welsh No. 8. Massie says that "You would have had no doubt that he ike Campbell-Lamertoncould push in the scrum, and with him and Frans Ten Bos together it achieved a solidity and power that had long been lacking."Massie, p175 Campbell-Lamerton was 6 ft 5 inches and 17 stone. However, he also says that Lamerton was not a good national captain: "He was perhaps over-conscientious and a worrier, and hardly spoke the same language as many of the team; it affected his play." In terms of sheer entertainment value, Massie says, "I doubt if any other Scottish lock forward has given so much fun, not even

Alastair McHarg Alastair McHarg (born 17 June 1944) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Lock for the national side between 1968 and 1979.Bath, p147 Rugby Union career Amateur career Like Ian McLauchlan and Gordon Brown who we ...

." Richard Bath writes of him that he was: :"''A strong scrummager who held his own in the at the line-out and was a considerable presence in the loose, Campbell-Lamerton excelled in the second row for Scotland from his first cap in 1961 until his 23rd in 1966.''"

Allan Massie Allan Johnstone Massie (born 16 October 1938) is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Se ...

provides a more colourful description of him: :"''The sight of captain M.J. Campbell-Lamerton of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment surging round the tail of a line-out like an enraged hippopotamus was one of the most stirring spectacles in Scottish Rugby. A huge man, 6 feet 5 inches and often over 17 stones, he made an abrupt and unheralded entry into top-class Rugby for a Combined Services team against a Scottish Select 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 ...

in December 1960. The game was played in a thick haar, and almost the only impression spectators retained of it was of this man-mountain surging out of mist as a

mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

from a primeval swamp. It took him into the Scottish team and he stayed there til 1966 to win twenty-three caps."Massie, p174

Lions in New Zealand (1966)

Though the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

beat in successive internationals, the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

section of the tour was marred by ill feeling. After the game with Canterbury, the Lions captain for the day,

Jim Telfer James Telfer (born 17 March 1940) is a Scottish former rugby union coach and player. As a player, he won 21 international caps in the amateur era, also having a career as a headmaster at Hawick High School and Galashiels Academy and Forrester H ...

, said at the after match function: "I would not describe today's game as dirty because all our games in New Zealand have been dirty." Understandably this caused a furore but it was the backdrop against which Campbell-Lamerton had to keep his players united. Campbell-Lamerton, would not have been out of place in the modern game: he was a big man, at 6 feet 5 inches, weighing more than 17 stone, yet athletic enough to play No. 8 as well as his accustomed position in the second row. But the qualities which served him best on the difficult tour of New Zealand as captain of the 1966 Lions were his commitment and willingness which did so much to sustain a struggling tour party. At one stage the manager, Des O'Brien left the party for a reconnaissance mission to Fiji (where a final tour game was to be played), and the coach, John Robins, was in hospital with damaged ankle ligaments, leaving Campbell-Lamerton with far greater responsibilities than any modern equivalent would face. Yet in a squad which he had not been expected to captain, his players still speak warmly of the example he set after a tour in which the Lions lost all four internationals against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

. The recurrence of an ankle injury which caused his withdrawal from the second game against New Zealand, did not help and he also missed the final international. "Mike was a decent man and much-maligned", Brian Price, his second-row partner in three of the tour internationals, said. "We knew how hard he was working and it was because we respected his efforts, we stuck together."

Coaching career

After the tour he retired from playing rugby. In 1972 he was appointed to coach the British Combined services team.

Post-military

He left the Army in 1985 and became

bursar A bursar (derived from " bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education ( ...

at Balliol College, Oxford, later being elected an

Emeritus Fellow ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the college. He also took a close interest in the fortunes of the university rugby club, whose president he eventually became. He was elected a Knight of Malta, the organisation which raises funds for

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

charities. In 2001 prostate cancer was diagnosed, an illness he endured with great fortitude until his death on 17 March 2005, aged 71.

Family

Campbell-Lamerton was born on 1 August 1933 at the Royal Naval Hospital in Valletta, Malta, the elder of two sons of Lieutenant-Commander Robert Campbell-Lamerton, and his wife, Margaret. His father was killed in action in 1943 on North Atlantic convoy duty. In 1956 Campbell-Lamerton met and married Marie-Christine (née Cottrell) while stationed in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. They had three sons: Jeremy, (born 1959) who also played

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for Scotland five times in the 1986–7 season, Michael Patrick (born 1958), Ian Anthony (born 1962) and a daughter Clare Josephine Margaret (born 1961).

Awards and honours

Campbell-Lamerton received a MBE in 1974, then an OBE in 1979.

References

Sources

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) * Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )

External links

*
profile
at

Barbarian F.C. 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 ...

player archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell-Lamerton, Mike 1933 births 2005 deaths Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers English Roman Catholics Scottish Roman Catholics Knights of Malta Deaths from prostate cancer British military personnel of the Cyprus Emergency Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland London Scottish F.C. players Anglo-Scots Yorkshire County RFU players Combined Services rugby union players Army rugby union players British Army personnel of the Korean War Converts to Roman Catholicism People from Valletta Academics of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Blues Trial players Rugby union number eights Blackheath F.C. players