Robert Cumming Hamilton (13 May 1877 – 2 May 1948) was a Scottish international
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
who played as a
Centre forward
In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...
and was known for his prolific scoring record and his ten-season association with
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
.
Playing career
Club
Hamilton started his football career with the local side
Elgin City in the
Highland League. He relocated to
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
in 1896 to attend the city's
University
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and joined
Queen's Park.
A year later, he joined the
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
until 1907, earning a reputation as a potent goal-scorer who was remarkably accurate from long range.
Hamilton played every match, was top scorer and captained the team during the
1898–99 season, in which they
won every league match.
[(Rangers player) Hamilton, Robert C.]
FitbaStats He earned further
League winners medals in
1899–1900,
1900–01 and
1901–02 and was part of Rangers'
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,[1898
Events
January
* January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...](_blank)
and
1903
Events January
* January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
* January 10 – The Aceh Sultanate was fully annexed by the Dutch forces, deposing the last sultan, marking the end of the Aceh War that have lasted for al ...
.
[ He became Rangers' all-time top scorer against rivals ]Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
during his time at Ibrox, was the club's top goalscorer for nine consecutive seasons and the highest overall in Scottish League Division One
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tw ...
on six occasions (including two shared awards), his highest total being 28 from 24 appearances in 1903–04.
Hamilton moved south of the border to join Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
in May 1906, helping them to win the 1906–07 Southern League title, before returning to Rangers a year later. He left the Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...
club for a second time in 1908, briefly moving to Heart of Midlothian before joining Morton. He signed for Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
at the end of the 1909–10 season, too late to be involved in the side which defeated Clyde to win the Scottish Cup, Dundee's first, that year. After three full seasons and part of a fourth at Dens Park
Dens Park is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards (183 metres) away.
History
Dundee moved to "Dens" from the ...
,
he returned to first club Elgin City in 1913 where he finally retired.
International
Hamilton won a total of eleven 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 Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
between 1899 and 1911, scoring fifteen goals, four of which came in Scotland's 11–0 win over Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in 1901, their biggest ever margin of victory. He was also selected seven times for the Scottish League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...
representative side, scoring nine goals.(SFL player) Robert Cumming Hamilton
London Hearts Supporters Club
Post football
After retiring from football, Hamilton went into education, and after graduating from the University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
, he became a school teacher, then eventually a master. He maintained an involvement in education throughout his life and eventually served on the Moray and Nairn Education Board in the mid-1930s. He was also involved in local politics, serving on the Elgin Town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
between 1914 and 1937. For the last six years of this period, he was the Provost of Elgin. Hamilton died in May 1948, aged 71. In the late 1950s/early 1960s a new road in a private housing estate overlooking the River Lossie at the north side of Elgin was named after him as Hamilton Drive, which remains today.
Career Statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, the score column indicates the score after each Hamilton goal.''
See also
* List of footballers in Scotland by number of league goals (200+)
*List of Scotland national football team captains
This article lists all the captain (association football), captains of the men's Scotland national football team. As of 9 June 2025, Scotland have played 842 officially recognised international matches and have had 156 different team captains. An ...
* List of Scotland national football team hat-tricks
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Robert
1877 births
1948 deaths
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Date of death missing
Dundee F.C. players
Elgin City F.C. players
Fulham F.C. players
Greenock Morton F.C. players
Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
Queen's Park F.C. players
Rangers F.C. players
Scotland men's international footballers
Scottish Football League players
Scottish Football League representative players
Scottish men's footballers
English Football League players
Scottish league football top scorers
Highland Football League players
Place of death missing
Men's association football forwards
Footballers from Elgin, Moray
Councillors in Scotland
Scottish politicians
Scottish schoolteachers
Provosts in Scotland