Thomas William Kirkwood, OBE (1884–1971) was a Scottish champion

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player. He competed in the 1924

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...

Biography

Kirkwood was born 17 February 1884, the younger of the two sons of Col. James Nicholson Sodon Kirkwood (1846–1926) and Minnie Charlotte Fergusson (d. 1924), daughter of Major Home Fergusson of The Park, Elie,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. The family lived at Woodbrook,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

. Kirkwood was educated at Blairlodge School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was a member of the 1901 cricket team. He was commissioned a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Indian army on 21 January 1903, and attached to the 17th Bengal Lancers. Gifted in languages, Kirkwood was sent to Moscow (from 1905) and St Petersburg to study Russian, and in 1919 he commanded an officers’ training camp at Omsk. He later served as an intelligence officer in Japan and was awarded the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

and appointed and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1919. Kirkwood retired with the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and returned to Ireland, where he entered the Jameson distillery, where his father-in-law, Andrew Jameson, was chairman and managing director. He regularly played polo wherever he stayed, playing on the winning teams in the Indian cavalry tournament (c.1907) and the British cavalry inter-regimental tournament (1920). After his return to Ireland, he continued to play polo and became treasurer and president of the All Ireland Polo Association and the Irish representative to the Hurlingham Polo Association, the international polo association. In 1924 he competed for the British Isles against the USA in the Westchester cup matches and he also played for Ireland on several occasions. However, his greatest contribution to polo was undoubtedly his tireless efforts to keep the game alive in Ireland after the second world war. Kirkwood married on 4 May 1910 Harriet Jameson (1880–1953), daughter of Irish politician and businessman Andrew Jameson. She was a celebrated artist, known as Harriet Kirkwood. They lived at Collinstown Park, Clondalkin, Dublin. He died 22 December 1971 in Dublin.

References

Scottish polo players International Polo Cup 1884 births Scottish cricketers Europeans cricketers 1971 deaths {{Scotland-sport-bio-stub