Thomas Arthur Nelson MID (22 September 1876 – 9 April 1917) was a

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 ...

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 ...

player. He later became a book publisher in his family's firm of

Thomas Nelson and Sons Thomas Nelson is a publishing firm that began in West Bow, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798, as the namesake of its founder. It is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, the publishing unit of News Corp. It describes itself as a "world leading publisher a ...

. He was killed in 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 ...

Background

He was born on 22 September 1876, the son of the publisher Thomas Nelson and his wife Jessie Kemp."Thomas Arthur Nelson, III"
at Geni. The family lived in the house of their grandfather Thomas Nelson: Abden House on the south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, the grandfather having died in 1861. His father built a new house, St Leonards, in the grounds of Abden House and the family moved there on its completion in 1890. Nelson obtained an estate at Achnacloich, on the shore of Loch Etive near Oban. He spent a considerable part of each year there.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

, where he became a rugby union player. He played for a combined Edinburgh Academy - Watsons College schoolboy side in January 1895. He then went to study Classics at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he befriended

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

. Nelson played

for

, playing for them from 1896. He captained the side in 1900.

Provincial career

Nelson was named in the

Anglo-Scots Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...

side to face South of Scotland District on 25 December 1897. The match was called off. He was originally named in the Provinces District side in December 1898, but his selection fell through. It was remarked that Nelson was not expected to turn out for the Provinces District in their match against Cities District on 14 January 1899.

International career

Nelson was capped for

in 1898. He rivalled Allan Smith for a place in the international side. It was thought that Nelson would get a place at Centre in front of the Smith for the Ireland match as Smith was struggling for fitness. Smith started that match, but Nelson played alongside Smith at Centre for the match against England.

Publishing career

The

novel '' The Thirty-Nine Steps'' (1915) is dedicated to him. Nelson and Buchan had been friends since Nelson was an undergraduate at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

. He became head of the family publishing firm of

, which employed Buchan as literary advisor and was one of the writer's publishers. He was noted as a benevolent owner of the company. The publishing house had an athletics club and Nelson gave over a portion of his family estate so that the club could use it. The company was noted as a pioneer in looking after the health of its employees at the time; by employing an official to look after their health.

Military career

At the First World War, Nelson became a Captain with the

Lothians and Border Horse The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Had ...

attached to the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tank ...

.Bath, p. 109. He then moved to special service.

Death

Nelson was killed on 9 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Arras 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 ...

He was killed by a stray shell. He had been on the front for 18 months. He is buried in Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, near Arras, grave reference VII.G.26, He is also memorialised on his parents grave in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

in south Edinburgh. and on the Scottish Rugby Union War Memorial at Murrayfield Stadium. The ''Hull Daily Mail'' headlined ''A Publishers Fortune'' detailing that Nelson of Achnacloich in Argyll left an estate of £470,782. £219,300 of that estate represented his holding in the publishing firm.

Family

In 1903 he was married to Margaret Balfour, daughter of the Liverpool merchant,

Alexander Balfour Alexander Balfour (2 September 1824 – 16 April 1886) was a Scottish merchant and founder of the Liverpool shipping company Balfour Williamson. Biography Balfour was born in Leven, Fife, the son of Henry Balfour, a foundry owner. He was e ...

. They had six children, including Alexander Ronan Nelson (1906–1997) and Elisabeth Nelson (1912–1999), who married Lord Bryan Walter Guinness, then becoming Lady Moyne, Elizabeth Guinness. Following his death Margaret married

Paul Maze Paul Lucien Maze (21 May 1887 – 17 September 1979) was an Anglo-French painter. He is often known as “The last of the Post Impressionists" and was one of the great artists of his generation. His mediums included oils, watercolours and pastel ...

(1887–1979), a Frenchman, and became known as Margaret Balfour Nelson Maze."Paul Lucien Maze"
at Geni.

References

;Sources * Bath, Richard (ed.), ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007, )

External links

Commonwealth War Graves database

An entire team wiped out by the Great War
(''The Scotsman'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Thomas Arthur 1876 births 1917 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Oxford University RFC players British military personnel killed in World War I British Yeomanry officers Rugby union players from Edinburgh Machine Gun Corps officers Lothians and Border Horse officers Rugby union centres Burials in France Military personnel from Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War I