George Philip Stewart Macpherson

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

TD (16 October 1903 – 2 March 1981) also known as GPS Macpherson 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 ...

footballer who played for

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in 26 tests between 1922 and 1932.

Early life

Macpherson was born in

Newtonmore Newtonmore ( gd, Baile Ùr an t-Sléibh ) is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. The village is only a few miles from a location that is claimed to be the exact geographical centre of Scotland There is some debate as to the lo ...

Badenoch Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by th ...

, one of seven children of Sir Thomas Stewart Macpherson CIE LLD and Helen, the daughter of the Reverend Archibald Borland Cameron. His father's brother was the first Baron Strathcarron and one of his own brothers, Niall, was also raised to the peerage as Baron Drumalbyn. Another brother was Sir Ronald Thomas Stewart Macpherson. He attended

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 ...

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. From there he attended

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

. At

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, his rugby talents saw him selected for

Oxford University RFC The Oxford University Rugby Football Club (Oxford University RFC or OURFC) is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham. History Men's team ...

International rugby

It was from there he was first selected for Scotland in 1922 when he played in all four of Scotland's Five Nations matches. He next played for Scotland in 1924, and scored his first international

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against

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on 2 February that year. He only played one other international that year—a

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

match against England national rugby union team. The following year Macpherson was selected as Scotland's captain. As captain, he took Scotland to their first ever Five Nations Grand Slam (rugby union), Grand Slam—that is, wins over England, Wales, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland and France national rugby union team, France in one season. The first match of the season was against France at Inverleith Sports Ground, Inverleith on 25 January. MacPherson was one of the most influential members of the team that eventually won 25–4. Scotland's next match was against Wales in which Macpherson also played. The match was played away in Swansea and Scotland eventually won 24–14 after leading 24–5 at one point. Macpherson did not play against Ireland, where Scotland still won 14–8. MacPherson returned for Scotland's last match of the tournament against England. The match was played at Murrayfield Stadium which had just been completed. It was played in front on 70,000 spectators. After trailing England 11–5, Scotland scored a try that involved several players, including Macpherson to reduce the deficit to 11–10. After a Drop goal#Rugby union, drop goal Scotland took a 14–11 lead. They held their lead to win their first ever Grand Slam. Macpherson missed the 1926 Five Nations Championship while studying for a year at Yale in the US, but returned in 1927 and continued to play for Scotland until the conclusion of the 1931/32 season. With Scotland he shared the 1927 Five Nations Championships with Ireland, and won the Championship outright in 1929. The only match he ever played against a touring southern hemisphere team was against South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa in 1932.

Retirement

Macpherson became vice president of merchant bank Kleinwort Benson between 1961 and 1969. Macpherson received an Honorary degree, Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1971. In the 1976 New Year Honours, Macpherson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to Greenwich District Hospital, Greenwich Hospital."UK list: In 2001, Macpherson was selected in Scotland's all-time greatest XV. He was also selected as Scotland's greatest ever attacking player. The selection was made via a poll conducted by Scottish Rugby Magazine and The Herald (Glasgow), The Herald. In 2002 he was also inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.

References

* Massie, Allan ''A Portrait of Scottish Rugby'' (Polygon, Edinburgh; )
MACPHERSON, George Philip Stewart
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, George Philip Stewart 1903 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Barbarian F.C. players Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Oxford University RFC players People educated at Fettes College Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Highland (council area) Scotland international rugby union players Scottish accountants Scottish rugby union players