Charles Stuart (rugby union)
Charles Douglas Stuart (18 May 1887 – 15 January 1982) was a Scotland international rugby union player.[1] He often added Junior to his name; to differentiate from his father who had a similar career path.
| Birth name | Charles Douglas Stuart | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 18 May 1887 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 15 January 1982 (aged 94) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby Union career
Amateur career
Stuart began his rugby union career at Drumchapel RFC. He was a sporting all rounder excelling in not only rugby union but also football and cricket. As a young man in the Drumchapel side he was picked out - along with T. Inglis, C. L. Vermont and C. H. Stewart. - as starring in a match at Thirdpart against Hillhead HSFP 2XV.[2][3]
The football club Glasgow Rangers were interested in signing the young man. This did not please his rugby loving father who instead sorted a move to Uddingston RFC for the player.[4]
Stuart was later to move to Clydesdale and then London Scottish.[4]
He also played for West of Scotland.[1]
Provincial career
Stuart played for Glasgow District in the inter-city match against Edinburgh District.[5]
He played for the Blues Trial side against the Whites Trial side on 21 January 1911 while still with West of Scotland.[6]
Cricket career
He played cricket for Poloc. He was Poloc's first century maker and played cricket well into the 1920s.[4][8][9]
Engineering career
Stuart got a job as an Engineer with Rowans Engineering working in the oil industry. This was to curtail his international career. At the age of 23 he moved to Burma with Rowans.[4]
While at Rowans he organised a rugby side, Rowans Engineers RFC; run as an invitational side. The basis of the side were players from Uddingston, Clydesdale and West of Scotland.[10]
Stuart never forgot his first club Drumchapel - and for many years he took his invitational side back there; and the Drumchapel - Rowan Engineers match became the traditional preseason opening fixture for the Thirdpart side.[10]
Journalism career
Later in life Stuart followed in the footsteps of his father and became a sports journalist writing for the Glasgow Herald; concentrating on rugby union and cricket matches.[4]
Family
His father Charles Douglas Stuart Senior played for Royal HSFP; a forward of the famous Nat Watt's Lambs side.[11] Senior was also a journalist for the Glasgow Herald.[4] Like his son Charles junior he enjoyed rugby and cricket. He died in 1933 at the age of 73.[11]
His younger brother Ludovic Stuart was also capped for Scotland in the 1920s.[1]
Stuart Junior's 90th birthday lunch was attended by 8 of Scotland's union Presidents - 4 from the Scottish Rugby Union and 4 from the Scottish Cricket Union.[4]
References
- Bath, p137
- "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
- "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
- "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000576/19110123/110/0009
- "Charles Douglas Stuart". ESPN scrum.
- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001876/19040701/057/0003
- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001738/19040618/051/0007
- "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/19330106/415/0013
- Sources
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)