James Huggan
James Laidlaw Huggan (11 October 1888 – 16 September 1914) was a Scotland rugby union player. He was killed in World War I[1] at the First Battle of the Aisne.[2]
| Birth name | James Laidlaw Huggan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 11 October 1888 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Jedburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 16 September 1914 (aged 25) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Aisne. France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Early life
James Huggan was born in Jedburgh on 11 October 1888.[3] He was educated at Darlington Grammar School before reading medicine at the University of Edinburgh.[3]
Rugby Union career
Amateur career
Huggan played for Jed-Forest. On moving to Edinburgh University to study he then played for Edinburgh University.
He then moved to play for London Scottish.
Provincial career
He played for the South of Scotland in 1910.[4]
International career
He had taken part in the last rugby international before the war, the Calcutta Cup match at Inverleith (Edinburgh) in March 1914, scoring three tries in the game.[2]
Military career
Huggan was a lieutenant of the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards.[3] He is commemorated at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial.[5] He died two days after Ronald Simson, another Scottish player, who was the first rugby international to die in the conflict, and who was also at the Aisne.[2]
References
- Bath, p. 109
- "An entire team wiped out by the Great War". The Scotsman. 6 November 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
- Clutterbuck, L. A. The Bond of Sacrifice: A Biographical Record of all British Officers who fell in the Great War. 1. Navy and Military Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1843422259.
- "Register | British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
- "Casualty". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
