Alan Haig-Brown (footballer)

Alan Roderick Haig-Brown DSO (6 September 1877 – 25 March 1918) was a British Army officer and author who served as commander of the Lancing Officers' Training Corps and later fought in the First World War.[4][5] He was also an amateur football outside right and played in the Football League for Clapton Orient.[1]

Alan Haig-Brown
Haig-Brown while with Old Carthusians in 1903
Personal information
Full name Alan Roderick Haig-Brown[1]
Date of birth 6 September 1877
Place of birth Godalming, England
Date of death 25 March 1918(1918-03-25) (aged 40)[2]
Place of death near Bapaume, France[3]
Position(s) Outside right
Youth career
1895–1896 Charterhouse School
1896–1899 Cambridge University
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1900 Godalming
Old Carthusians
0000–1901 Corinthian
1901–1903 Tottenham Hotspur 4
1903 Old Carthusians
1903 Clapton Orient
1903–1906 Brighton & Hove Albion
Worthing
Shoreham
1906 Clapton Orient 4 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Haig-Brown was the son of William Haig Brown, headmaster of Charterhouse School, where he was born on 6 September 1877.[3] His elder sister was the headteacher Rosalind Brown.[6] After attending the Dragon School and Charterhouse School, Haig-Brown matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1896 and graduated with a B.A. in Classical Tripos in 1899.[3] He was awarded a blue in 1898 and 1899.[3] In 1899, Haig-Brown was appointed Assistant Master at Lancing College.[3][7]

Army career

Haig-Brown's army career began at Lancing College in 1906, as a lieutenant in the Lancing Officers' Training Corps and by the end of the year, he had been promoted to captain.[3] In 1908, his commission was transferred to the Territorial Army.[3] Haig-Brown commanded the Lancing Officers' Training Corps until 1915, by which time the British Army was fighting in the First World War.[3] On 1 January 1916, he was transferred to the 23rd Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment on 1 January 1916, promoted to major and appointed second-in-command of the battalion.[3] Haig-Brown was appointed a temporary lieutenant colonel in September 1916 and given command of the battalion.[3]

Haig-Brown saw active service on the Western and Italian fronts between 1916 and 1918, was mentioned in dispatches twice and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[3] He was killed by machine-gun fire whilst conducting a rear guard action on the Bapaume-Sapignies road, France on 25 March 1918, the first day of the German Spring Offensive.[3] Haig-Brown was buried Achiet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension.[2]

Author

Haig-Brown authored three books, Sporting Sonnets: And Other Verses (1903), My Game Book (1913) and The O. T. C. and the Great War (1915).[3]

Personal life

Haig-Brown had a wife, a son (Roderick Haig-Brown) and two daughters.[3]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tottenham Hotspur 1901–02[8] Southern League First Division 2 0 0 0 0 2
1902–03[8] 2 0 0 0 0 2
Career total 4 0 0 0 0 4

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 121. ISBN 190589161X.
  2. "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  3. "Lancing College War Memorial". www.hambo.org. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  4. "Stratton Dorset". www.strattondorset.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  5. Goodwin, Bob (16 August 2017). The Spurs Alphabet. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-9540434-2-1.
  6. "Brown, Rosalind Mabel Haig (1872–1964)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48693. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  7. "Brown or Haig-Brown, Alan Roderick (BRWN896AR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  8. "Alan Haig-Brown". 11v11.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.


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