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.

Charles Stuart

Birth name	Charles Douglas Stuart
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
Position(s) Forward Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) - Drumchapel RFC Uddingston RFC Clydesdale London Scottish West of Scotland Rowans Engineers RFC () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) - 1911 Glasgow District Blues Trial () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1909-11 Scotland 7 (3)

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]

International career

He was capped seven times for Scotland between 1909–11.[1][7]

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

1. Bath, p137
2. "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
3. "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
4. "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
5. "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
6. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000576/19110123/110/0009
7. "Charles Douglas Stuart". ESPN scrum.
8. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001876/19040701/057/0003
9. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001738/19040618/051/0007
10. "Register - British Newspaper Archive". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
11. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/19330106/415/0013

Sources

1. Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)