Alexander Blair (rugby union)
Birth name | Alexander Stevenson Blair | ||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 3 June 1865 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 10 September 1936 | (aged 60)||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||
School | Loretto School | ||||||||||||||||
University | Brasenose College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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36th President of the Scottish Rugby Union | |||||||||||||||||
In office 1909–1910 | |||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | David Cassels | ||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Charles Fleming | ||||||||||||||||
Alexander Blair was a Scottish rugby union player. He was the 36th President of the Scottish Rugby Union. He became a Colonel in the army and then became President of the British Legion and Chairman of the Earl Haig Fund. An advocate to trade he was a Writer to the Signet. He received a CBE in the New Years Honours List of 1933.[1]
Rugby Union career
[edit]Amateur career
[edit]After attending Loretto School,[2] Blair went to Brasenose College in Oxford.[3] He played for Oxford University,[4] and was in the 1st XV.[5] He was secretary of both the rugby and athletics club of the university.[1]
Administrative career
[edit]He was Secretary of the Scottish Rugby Union for 4 years from 1886.[1]
Blair was on the International Rugby Board in 1889.[6]
He became the 36th President of the Scottish Rugby Union. He served one year from 1909 to 1910.[7]
Military career
[edit]First as Lieutenant Colonel, then Colonel, Blair commanded the 'Dandy Ninth', the Lothian Regiment of the Royal Scots, in the First World War.[8] In 1916 he was awarded a CMG.[1]
After the war he joined the British Legion where he became treasurer in Scotland.
Law career
[edit]Blair's firm, Strathearn and Blair, acted as solicitors for the Scottish Rugby Union.[9] Blair was a Writer to the Signet.[1]
Death
[edit]He is buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "BNA: 0000577/19360911/088/0008".
- ^ "BNA: 0001055/18841211/041/0004".
- ^ "BNA: 0000893/18841022/092/0004".
- ^ "BNA: 0000893/18841113/069/0004".
- ^ "BNA: 0000893/18851026/078/0004".
- ^ "BNA: 0001055/18890302/087/0007".
- ^ "Scottish Rugby Record 2018/19" (PDF). Scottish Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
- ^ "Catalogue description Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stevenson BLAIR. The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment)".
- ^ "BNA: 0000563/19250120/020/0003".
- ^ "LTC Alexander Stevenson Blair (1865-1936) - Find A".