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Thomas Arthur Nelson

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Thomas Nelson
Birth nameThomas Arthur Nelson
Date of birth(1876-09-22)22 September 1876
Place of birthEdinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Date of death9 April 1917(1917-04-09) (aged 40)
Place of deathArras, France
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1896-1900 Oxford University ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1898 Scotland 1 (0)

Captain Thomas Arthur Nelson MID (22 September 1876 – 9 April 1917) was a Scottish international rugby union player, soldier and publisher in his family's firm of Thomas Nelson and Sons. He was killed in the First World War.[1]

Background

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Abden House, Edinburgh
The gravestone of Thomas Nelson, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh; Thomas Arthur appears named at the bottom.

He was born on 22 September 1876, the son of the publisher Thomas Nelson and his wife Jessie Kemp.[2] The family lived in the house of their grandfather Thomas Nelson: Abden House on the south of Edinburgh, the grandfather having died in 1861.[3] His father built a new house, St Leonards, in the grounds of Abden House and the family moved there on its completion in 1890.[4]

Nelson obtained an estate at Achnacloich, on the shore of Loch Etive near Oban, Argyll. He spent a considerable part of each year there.[5][6]

Rugby Union career

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Amateur career

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He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, where he became a rugby union player.[7] He played for a combined Edinburgh Academy - Watsons College schoolboy side in January 1895.[8]

He then went to study Classics at Oxford University, where he befriended John Buchan. Nelson played rugby union for Oxford University,[9] playing for them from 1896.[10][11] He captained the side in 1900.[12]

Provincial career

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Nelson was named in the Anglo-Scots side to face South of Scotland District on 25 December 1897.[13] The match was called off.[14]

He was originally named in the Provinces District side in December 1898, but his selection fell through.[15] It was remarked that Nelson was not expected to turn out for the Provinces District in their match against Cities District on 14 January 1899.[16]

International career

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Nelson was capped for Scotland in 1898.[9] He rivalled Allan Smith for a place in the international side. It was thought that Nelson would get a place at Centre in front of the Smith for the Ireland match as Smith was struggling for fitness.[17] Smith started that match, but Nelson played alongside Smith at Centre for the match against England.[18]

Publishing career

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The John Buchan novel The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) is dedicated to him. Nelson and Buchan had been friends since Nelson was an undergraduate at University College, Oxford.[19] He became head of the family publishing firm of Thomas Nelson and Sons, which employed Buchan as literary advisor and was one of the writer's publishers.[20]

He was noted as a benevolent owner of the company. The publishing house had an athletics club and Nelson gave over a portion of his family estate so that the club could use it. The company was noted as a pioneer in looking after the health of its employees at the time; by employing an official to look after their health.[5]

Military career

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At the First World War, Nelson became a Captain with the Lothians and Border Horse attached to the Machine Gun Corps.[9] He then moved to special service.[21] He joined the Tank service in early 1917.[22]

Death

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Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery

Nelson was killed on 9 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Arras in World War I[23] He was killed by a stray shell.[5] He had been on the front for 18 months.[5]

He is buried in Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, near Arras (grave reference VII.G.26).[24] He is also memorialised on his parents grave in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh and on the Scottish Rugby Union War Memorial at Murrayfield Stadium. The Hull Daily Mail headlined A Publishers Fortune detailing that Nelson of Achnacloich in Argyll left an estate of £470,782.[12] £219,300 of that estate represented his holding in the publishing firm.[25]

Family

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In 1903 he was married to Margaret Balfour, daughter of the Liverpool merchant, Alexander Balfour.[26][27][28] They had six children, including Alexander Ronan Nelson (1906–1997) and Elisabeth Nelson (1912–1999), who married The Hon. Bryan Walter Guinness (later 2nd Baron Moyne), then becoming Elisabeth Guinness, Lady Moyne.[2]

Following his death Margaret married Paul Lucien Maze (1887–1979), a Frenchman, and became known as Margaret Maze.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Thomas Arthur Nelson". ESPN scrum.
  2. ^ a b "Thomas Arthur Nelson, III" at Geni.
  3. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1866.
  4. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1890.
  5. ^ a b c d "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Achnacloich from The Gazetteer for Scotland". www.scottish-places.info.
  7. ^ Public Schools and the Great War, Seldon and Walsh.
  8. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ a b c Bath, p. 109.
  10. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ a b "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ^ "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Tommy Nelson - Test matches". ESPN scrum.
  19. ^ Adam Smith, Janet (1979). John Buchan and His World. Thames and Hudson. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-500-13067-1.
  20. ^ John Buchan and His World. pp. 51–52.
  21. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ John Buchan, Memory Hold the Door
  23. ^ John Buchan and His World. p. 65.
  24. ^ "Captain Nelson, Thomas Arthur", CWGC.
  25. ^ "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  26. ^ "Alexander Balfour, of Liverpool" at Geni.
  27. ^ "Captain Thomas Arthur Nelson",
  28. ^ a b Burke, Sir Bernard (1921). "Balfour of Dawyck". A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Burke Publishing Company. p. 70.
Sources
  • Bath, Richard (ed.), The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007, ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
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