John Weir Rushmere (born 1 April 1939) is a South African architect and former

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

player and

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Life and career

Rushmere was born in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

but attended the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, where he studied architecture. While he was a student there he played for the university rugby team and played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for the South African Universities cricket team, as well as playing for the

Western Province cricket team World Sports Betting Western Province is a professional Western Cape First-class cricket, first-class cricket team which has been part of the Sotuth African domestic cricket structures since the 1890's. The team later restructured into the Cape ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

. A left-arm fast bowler and useful lower-order batsman, Rushmere had his best first-class bowling figures in his first match when he took 6 for 32 in December 1960 to dismiss Western Province for 89 in the first innings and set up the South African Universities' innings victory. He top-scored for Western Province in their Currie Cup match against Eastern Province in January 1963 when he made 49 batting at number five; his older brother

Colin Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), Thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

was in the Eastern Province side. After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, Rushmere moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and worked for three years with the architecture firm Associated Architects. He played rugby for the Transvaal provincial team, but quit in 1966 in protest against the excessive influence of the

Afrikaner Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merw ...

over Transvaal rugby. He moved to Port Elizabeth in 1967 and played a few seasons of rugby for Eastern Province before retiring in 1970. Rushmere was one of the founders of the Port Elizabeth architecture firm Erasmus Rushmere Reid in 1967. His works include the Duckpond pavilion at

St George's Park Cricket Ground St George's Park Cricket Ground (commonly known as St George's Park, Crusaders Ground or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in Gqeberha, (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), in South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, ...

in Port Elizabeth, and Cullen Bowles House at

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

. He served as head of

Nelson Mandela University Nelson Mandela University, formerly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is a public university in South Africa. Established in 1882 as Port Elizabeth, Art School it comprises the former University of Port Elizabeth, the Port Elizabeth Tec ...

's School of Architecture, and was awarded the

South African Institute of Architects The South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) is an association of affiliated and regional institutes that promotes excellence of architectural design in South Africa. It replaced the Institute of South African Architects and a number of regional ...

gold medal in 2001.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rushmere, John 1939 births Living people University of Cape Town alumni South African cricketers South African rugby union players Western Province cricketers South African Universities cricketers South African architects Cricketers from Gqeberha Rugby union players from Gqeberha Ikey Tigers players