Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Thomas Arthur Nelson, (22 September 1876 – 9 April 1917) was a Scottish international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, soldier and publisher in his family's firm of

Thomas Nelson and Sons Thomas Nelson is a publishing firm that began in West Bow, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798, as the namesake of its founder. It is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, the publishing unit of News Corp. It describes itself as a "world leading publisher an ...

. He was killed in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Background

He was born on 22 September 1876, the son of the publisher Thomas Nelson and his wife Jessie Kemp."Thomas Arthur Nelson, III"
at Geni. The family lived in the house of their grandfather Thomas Nelson: Abden House on the south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. His grandfather died in 1861, leaving a considerable fortune. His father built a new house, St Leonards, in the grounds of Abden House and the family moved there on its completion in 1890. In 1892 Nelson obtained an estate at Achnacloich, on the shore of

Loch Etive Loch Etive (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eite'') is a 30 Kilometre, km loch, sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km (19 miles) long and fr ...

near

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

, Argyll. He spent a considerable part of each year there. He was a Justice of the peace for

Argyllshire Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area now forms part of ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

, where he became a rugby union player. He played for a combined Edinburgh Academy - Watsons College schoolboy side in January 1895. He then went to study Classics at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, where he befriended

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...

. Nelson played

for

, playing for them from 1896. He captained the side in 1900.

Provincial career

Nelson was named in the

Anglo-Scots Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British pe ...

side to face South of Scotland District on 25 December 1897. The match was called off. He was originally named in the Provinces District side in December 1898, but his selection fell through. 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.

International career

Nelson was capped for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1898. 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. Smith started that match, but Nelson played alongside Smith at Centre for the match against England.

Publishing career

The

novel ''

The Thirty-Nine Steps ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' is a 1915 adventure novel by the Scottish literature, Scottish author John Buchan, first published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Argosy (magazine)#The All-Story, ...

'' (1915) is dedicated to him. Nelson and Buchan had been friends since Nelson was an undergraduate at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. He became head of the family publishing firm of

, which employed Buchan as literary advisor and was one of the writer's publishers. 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.

Military career

At the First World War, Nelson became a Captain with the

Lothians and Border Horse The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Hadd ...

attached to the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

.Bath, p. 109. He then moved to special service. He joined the Tank service in early 1917. He was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

(MiD) during the war.

Death

Nelson was killed on 9 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Arras in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

He was killed by a stray shell. He had been on the front for 18 months. He is buried in Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, near

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

(grave reference VII.G.26). He is also memorialised on his parents grave in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

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. £219,300 of that estate represented his holding in the publishing firm.

Family

In 1903 he was married to Margaret Balfour, daughter of the Liverpool merchant,

Alexander Balfour Alexander Balfour (2 September 1824 – 16 April 1886) was a Scottish people, Scottish merchant and founder of the Liverpool shipping company Balfour Williamson. Early life Balfour was born in Leven, Fife, Leven, Fife, as the eldest of thre ...

."Captain Thomas Arthur Nelson"
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 Baron Moyne, of Bury St Edmunds in the County of Suffolk, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1932 for the Hon. Walter Guinness, a Conservative politician. A member of the prominent Guinness brewing family, he ...

), then becoming Elisabeth Guinness, Lady Moyne. Following his death Margaret married Paul Lucien Maze (1887–1979), a Frenchman, and became known as Margaret Maze.

References

;Sources * Bath, Richard (ed.), ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007, )

External links

Commonwealth War Graves database

An entire team wiped out by the Great War
(''The Scotsman'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Thomas Arthur 1876 births 1917 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Oxford University RFC players British military personnel killed in World War I British Yeomanry officers Rugby union players from Edinburgh Machine Gun Corps officers Lothians and Border Horse officers Rugby union centres Military personnel from Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War I