Thomas Melville Watson McGown (22 February 1876 – 15 July 1956) was an Irish 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 ...

forward who played club rugby for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and

North of Ireland FC North of Ireland Football Club is a former Irish rugby union club that was based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first rugby club formed in what is now Northern Ireland and only two other clubs - Dublin University Football Club, Dublin ...

. McGown played international rugby for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and in 1899 he was selected for the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

team on its tour of Australia.

Personal history

McGown was born in Belfast in 1876, and was educated at

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

in Scotland, before being accepted into

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

in 1894. He gained his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1897 and served as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland. He fought for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the First World War, serving in the Royal Army Ordnance Department. McGown reached the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

holding the additional posts of Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster-General. For his actions during the War, 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 ...

Rugby career

McGown first came to note as a rugby player when he began playing for

. In 1896 he played in

The Varsity Match The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. The event began in 1872 with the first men's match, with interruptions only for the two World Wars and the COVID-19 pandemic ...

, winning a sporting 'Blue'. On leaving University he joined North of Ireland F.C., and while representing the club he was first selected to play for the Ireland national team. His first international game was the

1899 Home Nations Championship The 1899 Home Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 18 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The 1899 Championship ...

encounter with England, played at home at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

. A good defence by Ireland gave them a 6–0 victory, their fourth successive win over the English. McGown was reselected for the next Ireland game, played away against Scotland. This was the first game to be played at Scotland's new ground in Inverleith, and resulted in the very first Irish win on Scottish soil. Although McGown was not present for the final game against Wales, the victory made him a Triple Crown winning player. In 1899, McGown was invited to join the British Isles on the team's first official tour of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. McGown played in 19 of the 20 games of the tour,Tom McGown player profile
lionsrugby.com only missing the match against Maryborough. McGown played in all four Test Matches against

, though did not score in any of the 19 games he played in. On returning to Ireland, McGown played in one final international for Ireland, a loss to Scotland in the

1901 Home Nations Championship The 1901 Home Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 16 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Scotland won all their ...

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGown, Tom 1876 births 1956 deaths Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Rugby union forwards Rugby union players from Belfast North of Ireland F.C. players People educated at Merchiston Castle School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers