Thomas Arthur Nelson

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

Thomas Nelson
Birth nameThomas Arthur Nelson
Date of birth(1876-09-22)22 September 1876
Place of birthEdinburgh, 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)

Background
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. He spent a considerable part of each year there.[5]

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, where he became a rugby union player.[6] He played for a combined Edinburgh Academy - Watsons College schoolboy side in January 1895.[7]

He then went to study Classics at Oxford University, where he befriended John Buchan. Nelson played rugby union for Oxford University,[8] playing for them from 1896.[9][10] He captained the side in 1900.[11]

Provincial career

Nelson was named in the Anglo-Scots side to face South of Scotland District on 25 December 1897.[12] The match was called off.[13]

He was originally named in the Provinces District side in December 1898, but his selection fell through.[14] 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.[15]

International career

Nelson was capped for Scotland in 1898.[8] 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.[16] Smith started that match, but Nelson played alongside Smith at Centre for the match against England.[17]

Publishing career

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.[18] 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.[19]

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

At the First World War, Nelson became a Captain with the Lothians and Border Horse attached to the Machine Gun Corps.[8] He then moved to special service.[20]

Death
Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery

Nelson was killed on 9 April 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Arras in World War I[21] 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,[22] 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.[11] £219,300 of that estate represented his holding in the publishing firm.[23]

Family

In 1903 he was married to Margaret Balfour, daughter of the Liverpool merchant, Alexander Balfour.[24][25] They had six children, including Alexander Ronan Nelson (1906–1997) and Elisabeth Nelson (1912–1999), who married Lord Bryan Walter Guinness, then becoming Lady Moyne, Elizabeth Guinness.[2]

Following his death Margaret married Paul Maze (1887–1979), a Frenchman, and became known as Margaret Balfour Nelson Maze.[26]

References
  1. "Thomas Arthur Nelson". ESPN scrum.
  2. "Thomas Arthur Nelson, III" at Geni.
  3. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1866.
  4. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1890.
  5. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. Public Schools and the Great War, Seldon and Walsh.
  7. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. Bath, p. 109.
  9. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "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. "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - Tommy Nelson - Test matches". ESPN scrum.
  18. Adam Smith, Janet (1979). John Buchan and His World. Thames and Hudson. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-500-13067-1.
  19. John Buchan and His World. pp. 51–52.
  20. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. John Buchan and His World. p. 65.
  22. "Captain Nelson, Thomas Arthur", CWGC.
  23. "Register". Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. "Alexander Balfour, of Liverpool" at Geni.
  25. "Captain Thomas Arthur Nelson",
  26. "Paul Lucien Maze" at Geni.
Sources
  • Bath, Richard (ed.), The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007, ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
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