Walter Riddell Sutherland (19 October 1890 – 4 October 1918), also known as Wattie Suddie,[1] was a Scotland international rugby union player.[2]
Birth name | Walter Riddell Sutherland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 19 November 1890 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Hawick, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 4 October 1918 | (aged 27)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Hulluch, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Early life
editSutherland was the son of Alexander and Isabella Sutherland of the Imperial Hotel in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He was educated at Teviot Grove Academy before training to be a sanitary inspector in Hawick. He also played cricket and football and was a champion runner, winning the Scottish Borders title at multiple distances.[3]
Rugby Union career
editAmateur career
editHe played for Hawick RFC.[3][4]
Provincial career
editSutherland played for the South of Scotland in 1910.[5]
International career
editHe gained 13 caps playing for the Scotland national rugby union team between 1910 and 1914 and was regarded as the best Scottish wing threequarter of his day.[6]
Military career
editThe outbreak of the First World War put end to his rugby career, and he served with the Lothians and Border Horse, later the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and finally the Seaforth Highlanders. Second Lieutenant Sutherland was killed in France on 4 October 1918, aged 27, just five weeks before the armistice.[3] He is buried at the Houchin British Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais.[7]
References
edit- ^ McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul, London ISBN 0-09-173875-X), p19
- ^ "Walter Riddell Sutherland". ESPN scrum. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ a b c McCrery, Nigel (2014). Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War. Pen and Sword. pp. 202–203. ISBN 9781781590874. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
- ^ "Register" – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Bogle, Kenneth, Walter Sutherland Scotland's Rugby Legend 1890–1918 (ISBN 0-7524-3613-9)
- ^ "Casualty Details: Sutherland, Walter Riddell". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
External links
edit- "An entire team wiped out by the Great War". The Scotsman, 6 November 2009