James Milne Henderson

James Henderson

Birth name	James Young Milne Henderson
Date of birth	(1891-03-09)9 March 1891
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death	31 July 1917(1917-07-31) (aged 26)
Place of death	Flanders, Belgium
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fly-half Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) Watsonians () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1911 Blues Trial 1 (0) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1911 Scotland 1 (0)

Lt. James Young Milne Henderson (9 March 1891 – 31 July 1917) was a Scottish rugby union player and British Army officer who was killed in World War I.[1]

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He was educated at George Watson's College and played for the Watsonian RFC. A diverse athlete, he also played cricket, field hockey and was a champion swimmer as well, winning the East of Scotland swimming championship.[2]

He moved to Travancore, India for business. There he played for Madras Rugby Club.[3]

Provincial career

He played for the Blues Trial side against the Whites Trial side on 21 January 1911, while still with Watsonians.[4]

International career

He had one cap for Scotland against England in 1911.

Business career

Milne Henderson was a works manager for the Scottish food company McVitie and Price.

Military career

He served in the Highland Light Infantry and was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal the Earl Haig.[3] He was killed in the Third Battle of Ypres in July 1917. He is commemorated at the Menin Gate Ypres Memorial.[5]

Family

Milne Henderson was born James Young Henderson in Edinburgh to John, a chartered accountant and bank manager, and Edwardina "Ina" Young Henderson. (The family added the Milne to their surname a few years after he was born.) He had four brothers and one sister.[6]

His younger brother 2nd Lt. John Milne Henderson of the Royal Flying Corps was killed six months later in France.[7] Their oldest brother was Royal Navy Commodore Thomas Milne Henderson OBE (1888–1968).

References

1. Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007. p. 109. ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
2. McCrery, Nigel (2014). Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War. Pen and Sword. pp. 176–177. ISBN 9781781590874. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
3. Chapman, Paul (2016). Menin Gate South: In Memory and in Mourning. Pen and Sword. p. 273. ISBN 9781473850903.
4. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000576/19110123/110/0009. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. "Casualty: Milne-Henderson, James Young". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
6. "Notable Citizen – The Late Mr. J. Milne Henderson". The Scotsman. 29 July 1946. p. 4.
7. "Casualty: Second Lieutenant Milne-Henderson, John Milne". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 June 2018.

External links

• "An entire team wiped out by the Great War". The Scotsman, 6 November 2009