Hely Hutchinson Almond

Hely Hutchinson Almond (12 August 1832 – 7 March 1903) was a physician and a politician. He is remembered as a pioneering Scottish educator.

Born in 1832 in Glasgow, the son of Reverend George Almond, he showed great academic promise at Glasgow College. He went on to Glasgow University and from there was elected to an Exhibition at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Snell Exhibitioner.

He was also an accomplished athlete and secured a place in the eight of the college. It was also here that he started playing rugby. His first appointment was at Loretto School in Musselburgh, Scotland, where he served as a mathematics master before in 1858 becoming a Master at Merchiston Castle School, where rugby had been introduced the year before. In the spring of 1862, Almond purchased Loretto School. Under his leadership the school became the leading rugby nursery in Scotland.

He was one of the umpires of the first international rugby match at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh in the 1871 Scotland versus England rugby union match, and was an ardent supporter of the formation of the Scottish Football Union in 1873. renamed Scottish Rugby Union in 1924. Such was the importance of his contributions to rugby football that in 2007 he was nominated for inclusion in the IRB Hall of Fame, although his nomination did not lead to induction.

His daughter, Christiana Almond, married Rev Canon Maurice Elphinstone. Their son Maurice was Sir Maurice Douglas Warburton Elphinstone 5th baronet Elphinstone of Sowerby FRSE.

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