Edinburgh University Honours The “Prince of Shinty Players” | |
12 October 2016 The annual Dr John Cattanach Memorial Lecture at Edinburgh University will feature one of shinty’s most moving and remarkable tales in relation to World War 1. "The Patersons of Beauly: centenary reflections on rifles, romance, shinty and WW1" will be presented on Friday 21 October 2016, at the University, at a venue which will be confirmed shortly at 1pm. The lecture will be given jointly by Dr Margaret MacKay (formerly of the School of Scottish Studies) who has a personal family connection with the story of the Paterson family and Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan (currently attached to the Academy of Sport at the University of Edinburgh), who has researched the impact of WW1 on shinty-playing communities. The lecture is being given as part of the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies regular Friday seminars. Dr MacKay said, “This seminar takes us into a Highland community one hundred years ago and uses family history and lore, an autograph book, sporting activities, music, and military imperatives to illuminate a story of Scotland and Canada which resonates to this day." The take of the Paterson family and the set of bagpipes which was returned from the Battle of Festubert is remarkable and a fitting tribute to mark the continuing award of the specially inscribed medal which commemorates the contribution to shinty of Dr Johnnie Cattanach of Newtonmore. The only shinty player in Scotland’s Sporting Hall of Fame, John Cattanach was a medical graduate of the University of Edinburgh and killed in the First World War at Gallipoli in 1915. The award was initially announced by Professor Rob Dunbar of the Gaelic and Scots department at the University’s annual St Andrews Day celebration held in the Playfair Library on November 30 2015. The first recipient, Isla MacKay, who is still a student at the University, will be in attendance with the medal. Lieut. Dr John Cattanach, (1885-1915) doctor, soldier, shinty player of the highest order, and an outstanding all-round athlete, was born on 2 February 1885. The youngest of four children of William Cattanach, merchant, Newtonmore, and Ann Cattanach he was educated at Newtonmore and Kingussie Public Schools, George Watson’s College and Edinburgh University, where he graduated in Arts (MA 1907) and Medicine (MBChB 1912). His first medical appointment was in the Bangour Hospital and he also worked in England. Cattanach served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Warwickshire Regiment, enlisting shortly after the outbreak of war. He was made Lieutenant in 1914. He died in July 1915 from wounds sustained in the Dardannelles. Dr Cattanach was best known in his native Highlands as a shinty player, although his peerless ability won him fame throughout the shinty-playing area. He is still held by many to have been the finest exponent of shinty ever, a tower of strength to the Newtonmore team, which he captained in a victorious season during a vintage period. Natural ability, superb physique and a scientific approach to the playing of the ancient game left Cattanach head and shoulders above many outstanding contemporaries. He trained hour after hour, with the ball on his club, darting round larch trees, catching the ball on his caman (club) before it touched the ground. On his way to play on the local field, the Eilan, he was said to run nearly a mile without letting the ball fall off his club. His most spectacular individual performance was when playing for Newtonmore against Furnace in shinty’s premier event, the Camanachd Cup Final, at Glasgow in 1909. Newtonmore won 11-3. Dr Cattanach scored eight goals, a Cup Final record, which still stands, hence his reputation as “the Prince of shinty players”. Cattanach was an accomplished all-round athlete, excelling at the long jump and on the track, and he was capped for his country at both hockey (while a member of the Carlton Club) and sprinting. In 1909 and 1910 he won the long jump at Edinburgh University sports, and represented the University in the Scottish international University contests 1909-1911 and less than a year before his death he won the Rangers Football Club 100 yards’ handicap (off 10 yards) in the fast time of 9.45 seconds. Cattanach’s death from wounds sustained at Gallipoli and his consequent final distancing from his native heath may have cast a deep gloom over the village and his memory lives on in the minds of many as the greatest ever, a prince among shinty players. Dr Cattanach is currently the only shinty player in Scotland’s Sporting Hall of Fame and has an entry in the National Dictionary of Biography. Edinburgh University made a financial contribution to the initiation of the medal award and the University Shinty club, with the support of the Academy of Sport and the School of Languages Literatures and Cultures, has honoured the memory of Dr Cattanach as an alumnus of the University, a pre-eminent sportsman and World War 1 casualty, as follows.
For further information etc.: Dr Hugh D MacLennan, at the Academy of Sport, University of Edinburgh: hughdan.maclennan@ed.ac.uk<mailto:hughdan.maclennan@ed.ac.uk |