Navy man Ian had passion for music and rugby

Published on Saturday 17 May 2008 10:33

D-Day veteran, rugby player and administrator Ian Nicholson of Bruntsfield has died at the age of 82

IAN NICHOLSON was just 17 years old when he joined the Navy in the Second World War and soon found himself in the heat of battle.

In June 1944 he took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy, helping operate landing craft that took troops on to the beaches.

He left the Navy as a sub-lieutenant in 1946, and returned to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of those landings.

His time in the Navy took him away for a while from one of his life passions – rugby.

His love for the game was instilled during his schooldays at George Heriot's and Boroughmuir High School.

He had a lifelong association with Boroughmuir Rugby Club, playing at full back in the 1940s and 1950s. He served as treasurer in the 1960s and then as club president in the 1970s.

Even in retirement he found time to contribute, by writing the 75-year history of the club.

The Meggetland club in turn acknowledged his role in helping to transform it from a junior outfit to one of Scotland's top clubs.

Mr Nicholson loved Scottish music and as a young man would be drawn by the fiddle and chanter to the home of his friend Ian Gunn.

Fiddlers from Barclay Church in Tollcross, where he was a member, said that even recently when he was ill, he would be cheered when he heard their music.

It was also at his friend's that he met his future wife Marion, brought together by music. They married in 1950.

She said: "We have been sublimely happy with each other for nearly 60 years." Mr Nicholson's love of music is now passed down to his two grandchildren.

Shortly after the Second World War he completed a business course in Dundee before returning to Edinburgh.

He began a career in accountancy and entered the civil service in 1966, becoming head of accounting for the Scottish Office, a position he held for almost 20 years until he took early retirement in 1985.

For the next five years, Mr Nicholson took on an assignment as financial controller of the Northern Lighthouse Board, a job that took him around the coast of Scotland.

Mr Nicholson died on May 7 and is survived by his wife, Marion, daughters Ann and Mari, and two grandchildren, Ross and Sarah.