Louis Moritz Speirs

Moritz Speirs

Birth name	Louis Moritz Speirs
Date of birth	(1885-10-23)23 October 1885
Place of birth	Glendevon, Perthshire, Scotland
Date of death	21 April 1949(1949-04-21) (aged 63)
School	George Watson's College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Forward Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) - Watsonians () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1906-10 1910 Scotland British and Irish Lions 10

Louis Moritz Speirs was a Scottish rugby union international who played ten times for his country and was part of the first official British and Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1910.

Early life

Louis Moritz Speirs was born on 23 October 1885 in Glendevon, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Ebenezer B Speirs, the Minister of Glendevon Parish and his wife Marie, who had been born in Ronilly, West Prussia. Between 1891 and 1901 his father died and the family moved to Edinburgh Morningside. Here, the young Moritz, as he was referred to, went to school.

Rugby career

Speirs played for the Watsonians, originally the club for the old boys of George Watson's College. He was part of the clubest historically greatest side that won five Scottish Club Championships between 1908 and 1914. In the 1909/10 season he was a member of the team that was undefeated against Scottish opposition during that entire season. Speirs made his Test debut for Scotland vs South Africa at Glasgow on 17 November 1906. He played in a further 9 matches for his country between 1906 and 1910 all of which were in the Five Nations tournament. His last Test being a Calcutta Cup match against England at Inverleith on 19 March 1910. In 1910 he was selected for the first official British tour to South Africa (in that it was sanctioned and selected by the four Home Nations official governing bodies).

Later life and military

In 1912 Speirs emigrated to Canada. However, during the First World War he enlisted in the Canadian 16th Battalion and found himself back across the Atlantic. On 16th January 1915 he captained a Canadian Army rugby union side against a Bath XV during which he dislocated his shoulder. However, he was able to later join his team mates at the Red House where Bath Football Club were entertaining them before going on to a pantomime. He was captured during the war but managed to escape from a POW camp in 1918.