George Menzies, 1943-2026
It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of George Menzies on his birthday, Saturday 18th April. George, a lifelong supporter, player, Captain and President of the Club, was aged 83.
George MacBeth Menzies was born on 18th April 1943 and was educated at Edinburgh Academy. He was a gifted student and a keen sportsman, becoming Head Ephor (Head Boy) of the school. In sport, he was a key member of the school 1st XV and was prominent in athletics, where he held the record for the mile.
Edinburgh Academy Under 15 ½ 1958-9
Standing - EB Calder, DGR Robertson, PC Bembridge, JND Hamilton, MD McMillan, SM Aitken
Sitting - CQS Jackson, WTC Brotherstone, AM Millar, GM Menzies (Captain), JN Sands, RB Wilson, JJ Moffat
On ground - RM Heath, RK Sloan
Edinburgh Academy 1st XV 1961-2
Standing - RG Logan, MJ Gilby, PC Bembridge, MD McMillan, IG Armstrong, AMS Black
Sitting - WTC Brotherstone, RJ Arneil, CQS Jackson, JN Sands (Captain), HM White, GM Menzies, IJ Shaw
On ground - RB Wilson, R Reed
George went on to read History at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1962-5), where he was President of the college’s Junior Common Room (JCR) and Captain of the college rugby team, which unsurprisingly had great success under his leadership. George mainly played rugby for the Greyhounds (Oxford University’s 2nd XV), no mean feat in those days, with the University’s 1st XV containing several internationalists. However, George did play several games for the 1st XV, an example being when he played in the annual pre-Varsity match fixture against ‘Stanley’s XV’ in 1964:
A very happy Brian with his family – daughter Jo, wife Iona and son Douglas – some great ties on show!
A contemporary and good friend of George’s at Corpus Christi, David Scott, fondly recounts: ‘Corpus Christi had a very strong connection with Edinburgh Academy through Frank Hardie who was an Accie and benefitted greatly from the contribution its old boys made to the College at that time, George being a prime example. Indeed, there were so many Jocks in the College at that time that at one stage the JCR subscribed for not just one copy of The Scotsman, but two!’
Some of George’s exploits at Corpus Christi were legendary – his friend, William Gillies, recounts:
‘There were two ways of entering Corpus Christi College Oxford after hours. The easy way entailed a long walk round the Christ Church precinct, over a gate into the Meadow and access to Corpus over the garden wall. For the via direttissima one had to surmount The Spikes above the side gate on Merton Street.
You will see that (before our time) an unknown strongman had de-barbed one of the spikes and bent it a little. With extreme care, someone tall enough and strong enough to reach The Spikes could squeeze through unscathed. After a night of great celebration – in fact the annual dinner of the Oxford University Scottish Association, of which George was President - George wound his way back to Corpus after midnight and decided to try the direttissima route. He made it eventually to the top of the arch and contemplated the next move. Since he was in full Highland dress, he removed his sporran and dropped it into the College. On attempting the squeeze-through move he decided it would be expedient also to remove his dress kilt, and dropped it into the College. He then lost his footing and fell to the ground on the outside. Being by now pretty exhausted, he found he could not make it up to The Spikes again and was left flummoxed and exposed on the street, until a passing police car stopped, gave him a blanket for cover, and then a ride round the streets to the back way into College.’
The dreaded (slightly bent) Spikes guarding Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
On graduating BA in History from Oxford, George returned to Edinburgh, where he read Law at Edinburgh University. On graduating LLB, he joined W&J Burness, eventually becoming a partner. The private client part of Burness was taken over by Turcan Connell in 1997 and George remained a partner there until his retirement. He was a much respected private client, tax and trust lawyer, widely published and gave professional talks to fellow practitioners.
While remaining a partner in his legal firm, George became Chairman of North British Steel Group (NBSG), which had been founded by his grandfather and of which his father (also called George MacBeth Menzies, aka ‘Mac’ ) and uncles had been directors. It was a difficult period for the UK steel castings industry and George put great commitment into seeing the company through difficult times, leading to an eventual takeover and the continuation of the re-structured company in a new area of specialised steel castings.
George also followed his father in becoming President of Clan Menzies, the affairs of which he led for many years. George’s legal expertise enabled him to transform the Menzies Clan Society into a new Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), while retaining the social and cultural activities of the Clan Society.
From a young age, George had helped with the award winning restoration of Castle Menzies in Highland Perthshire and, under his chairmanship, the Menzies Charitable Trust successfully dealt with the considerable costs and demands of maintaining one of Scotland’s significant historical castles.
George was a leading player of the Edinburgh Accies sides of the sixties and seventies, again at a difficult time for the Club, with significant changes to the structure of Scottish Rugby. George captained the 1st XV in season 1969-70 and was instrumental in ensuring Accies remained in the top eschelon of clubs in Scotland. George took his captaincy very seriously, to the extent that he actually turned down selection for Edinburgh, because he believed it was his duty to play for his club side, as Captain. His old friend and team mate, John Paterson, recounts: ‘I do remember playing in the early Seventies for the 1st XV under his captaincy. I only missed training once, and happened to get injured the following Saturday. George came across to see how I was and exclaimed 'that will teach you to miss training on Thursday!’ Another team mate, Walker Forsyth, recounts: ‘George played for the firsts for many years. I do not know exactly how many, but it was a considerable number. I played with George for some of these years and it was a privilege. He was a constant rock during bad times as well as good and was always a unifying influence….Off the pitch, he was excellent company with a wicked sense of humour and a great appreciation of red wine!’ Another great friend, Mike Pringle, corroborates this: ‘ I vividly remember George in a rugby shirt several shades lighter than most of his team mates. It was fairly normal in those days for your Accies shirt to last a lifetime. The lighter the shirt, the longer the playing career.’ Outside of Accies, George played many times for the Edinburgh Borderers XV and was a lifelong supporter of that club.
Whilst an absolute gentleman off the pitch, George was a robust, no-nonsense type of player – a player everyone was relieved to be playing with, rather than against. His erstwhile second row partner, David Loudon, stated: ‘George was a great man to play with - he played 2nd Row or No 8 - and while off the field was very affable and a typical Edinburgh lawyer, always wanting to help out and get involved. On the field he didn’t back down if things got a bit heavy….doing lots of mostly unseen work in the pack. You certainly knew when he wasn’t playing.’ Peter Thomson – one of the ‘young guns’ in the side at that time recalled that ‘George was great to play alongside and, in my early days at Accies, I learnt a lot from him - about the dark side of the mauls and rucks.’
Although seen as somewhat of an ‘enforcer’ on the pitch, George had his moments of glory outside of the dark rucks and mauls, showing a remarkable athleticism in the wider spaces. As team mate, Ken Paterson-Brown, recounts: ‘George saved us from being relegated to Division 3 in season 1974-5 against Hutchesons GSFP with a heroic 79th minute tackle in the corner, having chased their winger the full length of the field. A true Accies Legend.’ George was also a terrific seven-a-side player, playing in all the Borders tournaments.
EAFC 1st XV season 1976-7 – George back row fourth from the right – in his very faded jersey.
EAFC 1st XV season 1977-8 – George back row fifth from the right.
George did try to retire from rugby in the late 70s, but such was his reputation and value to the team, he kept being convinced to come out of retirement – often to bolster the pack in crucial league fixtures. As team mate Ralph Lutton recounts: ‘George retired from rugby several times in the 1970s but on at least 2 occasions the Captain requested that he came out of retirement after Christmas to save the Club from demotion to the third division. Being a frugal soul, he thought buying a new tracksuit - that he would rarely wear - was a waste of money. To everyone’s amusement, rather than a tracksuit this resulted in George training in an old business suit. An extraordinary character and a great man who you would always want nearby if you got in a spot of bother.’
Of course, George’s 1st XV playing days did eventually come to an end – but he was not done. His love of Accies meant that he stayed involved, playing social rugby for the 3rd and 4th XVs and, off the field, rolling his sleeves up and helping where he could. He served on the Club’s Committee in various capacities, e.g. Field Secretary in the early 1980s (passing that job on to Rob Blair), and in 1990 he became Club President. The timing of this appointment could not have been better for the Club, as a tour to Canada had been organised and George was the perfect man to spearhead it. Readers will not be surprised to know that, for many of those involved, this tour took on legendary status as arguably the best tour Accies have ever been on. It was simply magnificent, with the team returning unbeaten, the highlight being a victory over a highly fancied Ontario Province XV, a team containing several Canadian internationalists. As the tour Captain, Simon Burns, recounts: ‘George’s leadership and guidance on the 1990 tour to Canada was superb, amongst other things helping me write and deliver my post-match speech in French after a game in Montreal. His speech, of course, was much longer and flawless. Just a great man.‘ Jeremy Richardson echoed Simon’s words: ‘George was our President and ‘senior blazer’ on the Canada 1990 tour and was outstanding.’
George’s profile in the 1990 Canada Tour Programme (written by Magnus Moodie).
Glenmorangie sign a lucrative 3 year deal as Club Sponsor in 1990 – George, David Sole and Neil McKerrow (Glenmorangie MD).
EAFC 1st XV season 1990-1 – a very successful year and a proud Club President!
George continued his Presidency into the following season 1991-2, when the great John Allan became 1st XV Captain. On hearing of George’s passing, John wrote some moving words to George’s family: ‘When we arrived from South Africa to live and play rugby for Accies, George looked after us and also arranged employment for Claire. He also looked after all the South Africans / Zimbabweans who arrived to play for Accies, including Jeremy Thompson, Derek Ross and Brenton Caterrall, all of whom went on to play rugby for their provinces and their countries and, in my case, he gave me opportunities which helped me play rugby for both Scotland and, on my return to South Africa, for the Springboks. George was extremely fun to be with and a great character and I fondly to this day tell the story of when I captained the Accies and he was President, he asked me if he could give the forwards some tips in the lineout and I said yes. The next thing I see is him tucking his suit trousers into his socks and proceeding with a live demonstration of how to jump in the lineout, whilst it was raining! Unfortunately it is too far for me to travel to George’s memorial, but I will definitely raise a glass or 2 and may God hold you and your family in the palm of his hands over this sad period. It is a time to celebrate this wonderful man’s life, as his memories will live on in our hearts forever.’
After his two year stint as President, George continued to work tirelessly for the Club, and he very much enjoyed working with the so-called social / junior teams in the mid to late 1990s, taking on team manager roles and helping maintain the Club’s pipeline of young players coming through the ranks. No job was too small for George. Another fantastic Club servant, David McIvor, wrote on hearing of George’s passing: ‘What a fantastic person he was! I can remember him in his suit with a fork and sponge removing puddles on the 2nd XV pitch one January. This example exemplifies his commitment to the club over the years.’
However, George was not quite done. The Club had been struggling in the leagues since the start of the (official) professional era in the mid-1990s (at that time, the Club lost most of its squad to the pro teams) and the team had been relegated to Premiership 3 after the 1998-9 season. Thankfully, the team bounced back the following year, securing promotion back to Premiership 2. Now what the Club needed was a strong and safe pair of hands to help the Club at least consolidate its position in Premiership 2, with the hope, in time, of getting back into Premiership 1. There was one obvious choice and so, once again, George answered the call to become Club President in season 2000-1.
George’s last match for Accies, playing alongside Andrew in 2004 – at the tender age of 60 – he never really did retire!
In later life, ill health prevented George from attending matches at Raeburn Place in person. However, he continued to follow the teams very closely and took great pleasure in the success of the 1st XV this year, going unbeaten in National League Division 1 and winning promotion back to the Premiership. Jeremy Richardson summed up George’s contribution to our club perfectly: ‘George was an absolute Titan of our club - his commitment was both limitless and relentless right across the whole club. He helped in every way possible until he was struck down physically but, like us all, he was still nervous on the morning of the recent Championship finale and I know delighted with the outcome!’
George with old friends for a pre-match lunch at The Place in January 2024.
Beyond rugby, George had a huge and varied number of interests. He was a great supporter of the arts and was the first Chairman of the Fruitmarket Gallery. He was a board member of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, and was made a Fellow after retirement. He was a director of the charity, Mercy Corps and chairman and latterly Honorary Vice-President of ScotWays (Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society). He was Honorary President of Bathgate Menzies Choir for 41 years until 2025. He was a director of Edinburgh Academy, serving on the Court (Board of Governors) for several years. He was a keen hill walker and maintained historic rights of way for the Rights of Way Society by walking rarely used remote public footpaths and using his legal skills to secure them for future generations. He loved hillwalking, bagging many Munros and walked sections of various Grande Randonnée hiking trails in France.
George was a family man, married to Pat, with whom he had three children - Catriona, Ruth and Andrew.
The family enjoyed summer trips to the property George bought in the Massif Central. Ruth married in France where her two sons, Ian and Alexandre, were brought up. George was very proud of his grandsons.
George will be remembered for his very significant contribution in many and varied fields where he always pursued his involvement with enthusiasm, energy and good humour.
EAFC Past Presidents’ Dinner 2025 – George front row third from the right.
George was one of life’s great characters and a true gentleman. A man with quiet charisma and a wicked sense of humour. A man of great intellect, who was hugely respected in his professional field. A man who had an appreciation for the arts but was also a fabulous sportsman who didn’t like losing one bit! A generous man, who didn’t seek the limelight and rolled up his sleeves whenever it was needed and gave 100% to good causes if he thought it worth the effort. Someone you could always rely on and confide in, safe in the knowledge that it would go no further and the advice would normally be invaluable. But most of all, George was a loving family man, who will be missed greatly.
Our thoughts and condolences are with George’s family and his many friends at this sad time.
George’s memorial service was held at The Place on Monday 4th May. It was very well attended, with many travelling from afar to pay their last respects. Amongst the speakers were George’s old friend, Charles Campbell, Alan Thornton from Clan Menzies and Castle Menzies, and David Sole and Simon Burns from Edinburgh Accies. The afternoon was brilliantly hosted by another old friend, Tony Cook.