The Scotland's People website provides online access to the official records of some of the most momentous events of our lives. Recorded in the registers of vital events, every January the National Records of Scotland (NRS), release records of people who were born 100 years ago, married 75 years ago, or died 50 years ago in Scotland.

The entries of the people who died in Scotland in 1975 are now available to search and view on Scotland’s People. They are part of 239,967 images released in January 2026 which include birth entries in 1925 and marriage entries in 1950.

One of the 65,966 deaths registered in 1975 was for Arthur Robert Smith, aged 42 years old. Smith’s occupation is recorded as ‘Chairman, Investment Trust’ on his death certificate. However, Smith’s business career was only part of his life story. He is better known for his career as one of Scotland’s leading rugby union stars of the postwar era. We look at his achievements on and off the rugby pitch.

Life on the farm

Arthur Robert Smith was born on 23rd January 1933 to farmer John Smith and mother Marin Jamieson Smith (née Forteath). He was born at Upper Torrs Farm on the eastern outskirts of Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. Smith was the second of four sons born to the couple and educated at Kirkcudbright Academy. Smith was a bright student and a natural sportsman. Despite growing up in the hotbed of Scottish rugby, as a youth, Smith showed a preference for football and athletics, over the sport in which he would find fame.

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Smith went on to graduate with a first-class degree in Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. It was at Glasgow that Smith’s sporting career really took off, when he was a competitor in the 1953 Scottish Athletics Championship. He became the Scottish national long jump champion the same year with a winning distance of 20 feet and 3 inches (6.17m).

The sporting years

Smith went on to study for a PhD at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, between 1954 and 1957. While at Cambridge he took part in four of the prestigious Varsity Rugby Matches against the University of Oxford at Twickenham. Playing on the wing, Smith was a standout talent in the Cambridge side, tall and athletically built, he was known for his speed. He played for several clubs, including London Scottish, Barbarians, Edinburgh Wanderers and Ebbw Vale in South Wales. At the time, rugby union was an amateur sport and Smith, like his contemporaries, had to combine playing high-level rugby with full-time employment or study.

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In 1955, Smith made his international debut, playing in his favoured position on the right wing. He was instrumental in ending a string of 17 straight defeats for Scotland with a 35 – 10 win over an all-conquering Wales side at Murrayfield Stadium. Such was his impact on this game, that it became known as ‘Arthur Smith’s match’. This was the first of his 33 caps for the national side. He was selected for every international match he was available for until his retirement in 1962. Smith captained Scotland on multiple occasions and scored 12 tries in the course of his international career. You can watch highlights of Scotland v Wales in the Five Nations Championship match played at Cardiff Arms Park on 3rd February 1962, showing Smith playing in the number 14 jersey in this British Pathé film.

Smith took part in two British Lions tours in 1955 and in 1962, when he was selected as team captain. At the time, he was the first Scottish captain of the British Lions since 1927. Along with captaining the side, Smith was also the leading try-scorer on the tour.

Away from rugby

Away from the mud of the rugby field, Smith was a gifted mathematician and was respected in the financial world. After gaining a PhD in Mathematics, Dr Smith specialised in analysis for several leading brokerage firms and was an executive of the Edinburgh Fund Managers at the time of his death. Smith authored articles for business journals, gave papers at conferences and led classes in educational institutions (The Scotsman, 5th February 1975).

Smith was an accomplished man in a number of fields, possessing great intelligence and natural sporting prowess. Smith’s life came to a tragically premature end when he died of cancer aged 42. Undoubtedly, he would have gone on to achieve more. Smith was survived by his wife Judith, whom he married in 1958, and their three children.

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