Rear-Admiral Spencer Henry Metcalfe Login, CVO (24 September 1851 – 22 January 1909) was an officer of the Royal Navy and was also a rugby union international who represented England in 1875Spencer Login Profile on espn.co.uk
Life Login was born on September 24, 1851, in Futtehghur, Punjab.India, Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. He was the son of the celebrated naval surgeon Sir John Spencer Login, a native of Stromness, OrkneyOld-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caitness and Sutherland. (1909). p.116, United Kingdom: Viking Club. and Lena, Lady Login (nee Campbell), the Scottish courtier and author. Having attended Wellington College,REGISTER OF WELLINGTON COLLEGE. FOR THE YEARS 1859-1873, JULY.. (1873). p21 he joined the Royal Navy and went on to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
Career Login was first enrolled into the Royal Navy aged 13 on 2 May 1865.Royal Naval Officers' Service Records 1756-1931. The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Series ADM 196 As a sub-lieutenant he served in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War and was awarded the Ashanti Medal in 1874.Class: ADM 171; Piece: 37, Admiralty, and Ministry of Defence, Navy Department: Medal Rolls. The National Archives microfilm publication ADM 171 He then attended the Royal Naval College and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 31 March 1874.The London Gazette: no. 24082. p. 1923. 31 March 1874. As a lieutenant he served on the HMS Sphinx in North Africa and was awarded the Soudan Medal (with clasps: "THE NILE 1884-85", "ABU KLEA" (1885), "KIRKEBAN" (1885), "SUAKIN 1885", and "TOFREK" (1885)) and Khedive's Egyptian Star.Class: ADM 171; Piece: 43, Admiralty, and Ministry of Defence, Navy Department: Medal Rolls. The National Archives microfilm publication ADM 171, 202 rolls. He was later promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June 1888.The London Gazette: no. 25837. p. 3826. 13 July 1888. When he was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 January 1895,The London Gazette: no. 26585. p. 7. 1 January 1895. he was subsequently appointed captain of the battleship HMS Centurion in March of that year. He was later appointed in command of the battleship Repulse in September, 1900.Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS
Whilst maintaining the rank of captain, Login carried the functional position of Commodore and was appointed an aide-de-camp to the King.The Gloucestershire Echo, 22 Jan 1909, Fri, Page 4 He married Mary Lavinia Anderson (nee Griffin) on 10 April 1905.City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: STJ/PR/6/49 Login was later that year appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (C.V.O.) on 11 August 1905 on the occasion of the visit of the French fleet to Britain.The London Gazette: no. 27826. p. 5532. 11 August 1905. and soon after was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral on 1 January 1906.The London Gazette: no. 27870. p. 24. 2 January 1906. At the end of that year, on 15 November 1906, he succeeded Charles H. Cross as Rear-Admiral Commanding, Portsmouth Reserve Division"Naval and Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Monday, 15 October 1906. Issue 38151, col C, p. 5.
Rugby union career Login was selected to play for England whilst playing for the Royal Naval College, where he was beginning career in the Royal Navy.Marshall, Francis, Football; the Rugby union game, p153, (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited) He made his only international appearance on December 13, 1875, in Dublin in England's victory over Ireland at Rathmines in Ireland's debut international. Having played for the Royal Naval College, Login continued to be involved with rugby in the Royal Navy and when the Royal Navy Rugby Union was formed in 1907 he served as its first president.Official site of the Royal Navy Rugby Union
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Bibliography
"Obituary" (Obituaries). The Times. Saturday, 23 January 1909. Issue 38864, col E, p. 13.