Dallas Allardice (1919-2003)
Michael Rhodes
<Dallas Allardice>
Teacher, rugby international and war hero
THE pupils of Dundee High School were excited and apprehensive when
Dallas Allardice was appointed to the staff in 1959: his reputation as
a war hero and a Scotland international rugby player preceded him, and
over the next 25 years he proved an inspiration to successive
generations.
"What Dally represented, and what we learnt from him, transcended
sport and physical recreation," said Chris Rae, who played rugby for
Scotland and the British Isles before taking up a career in journalism
and broadcasting. "They were the priceless values of comradeship,
discipline, honesty and respect."
William Dallas Allardice grew up in Huntly and was educated at
Aberdeen Grammar School, where he later returned to teach. But the
outbreak of the Second World War took him into the London Scottish
Regiment rather than his planned first year at Loughborough College of
Physical Education, and by 1940 he had taken part in the Norwegian
campaign and the engagement with the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst
while serving aboard HMS Bonaventure.
His initial naval training was in submarines but his preference for
commando operations took him on raids on the coasts of Sicily and
Italy and with the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa. In 1942 he
took part in the ill-fated commando raid on Tobruk where, though he
and his colleagues established a bridgehead, their unit was trapped
and could not be rescued because supporting vessels came under such
heavy German gunfire.
Allardice and his friend John McKay were among those forced to
surrender, and they were sent to an Italian prisoner-of-war camp in
Capua. The two men determined to escape after the Germans took over
the camp administration, and by dressing as Italian guards did so
simply by walking out of the gates. They were recognised by the local
priest, but instead of reporting them he gave them a blessing.
Helped by Italian partisans they reached the Abruzzo Mountains, where
with the aid of the Ciccone family from Scarafano they survived the
rigours of the 1943-44 winter and avoided recapture by German patrols.
Nine months later they were able to link up with advancing Allied
forces and returned home, where Allardice joined the Black Watch as a
training officer.
He completed his service in 1946 with the British Army of the Rhine,
for which he played rugby, and a year later he was in Scotland's
colours as a goal-kicking scrum-half. He played in eight
internationals in the 1947-48 and 1948-49 seasons, and was also a
swimmer, skier and a footballer talented enough to have played
professionally had he chosen to.
He taught for 12 years at Aberdeen Grammar School — his rugby was
played for the school's former pupils' club — before moving to Dundee
High School. There the regard his pupils came to have for him was
coupled with respect for his principles and the knowledge that he was
a man of the highest standards. He sought always to bring the best
from boys, giving up his own free time as often as required and
helping the school's reputation on the playing field; one by one,
longstanding rugby rivals such as Dollar Academy and Melville College
fell, followed finally by his own alma mater, Aberdeen Grammar School.
His most notable rugby successes included Rae and David Leslie, the
Scotland back-row forward, but Dundee pupils also went on to win caps
in hockey, cricket, tennis, athletics, golf, squash, swimming, ski-ing
and shooting. Allardice's theme was that education was more important
than recreation, and that through sport youngsters would learn lessons
to see them through life.
He became the school's assistant rector in 1980, applying his
administrative skills to the broader community, before retiring in
1984. His wife, Pat, two sons, and two daughters, survive him.
Dallas Allardice, schoolmaster, was born on November 4, 1919. He died
of a respiratory illness on June 4, 2003, aged 83.
