Scotland-Rugby Playing Farmer dies at aged 101.

James HendersonRugby Internationalist and restauranteur;

Born May 1, 1907;

Died March 5, 2009.

James McLaren "Mac" Henderson, who has died aged 101, was Scotland’s oldest surviving rugby internationalist and a member of the team that won the Triple Crown in 1933. He went on to become a pioneering health food restaurateur.

He began an illustrious playing career in 1927, playing for his old school team, Edinburgh Academicals, and then played in New Zealand for Waipukurau Rugby Club during three years working on sheep stations.

Returning to Scotland in 1930, he resumed his playing career with Accies, where the wing-forward was reunited with his talented rugby playing brothers, Ian and Ronnie, all eventually going on to play for the Barbarians. Ronnie was an international cricketer while Ian, a prop forward and the youngest of the brothers, played rugby for his country on 14 occasions between 1939 and 1948.

Henderson played for Accies from 1931 to 1933 when he was picked for Scotland, winning against Wales, England and Ireland. He always regretted that they did not have an opportunity to play against France, then embroiled in a dispute over their payment of players - professional rugby was something he frowned on all his life.

After his international success he was picked for the Barbarians and it was while playing in their famous black and white strips at Cardiff on their Easter tour that a serious ligament injury to his knee brought his playing career to an end just 20 minutes into the game.

His interest in and love of rugby, however, remained throughout his long life and he and his family were honoured by the SRU with a reception at Murrayfield to celebrate his 100th birthday.

Born on his father’s farm at Elphinstone, East Lothian, Henderson was educated at the village school before boarding at Edinburgh Academy.

During the depression years the family moved to The Knowes on Lord Haddington’s estate of Tyninghame, near Dunbar, and Henderson played a couple of seasons with the newly-formed Dunbar RFC. On leaving school he had worked for a short spell in the office of an Edinburgh firm of chartered accountants before leaving to concentrate on farming.

He moved to Ugston near Haddington, bought with the aid of a £15,000 loan from an uncle, and later bought the neighbouring farms of Gateside, Spittalrigg, and Blinkbonny, at one stage farming some 1100 acres. As a farmer, he was exempt from war service. In 1947, Ugston was sold and the family moved to near-by Spittalrigg.

Henderson met his wife, Janet, while playing tennis at a friend’s home at Gullane. She was the daughter of an architect and the couple had a society wedding in Troon.

Under Janet’s influence, Henderson became one of the first farmers in Scotland to recognise the importance of organic vegetables. She was a near-vegetarian and soon they were growing herbs and vegetables.

The couple opened the first farm-food shop in Edinburgh in 1962, also delivering their produce throughout the capital and a year later opened the groundbreaking Henderson’s Salad Table below the shop in the New Town’s Hanover Street. A wine bar followed, managed by sons Nicholas, Peter and Oliver and daughter Catherine. It is still run by the last three, while Nicholas owns the popular Whigams Wine Cellars in the West End. His eldest son, Andrew, still runs Spittalrigg.

Henderson was predeceased by his wife, who caught an infection on a visit to south-east Asia. She died on her return, refusing to be treated by doctors because of her belief in natural cures. The couple had seven children, Andrew, John (deceased) Sara, Peter, Nicholas, Catherine and Oliver - 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

On his retirement from farming shortly after the death of his wife, Henderson, a keen golfer in his younger days, lived for a time in Gullane before moving to a flat in Haddington. First and foremost a family man, he delighted in his grandchildren and made frequent visits to daughter Sara and her offspring in France.

His secret of longevity, he always said, was "all things in moderation, fresh air, exercise and avoiding too much stress". Despite failing eyesight and hearing, he battled successfully with the local authority, campaigning to have pedestrian crossings installed on the busy streets of both Haddington and Gullane for the benefit of other pensioners.

The fighting spirit that stood him in such good stead on the rugby pitch lived on to the end.