James (Jem) Mackie (18 May 1821 – 28 December 1867)[1] was a British Liberal Party and Whig politician and rugby footballer, sometimes credited with creating the sport.
The credit may have been given to Webb Ellis as Mackie was expelled from the school before the practice was legalised by the school in 1841, before an agreed set of rules was dictated, and his expulsion made him an "undesirable role model".
[3] Indeed, in an 1895 inquiry, author Thomas Hughes said Mackie had been the first to play the sport this way.
Following in his father, John Mackie's footsteps, he was elected Whig MP for Kirkcudbrightshire in 1857 and held the seat until his death in 1867, becoming a Liberal in 1859.
This article about a Liberal Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a stub.