A Biography of Janet Macklin (née Smallwood)

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The Hockey Museum » Women's Hockey » A Biography of Janet Macklin (née Smallwood)

May 07, 2021

When Janet Smallwood (later Mrs Macklin) was awarded her first international cap for Scotland in 1951 she was not the first member of her family to have an international sporting honour – her father, Alistair Smallwood, was selected to play for England Rugby in the 1920s. Alistair was born in Scotland but moved down to England and then went to Cambridge University from where he made his international debut in 1920, going on to win a further 24 caps. Not to be outdone, Janet, who was educated at Bedford Grammar School went to Edinburgh University in 1948 to study history. From there her hockey talents were recognised and she was selected for the East of Scotland and then Scotland where she debuted in 1951 as a ‘left inner’ (inside left in modern terms), a position she played for the whole of her career.

Janet, now a fit 92-year-old living in Devon, has spoken to THM about some of her memories of her hockey career and her family.

Scotland women’s team of 1951.
Janet Macklin is standing back row, second from the right.

The Festival of Britain

Festival of Britain programme 1951 By an amazing coincidence the venue for Janet’s first international match was Twickenham Rugby Stadium – the home of England Rugby where her father would have played on many occasions. The match was part of the 1951 Festival of Britain’s Grand International Hockey Tournament organised principally by The Hockey Association (HA) and England women invited Scotland to play them as part of this special event on Saturday 12 May 1951.

Janet’s memories of the Festival match were the size of the crowd (over 6,000 spectators), full of screaming schoolgirls and of the awful pitch – rugby pitches were clearly not ideal for hockey! Janet recalled a competitive match and while Scotland were on the losing end of a 6-1 defeat, the team played well and she scored the only goal.

Hockey Field magazine reported that after being 4-0 down at half time “Scotland kept on attacking but were inclined to fail in front of goal, probably due to the close marking of their opponents. Their reward came at last when Smallwood put in a shot past Dale from a centre by Gibson. Inspired by this, the left wing pair swept down the field again but were checked by Barnes who had a sound and brilliant game”.

To read more about the Festival of Britain hockey tournament and to watch an extract of Janet’s interview with The Hockey Museum, click here.

Touring the USA

That year Janet was also selected for the Scotland Touring Team that travelled to the USA. The players had to contribute to the travel costs but once in the States, they were hosted by local families and the opposition teams. Janet scored many goals, clocking up five in one match alone. She recalled how would have scored six but with the power of her shot, the ball split in two and only one half crossed the line into the goal. After much discussion between the umpires, it was disallowed but the incident remained a talking point at the after-match tea. Scotland finished the tour unbeaten.

Striking a Work/Life/Hockey Balance

After university Janet moved to London for work. She had been offered a post with Cadbury’s, but they wanted her to work on Saturday mornings – not something any hockey player would accept – so she went to work for Simpson’s in Piccadilly as a staff training officer. Janet married in 1953 but continued to play for Scotland until 1956. When the first of her four children arrived, she retired from playing but it wasn’t too long before she decided to pick up her hockey stick again. Now living in Chesterfield, she found that the local clubs were all playing league hockey which Janet, still holding on to the principles of an ‘amateur’ game, didn’t want to play, and so she started a new club of her own.

In later years Janet’s family again moved to Exeter where she joined Exeter Ladies’ HC. She remembers playing on the sands at Minehead in Somerset at low tide. This was certainly a different experience, especially as the pitch was moved to a new area of the beach at half time! Janet was even persuaded to play representative hockey again, playing for Devon for several years and once for the West of England. She remembers her last game to be in 1975 when she was invited to play for the Mary Eyre XI against a Nan Morgan XI – both women were prominent England international players. She said that she managed to annoy Mary Eyre by not putting the ball exactly where Mary wanted it – she still remembers the look she got! Over the years, she was not the only one to receive one of those ‘looks’!

The sporting genes in the Smallwood/Macklin family have continued to the next generation. Her son Jeremy has taken after his grandfather to become a top-level rugby player with London Scottish and represented Scotland B.

Such an amazing sporting family.