David Hewitt

David Hewitt died on 5 November 2026 at the age of 87. The Belfast Telegraph reported his death that evening, describing him as an Ulster, Ireland and British and Irish Lions legend. The cause of death has not been made public. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of writing.

David Hewitt was born in Belfast on 9 September 1939 into a family steeped in Irish rugby. His father, two uncles and two brothers also won international honours. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI), where he captained the team that won the Schools' Cup in 1957, and at Queen's University Belfast, where he studied law and went on to qualify as a solicitor.

While still a schoolboy he was called into the Ulster senior side. He later recalled that Jack Kyle rang him the day before a match and invited him to a lunchtime run-out with Kyle and Noel Henderson, and that the next day he made his provincial debut. He first played for Ulster against Connacht in 1957.

Hewitt made his Ireland debut against Australia in January 1958 at the age of 18, playing centre alongside Kyle and Henderson. He won 18 caps for Ireland between 1958 and 1965 and scored 16 points in the green jersey (one try, two conversions and three penalties). In 1959 he also represented a combined Scotland and Ireland XV against England and Wales at the Twickenham Jubilee Match.

His club rugby was with Queen's University, Instonians and North of Ireland, and he appeared twice for the Barbarians, against East Midlands in 1958 and Leicester in 1962. For Ulster he faced touring sides including Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

In 1959, still a teenager, he was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was the youngest member of the party. Speed, composure and a reliable place-kicking game made him the tour's leading scorer, with 112 points and 13 tries, and he played in the Tests as the Lions won the series in Australia before losing 3-1 in New Zealand. He toured South Africa with the Lions in 1962 but hamstring problems restricted him to seven appearances, including one Test. In all he won six Lions Test caps. He retired from the international game at 26 to pursue his legal career.

After rugby Hewitt built a career as a Belfast solicitor. In the late 1990s he was appointed to Northern Ireland's Parades Commission, an independent body given statutory power to decide whether contentious marches should proceed, be rerouted or be restricted. He was among the first members named when the commission was established under Alistair Graham, was reappointed, and dealt with disputes including those around Drumcree. He left the commission in 2000.

He remained a respected figure in Ulster and Irish rugby circles and was inducted into the Irish Rugby Writers' Hall of Fame. Speaking at the awards dinner he recalled the amateur era, when players prepared with little formal coaching and Ulster against Leinster was the great provincial fixture.

Hewitt is remembered as one of Ireland's outstanding centres of the late amateur era, a teenage Lion who topped the 1959 tour scoring charts and a midfielder valued for composure as much as for his kicking. His family line of Ireland internationals, his RBAI Schools' Cup captaincy and his later service on the Parades Commission place him among the Ulster figures who moved between sport, the professions and public life. He remains listed among British and Irish Lions players of the 1959 and 1962 tours and among Barbarians and Ireland internationals of his generation.