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Remembered Today:

Wisden tribute to fallen cricketers of first world war


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Pete

I await your further research on this man you mention:

LT RICHARD SHIRBURNE WELD-BLUNDELL (King’s Liverpool Regt), died on active service, the result of an accident at Ramsgate, January 1. Pembroke College (Ox) XI. {W1918}

Not on CWGC. He was found at about 11pm on New Year’s Eve lying unconscious outside his quarters; at an inquest, it was thought he slipped on steps and fell, striking his head against an iron rain pipe at the edge of the kerb. He had married in February 1915 and a daughter was born a month before his death: Mary Agnes married the diplomat Sir Paul Grey in 1936 and died in 2011. Richard’s brother, Louis Joseph, served through the war and died at Dunkirk on February 8, 1919, aged 29, probably from influenza. There are memorial windows to both brothers in the Holy Family RC Church at Ince Blundell near Liverpool.

There is a clear discrepancy. Wisden says he "died on active service".

But he is not on CWGC.

So is this a case that should come in from the cold?

He may have been celebrating as it was New Year's Eve, and the family, devout Roman Catholics, may not have wanted this to be publicised. Only a theory.

But his brother, who died in Feb 1919, is commemorated.

Over to you.

Meanwhile, thanks for the photo of the two graves above.

And to Michelle, the review in The Cricketer is another decent one.

I really am waiting for people to find mistakes, but for now, I am grateful for any extra information.

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Andrew, it's a point that hadn't occurred to me, probably because I had moved on to another adjacent entry. However I am afraid I'm going to have to either defer to someone who knows what they're doing or it will go on my my list. I've got 19 men from three football clubs starting with E who fell and a list of 167 who may have served (and counting). One on the latter list is the immortal double international Harry Makepeace, who I think may have served in the RFC. I might make some progress on my research (and on my packing to go to Ypres) if I can keep my nose out of your book. If I forget my passport it will be your fault.... :wacko:

Pete.

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Pete

Perhaps you can pass on the Weld-Blundell story to someone local to chase up.

I like a good story, as per 'The man who missed the bus to Ypres because his nose was buried in Wisden on the Great War.'

Have you found the man who belonged to the Massachusetts State Guards?

Or the son of the chairman of the Shredded Wheat company?

Or the bent MP?

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Pete

Perhaps you can pass on the Weld-Blundell story to someone local to chase up.

I like a good story, as per 'The man who missed the bus to Ypres because his nose was buried in Wisden on the Great War.'

Have you found the man who belonged to the Massachusetts State Guards?

Or the son of the chairman of the Shredded Wheat company?

Or the bent MP?

That was my first thought when I read your post. I've met a couple of local historians but they are mainly interested in the quite remarkable number of connections between Liverpool and the American Civil War. I'll keep you posted if I can find someone to take up the quest. As far as getting ready to go to Ypres I'm so organised I'm starting to worry that I've completely forgotten something critical. I will fight the temptation to go looking for the individuals you mention until after I return.

Pete.

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The Scorer:

I also had an email from the Somerset museum curator.

However, for absolute clarification, my post 67 above is correct. Of the 22, only Collins and Spooner died.

Bob Acheson tells me he meant to say that 14 'served' and after he heard a preview of the interview with John Inverdale he asked the editor to cut out his remark that 14 'died'.

Bob is an authority on Clifton, and he has sent me details of the teams.

Unfortunately, on this occasion he mis-spoke. And the BBC mis-edited.

The record will I am sure be correct when we see an interview he has done with Benedict Bermange (The Sky Scorer) which will be shown during the India series.

On another matter affecting Somerset, they are not going to recognise as WW1 victims the two players who died in 1920 and are listed in my book, along with new obituaries.

That's fair enough, because one was shot by the IRA and one shot himself.

Nevertheless, they are on CWGC and my list of 289 f-c men who fell is intended to include all that are on CWGC.

I would welcome comments about this.

Thank you; that answers my questions, I think.

For what it's worth, I also think that you're right to include the two from 1920 if they are on the CWGC records.

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My book on the St. Luke's College Roll of Honour is almost complete - two chaps, Fishwick (played for Devon) and Leat (Somerset) are in it. Not got the Wisden book yet - are these two men in it?

Edwin

I would be interested in learning more about Edwin John Leat - a local Wellington man.

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Edwin

Thank you for this information about Leat's death.

My book has a sub-title: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914 - 1918.

If it is to be successful, it is because it concentrates on the men's lives, truncated as they were, rather than deaths, so any further details on Leat's life will be appreciated.

Schooling certainly: where is St Luke's College? And do you know what he was doing in Slough, e.g. his profession?

Andrew

There is some information about Leat at buckinghamshireremembers.org. He was a schoolteacher at Chalvey School in Slough and is remembered on the Slough War Memorial. His son, Edwin George Leat, 1918-1994, was born 2 months after his father's death.

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The Scorer:

I also had an email from the Somerset museum curator.

However, for absolute clarification, my post 67 above is correct. Of the 22, only Collins and Spooner died.

Bob Acheson tells me he meant to say that 14 'served' and after he heard a preview of the interview with John Inverdale he asked the editor to cut out his remark that 14 'died'.

Bob is an authority on Clifton, and he has sent me details of the teams.

Unfortunately, on this occasion he mis-spoke. And the BBC mis-edited.

The record will I am sure be correct when we see an interview he has done with Benedict Bermange (The Sky Scorer) which will be shown during the India series.

On another matter affecting Somerset, they are not going to recognise as WW1 victims the two players who died in 1920 and are listed in my book, along with new obituaries.

That's fair enough, because one was shot by the IRA and one shot himself.

Nevertheless, they are on CWGC and my list of 289 f-c men who fell is intended to include all that are on CWGC.

I would welcome comments about this.

Somerset Cricket Museum will be pleased to amend the information about the match at Clifton College. The information was taken from Bob Acheson's radio interview.

The display at SCM is about Somerset cricketers and the First World War. We include Hugh Ferguson Montgomery in our list of players who received awards for gallantry, but not with those players who died as he was not killed in action or as a consequence of the War, in 1920.

Arthur Thomas Sanders is not included in our list of dead as his suicide in 1920 is not associated with the War. He was still at school in 1918 and later at Sandhurst. His death was attributed to 'betting debts'. We are pleased to have him brought to our attention.

We have referred to Frederick Percy Hardy who killed himself on 9 March 1916. Hardy enlisted 18 September 1914 but was discharged on 4 March 1915 as 'medically unfit for further service' due to an injury received in the barracks. He appears to have re-enlisted later (this needs further research) and cut his throat 'brought on by distress at being sent back to the World War 1 battlefield' (David Foot Sunshine, Sixes and Cider 1986).

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ciderman:

Thank you for this further information about Leat and especially Hardy.

I hope one of the experts can help with Hardy's military service. I did not know of his injury.

Meanwhile, I have this letter in The Times today:

Sir, Your report on Lt Druce Robert Brandt (Fallen soldier lived on in The Times for 50 years, June 14) tells how he might otherwise have been long forgotten had it not been for the annual memorial notices.

It was not entirely unusual for In Memoriam notices to appear for many years. Your own sports editor, Richard Henry Powell, who fell in May 1915, was so remembered until 1974, two years after the death of his widow.

Brandt’s obituary appeared in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack for 1916 because he had played eight matches for Oxford University. He had been in the Harrow Eleven for three years, the almanack noting that he was “a very good batsman and wicketkeeper”.

As an MCC member, his name is on the club’s roll of honour at Lord’s.

But is it not time that all the 289 men who played first-class cricket and fell in the Great War were honoured on a national cricket memorial?

Andrew Renshaw

Editor, Wisden on the Great War

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  • 3 weeks later...

Apologies to all if you have already seen this but Andrew Walpole of the ECB is looking for the relatives of four England cricketers who fell and I was wondering if the assembled expertise demonstrated on this thread could oblige? Andrew's intial thread is here and Alan Curragh has posted another one on Andrew's behalf.

Pete.

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Ajaxer

You said, at the top of this page, that RS Weld-Blundell is not on the CWGC Register. He is!

"WELD BLUNDELL, ROBERT SHIRBURNE, Rank:Second Lieutenant Date of Death:01/01/1916 Age:27 Regiment/Service:The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 6th Bn. Grave Reference: At the crossing of the two paths. Cemetery:INCE BLUNDELL ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weld Blundell (nee Lane Fox), of Ince Blundell Hall, Blundellsands; husband of Mary Weld Blundell (nee Mayne), of Grace Dieu, Ipswich." There are other threads about this family, both here and via Google. One on a website for St Helens WW1 has a very full set of details. Daggers
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Thanks, Daggers, for finding him on CWGC.

The hyphen makes all the difference.

He is on CWGC as Weld Blundell where there is an image of his splendid memorial with Weld-Blundell carved in marble or stone.

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Pete:

You asked: Just as an aside and following on from my visit to Colin Blythe at Oxford Road do you know the location of his death where Sky were filming? I noticed that Blythe's Wikipedia entry mentions the location being between Pimmern and Forest Hall near Passchendaele.

So far, I only know from Sky that the railway line was discovered in 2005.

According to Christopher Scoble's book Lament for a Legend, it was the Wieltje (Forest Hall) line, "one of the little tangle of lines to the north-east of Ypres, running out to the village of Wieltje".

By the way, the son of the chairman of the Shredded Wheat company is on p355. A cracking story.

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Pete:

You asked: Just as an aside and following on from my visit to Colin Blythe at Oxford Road do you know the location of his death where Sky were filming? I noticed that Blythe's Wikipedia entry mentions the location being between Pimmern and Forest Hall near Passchendaele.

So far, I only know from Sky that the railway line was discovered in 2005.

According to Christopher Scoble's book Lament for a Legend, it was the Wieltje (Forest Hall) line, "one of the little tangle of lines to the north-east of Ypres, running out to the village of Wieltje".

By the way, the son of the chairman of the Shredded Wheat company is on p355. A cracking story.

Thanks Andrew, that area is very close to where he was buried; but a good four to five miles from Passchendaele I would reckon. The story of the son of the chairman is exactly as you describe it; cracking.

Pete.

Edit: I've just realised I've read an entry in the book and managed to put it down without getting sidetracked by the other entries. This must be some kind of first.

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I'm not sure whether many people know, but there is a memorial to the cricketers who fell in both World Wars in the St George’s Memorial Church, Ypres.

It takes the form of a plaque on the wall oposite the main door, and was erected by the England & Wales Cricket Board. The inscription reads:

“1914 – 1918 1939 - 1945 In memory of all cricketers from around the world who gave their lives in the cause of freedom in two world wars”.

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I'm not sure whether many people know, but there is a memorial to the cricketers who fell in both World Wars in the St George’s Memorial Church, Ypres.

It takes the form of a plaque on the wall oposite the main door, and was erected by the England & Wales Cricket Board. The inscription reads:

“1914 – 1918 1939 - 1945 In memory of all cricketers from around the world who gave their lives in the cause of freedom in two world wars”.

I certainly didn't know, thanks for the information. That said I didn't know exactly where St George's was until my last visit; it's strange how there are places you are very familiar with from books but haven't a clue where they are on the ground. With me that can stretch to whole villages; I'm reasonably familiar with the Somme but have never grasped the location of Martinpuich with any accuracy

Pete.

Pete.

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Thank you very much for the information about the ECB memorial at Ypres.

Now the hunt must be on for a photo of the plaque.

Having just googled ECB and memorial, I have discovered this website:

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/england/world-war-one-commemorations

It's interesting because the figures it gives for the number of first-class cricketers who fell (289) and those awarded gallantry medals (407) are the figures given in my book.

They do not credit the source. But you read it in my book first.

I will now try to find a pic of that plaque.

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I have a photograph of the plaque, but I don't know how to post it here!

Unfortunately, it's not the best, as I had to take it from a poor angle, but I hope that it will do as a start. If you can send me your e-mail address via a PM please, I will sent it to you so that you can post it if you can. I'll do this on Friday, so don't worry if you don't get anything before then.

Thank you!

Edited by The Scorer
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For those who are interested in repatriations, there are three in my book and all are cross-referenced.

Following a conversation yesterday at the Cheltenham cricket festival with Philip Paine, I have discovered a fourth man, Capt Esme Fairfax Chinnery (p115).

Here is the updated list in order of death (any amendments will be welcomed):

CAPT JOHN ALEXANDER HALLIDAY (11th Prince Albert’s Own Hussars) died at Le Touquet on November 13, 1914, from wounds received in France. He is buried at All Saints Churchyard, Chicklade, Wiltshire.

CAPT ESME FAIRFAX CHINNERY (Coldstream Guards and Royal Flying Corps) was killed near Paris on January 18, 1915, while flying in an aeroplane as a passenger. He is buried at St Matthew’s Churchyard, Hatchford, near Cobham, Surrey.

2ND LT HUGH MICHAEL HUNTER (Wilts Regt) died at Boulogne on April 6, 1915, from wounds received at Neuve Chapelle on March 12. The funeral service was held at St Peter’s, Eaton Square, London, and he is buried at Wandsworth (Putney Vale) Cemetery.

2ND LT GEOFFREY WILLIAM VAN DER BYL HOPLEY (2 Bn Grenadier Guards) died on May 12, 1915, in the Military Hospital at Boulogne-sur-Mer of wounds received in Flanders on February 3. His mother brought his body back on May 13. He is buried at Harrow Cemetery.

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An excellent compilation, Andrew; as others say, once you start dipping in, you're lost. I hesitate to mention this but the entry on Lt John Hartington MC, Captain of Bury Grammar School 1914, contains a couple of very minor errors which could be corrected for the hoped-for second edition. He was attached Machine Gun Corps so his MC was awarded for his handling of machine guns not field guns. He was actually presented with the MC by HM King George V a few weeks before, rather than the week before, his death in July 1917. We shall be paying another visit to his grave at Lijssenthoek during our 2014 school battlefields tour and it was lovely to see him awarded an entry in the book. His first cousin, Sergeant John Hartington of the Royal Artillery, was killed two days before him and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. I don't know whether he was a cricketer: the family lived in Norway where the father was running textile mills on behalf of the Norwegian king. John Hartington MC was himself born in Mexico, the family returning to Lancashire after a revolution. John, two of his brothers and all three of his sisters attended Bury Grammar School, which we believe may be a record. His oldest brother, George, escaped from a German POW camp and made it safely back to England in early 1918. John was also an excellent footballer and we have a marvellous First XI photo from the 1911-12 season showing John together with his eventual predecessor as School Captain William Morris (qv). However he was pre-eminent as a cricketer so it was fitting that he has been accorded the tribute in Andrew's book.

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Mark

Thank you for these corrections and the extra information.

The amendments can easily be made if the book is reprinted.

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ECB and Hampshire Cricket to commemorate cricketers who gave their lives in World War One during 3rd Investec Test Match



The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Hampshire Cricket today announced plans to commemorate those cricketers who lost their lives in World War One during the 3rd Investec Test Match between England and India which starts on Sunday at The Ageas Bowl.



The commemorations will include a minute’s silence prior to the start of the third day’s play and descendants of the former Kent and England cricketer Colin Blythe will also be in attendance next Tuesday as special guests of ECB and Hampshire Cricket.



Blythe, who died at Passchendaele in 1917, was one of four England cricketers to die during the war and the England team laid a specially crafted stone cricket ball at his grave on a visit to the Oxford Road cemetery near Ypres in 2009.



Yorkshire’s Major William Booth, Middlesex’s Leonard Moon and Kent’s Kenneth Hutchings were the other England cricketers to die during the war which saw 289 First Class cricketers lose their lives overall and 407 players subsequently decorated for gallantry.



Further commemorative tributes will include the England team wearing the Help for Heroes logo on their shirt collars and the ringing of a bell to mark the start of the third day’s play by a current member of the Armed Forces.



Hampshire County Cricket Club will also be providing up to 1,000 tickets for servicemen in partnership with Help for Heroes, Tickets for Troops and Rewards for Forces and BBC TV’s ‘Great British Bake-off’ winner Frances Quinn will serve up slices of a ‘Trench Cake’ – baked according to an original wartime recipe - to members of the media.



ECB’s Acting Chief Executive Brian Havill said: “At a time when the entire nation will be marking the outbreak of World War One, it is important that cricket recognises the enormous human cost of the conflict and in particular the hundreds of First Class cricketers who gave their lives in service of their country.



“We will be asking everyone attending day three of the Test Match to show their respects to the fallen and we trust that this will form a suitable and fitting commemoration to all those soldiers and civilians who died.”



Hampshire Chief Executive David Mann added: “Hampshire has always had very strong links with our Armed Forces and we are extremely proud and humbled to have the opportunity to mark this occasion and remember the sacrifice of millions of soldiers not just from our county, but from across the country and indeed around the world.”


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It seems that traditionally the 3rd days play is often notable for the many who turn up in various fancy dress guises, mostly funny and well mannered.

On this special occasion, would it be useful for the ECB/Hampshire to give a gentle "steer" that attendees try to wear something appropriate as their "fancy dress" such as WW1 soldiers or sailors, or Edwardian type civvies..

Or perhaps all wear a Poppy (Hint for Hampshire RBL - authorise early sales of a "centenary" poppy or enamel lapel pin at the gates!)

It would be nice if just for once they could put the "fun" element to a practical purpose.

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