McCrery - Final Wicket: test and first class cricketers killed in the Great War

Dedicated to my extraordinary children without whom there would be no point

Luke, Emily and Rebecca
With all my love

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Pen & Sword Military
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Copyright Nigel McCrery 2015

ISBN: 978 1 47382 714 1
PDF ISBN: 978 1 47386 419 1
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47386 418 4
PRC ISBN: 978 1 47386 417 7

The right of Nigel McCrery to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

Although Second Lieutenant Frederick Bertram Key of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was not a first-class cricketer, playing his cricket for Lichfield, he wrote the following lines to his parents before going into action on 1 July 1916 (First Day of the Battle of the Somme), where he was killed.

If you receive this you will know that I have unfortunately been bowled out middle peg, but you may be sure that I batted well.

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the following for helping throughout the researching and writing of this book:

Mike Askham and Wellingborough School for their time and effort; Trevor Bailey and Bill Hazley, Northamptonshire CCC, for their time, trouble and expertise; Jill Barlow, Cheltenham College Archives; Jamie Bell, New Zealand Cricket Museum, for his time trouble and advice; Richard Black, London Medal Company, London, for his help, advice and loan of books and Cecilia; Mat Blurton and Katie Noble, who did an amazing job of putting this book together; Charles Bradshaw, Oratory School; Brian Butchers of Beddington CC, for taking the time to help; Graeme Clarke, Great War Forum, for his help and research; Alan Clay, collector and researcher who, as ever, has done all he could to help and that was a lot; Cecilia Cooper-Colby, photographer, for her brilliant copies of photographs from some very aged books; Eleanor Cracknell, College Archivist, Eton College, for her time and trouble; Ed Dawes, BBC Radio Derby Sport; Richard Doherty, my editor; David Duffieldbank, Derbyshire CCC, for his help and advice; Leigh Duncan, for her help, assistance and a few laughs; Hiram Dunn, Great War Forum; Mark Eklid, Derby Telegraph, for his help and advice in searching for the last few Derbyshire cricketers; Brian Ellis, for his help with Lt.-Col. Mosse; John Fidler and Jenny Cornell, researchers at Bedford School, for once again giving up their time and taking the trouble to search for information on old boys of the school; Roddy Fisher, keeper, Eton College Photographic Archive; Roger Gibbons, researcher; the late Hal Giblin, gentleman, historian, writer, my inspiration; Rolland Hackney, for his continual help and advice; Jake Haddow, Lancaster Royal Grammar School; Peter Henderson, Archivist, The Kings School, Canterbury, Kent, for his time and trouble; Chris Highton, who gave up a lot of time and made a lot of effort to locate several photographs; Clive Holden, Lancaster Royal Grammar School; Jonathan Holmes, Queens College, Cambridge; Dave Horne, Bromleigh Pool CC; the late and much missed Dennis Ingle, researcher and medal dealer; Robin Isherwood, for general research on South African cricketers; William Ivory and Phil Nodding, for keeping me going; Alastair Jack, historian/researcher; Dean Johnson, for his time and research; Jane Jones, WWI photos, obituaries and service records database, for providing many of the photographs and obituaries; Matt Jones, Pen & Sword; Anziske Kayster, Graaff-Reinet Museum, South Africa; Maurice Kent, Archivist, Northamptonshire CCC; Jack Langley, for taking the time to help out; The Roger Mann Cricket Photograph Collection, charming man and an extraordinary life long collection. He took the time and trouble to find some of the missing photographs and has a large wealth of knowledge; Paul McCormick, for his help without complaint; Ashley McCrery, for his help and advice; Sam McIntyre, Somerset Cricket Club, for his time and effort; Liz Moloney, researcher and historian who gave her time and trouble and found one of the missing photographs; Pearce Noonan, Nimrod Dix medals, for his continual help and advice; Paul Paton, Auckland Grammar School AGS Archives; Ian Quickfall and Denise Goodrum from Malvern College for their time, effort, information and photographs; Andrew Renshaw (Wisden), for his time, trouble, excellent advice and information. Generous man and first-class researcher; SueRyder (Mosse), for her research and time; Jill Shepherd BA MCLIP, Archives Librarian, Wellington College, for her time, trouble, information and photographs; The Rick Smith Collection (cricket photographs) for his time, trouble and keenness to see this book written. Many thanks; Robert Smith, collector and researcher, without whose generous help some of the information would have been wrong and photographs not discovered; The Staunton Family of Staunton Hall; Richard Steel, for his help and advice and for the Odell medals, which I treasure; Clare Taylor, cricketer and historian, for her brilliant work on OTAGO cricket players; Peter Wynne-Thomas, Nottingham CCC; Brian Turner, historian and collector who gave up much time and made much effort helping in the writing of this book; John Watson, supporter and collector, Northamptonshire CCC; Jon Wilkinson, Pen & Sword, who did an excellent job yet again of the jacket design; Tony Williams, for his superb proofreading skills; Henry Wilson, Pen & Sword; Gina Worboys, Bedford School, for all her help and time; Jonathan Wright, Pen & Sword, for his tireless work behind the scenes.

Forums:

Great War Forum, a superb research tool, which everyone interested in the subject should be a member of; Medals Forum, a first-class online research tool, well worth joining.

Cricket Clubs:

Border Cricket; Cambridge CCC; Eastern Province Cricket; Essex CC; Gloucestershire CC; Griqualand West Cricket; Hampshire CCC; Kent CCC; Lancashire CCC, for help and assistance with photographs and information; Leicestershire CCC; Marylebone CC, for their advice and direction; Middlesex CCC; Natal Cricket; Northamptonshire CC; Nottinghamshire CCC; Otago CC