Gordon Belden Belcher MC (26 September 1885 –16 May 1915) was an English first-class cricketer,educator and British Army officer. [1]
The son of the cricketer and educator Thomas Belcher,he was born in the Brighton neighbourhood of Kemp Town in June 1870. He was educated at Brighton College,where his father Rev. Thomas Hayes Belcher was principal from 1881 to 1892. He left the college in 1904,matriculating to St Catharine's College,Cambridge. [2] At Cambridge,he was a member of Cambridge University Cricket Club but did not play at first-class level for the university. However,he did play first-class cricket for Hampshire during his studies,making a single appearance against Warwickshire at Southampton in the 1905 County Championship. [3] He was dismissed twice in the match without scoring by Frank Field and Crowther Charlesworth. [4] After graduating from Cambridge,he became a master at Reading School and was commissioned into the school's Officers' Training Corps as a second lieutenant in December 1908. [5] He was gazetted in May 1910 as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion,Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment). [6]
While employed at the school,he played minor counties cricket for Berkshire between 1910 and 1913,making 27 appearances in the Minor Counties Championship. [7] He was promoted to lieutenant in February 1912, [8] the same year that he moved to Brighton College to teach. [2] Belcher served in the First World War with the Royal Berkshire Regiment,seeing action on the Western Front. He awarded the Military Cross in February 1915, [9] and was subsequently promoted to captain in January 1915. [10] Belcher was killed in action on 16 May 1915 at Richebourg during the Battle of Festubert. He was buried at the Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery. Belcher's brothers,Harold and Raymond and paternal first cousin Basil,alumni of Brighton College were also killed during the war. [2]
Cecil Howard Palmer was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
Kenneth Herbert Clayton Woodroffe was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. He predominantly played his first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club as a fast bowler. He later saw action in the First World War with the Rifle Brigade and was killed in action on the Western Front in May 1915.
Rodney Howell Palmer was an English first-class cricketer and an officer in the British Army. As a cricketer,he played first-class cricket for both Cambridge University and Hampshire. Embarking on a career in the army with the 12th Royal Lancers in 1930,he served with the Lancers until 1946. During that period,he served in the Second World War and was awarded the Military Cross. He would later serve as the High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1953.
Geoffrey Henry Barrington Chance was an English first-class cricketer.
Alexander Gordon Cowie was an English first-class cricketer,British Army officer,and a noted war poet during the First World War.
Robert Henry Dundas Bolton was an English first-class cricketer,soldier,police officer and Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Constabulary.
Bernard Maynard Lucas Brodhurst was an English first-class cricketer and British Indian Army officer.
George Amelius Crawshay Sandeman was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
Robert Wilfred Fairey Jesson was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
John Frederick Godfrey was an English first-class cricketer.
John Rooke Rawlence was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
Charles Cecil Stone was an English cricketer. Stone was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born at Knighton,Leicestershire.
William Hugh Holbech was an English cricketer who played at first-class level for Warwickshire and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He died of wounds following the First Battle of Ypres.
Brigadier Lionel Peter Collins,was an English cricketer and British Indian Army officer.
Michael Desmond Ponsonby Magill was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Whilst a student he played for the Oxford University Cricket Club against the Minor Counties and Leicestershire. Magill later played a single game for the Free Foresters and made two appearances for the combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricket team in the West Indies.
George Guy Marsland Bennett MC was an English first-class cricketer,British Army officer and solicitor. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University from 1903 to 1905,before serving in the First World War with both the Royal Irish Rifles and the Machine Gun Corps,during the course of which he was awarded the Military Cross. His brother was the Olympian John Bennett.
John Lillingston Carr was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Born in British India,Carr served during the First World War with the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He continued to serve with the regiment after the war,until his retirement in 1936. He also played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and the British Army cricket team. He was the father of the Test cricketer Donald Carr.
Archer Windsor-Clive was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Windsor-Clive played first-class cricket for Cambridge University between 1910 and 1912. He served in the First World War with the Coldstream Guards and was killed in action on 25 August 1914. He was the first first-class cricketer to be killed in the war.
Edward Hedley Cuthbertson was an English first-class cricketer.
Geoffrey Dayrell Wood was an English first-class cricketer.