Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Charles Edwin Awdry TD, JP (29 April 1906 – 16 November 1965) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, as well as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. The son of Charles Selwyn Awdry and Constance Lilias, he was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

Cricket

Awdry's

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

style is unknown, but it is known that he was a right-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler. In 1924, he made his debut for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. He played

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for Wiltshire from 1924 to 1939, making 93 appearances and taking nearly 300 wickets and scoring over 1,500 runs. He also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

on two occasions. The first of these was for the

West of England West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan N ...

against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

at the

County Ground, Exeter The County Ground is a cricket ground in Exeter, Devon. The earliest recorded match on the ground was in 1889 between the Gentlemen of Devon and Somerset. In 1902, Devon played their first Minor Counties Championship match on the ground, whi ...

in 1927. He took the wicket of

Herb McGirr Herbert Mendelson McGirr (5 November 1891, in Wellington – 14 April 1964, in Nelson) was a New Zealand cricketer who played in two Tests in 1930. His father William McGirr played 14 matches for Wellington as an opening bowler from 1883–84 ...

in this match, while in the West's only batting innings, he was dismissed for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

by Bill Merritt. His second first-class appearance came for the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1937. He was dismissed in the Minor Counties first-innings for 8 runs by

David Macindoe Major David Henry Macindoe (1 September 1917 – 3 March 1986) was an English cricketer. Macindoe was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium-fast. His bowling was characterised with a long run-up and a high arm action. The son ...

, while in their second-innings he was dismissed by the same bowler for 8 runs. With the ball, he took the wickets of

Eric Dixon Eric "Big Daddy" Dixon (March 28, 1930 – October 19, 1989) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, flautist, composer, and arranger. Dixon's professional career extended from 1950 until his death in 1989, during which time he was credited ...

and Alexander Singleton in the Oxford first-innings, while going wicket-less in their second. Prior to playing for the Minor Counties, he toured

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

with

Hubert Martineau Hubert Melville Martineau (24 October 1891 – 11 September 1976) was an English patron of cricket and organiser of his own team.Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1977Obituaries in 1976 He also played three first-class matches between 1931 and 1932. ...

's XI in 1932 and 1933.

Military career

While at Winchester College, Awdry was part of the Cadets there, he later entered the

Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when the strength of the Territorial ...

with the rank of

2nd lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in 1928. On 8 March 1932, he was promoted from 2nd lieutenant to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

, along with the

Viscount Weymouth A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

who also served in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry at the time. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 14 May 1938. Awdry would later serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the conflict, he was awarded the "

Efficiency Decoration The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the Auxiliary Military Forces, was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time officers after twe ...

" in August 1944 for over twelve years in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, which formed a part of the Territorial Army. He was promoted to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 1 June 1945. In 1956, he exceeded the age limit at which one could be part of the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, and was removed from the reserve on 1 December, retaining the rank of major. At some point he received the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

Personal life

Awdry married Ursula Marion Mordaunt, the daughter of

Eustace Mordaunt Eustace Charles Mordaunt (6 September 1870 – 21 June 1938) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club at the turn of the 20th century.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to ...

and Cicely Marion Tubb, in 1933. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Gov ...

in 1954, a post which his father had previously held in 1901. Awdry also worked as a justice of the peace. He died at

Bowden Hill Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about south of Chippenham and to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate. Origins of the name Bowden Hill was historica ...

on 16 November 1965.

References

External links

Charles Awdry
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Charles Awdry
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Awdry, Charles 1906 births 1965 deaths Cricketers from the City of Westminster People from Paddington Military personnel from the City of Westminster People educated at Winchester College English cricketers Wiltshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry officers English barristers Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century King's Counsel High Sheriffs of Wiltshire West of England cricketers 20th-century English lawyers