Charles Ernest Higginbotham (4 July 1866 in

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland – 11 March 1915 in France) was a British soldier Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1916
Obituaries in 1915
/ref> who also had a notable

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 ...

career.

Biography

After attending Rugby School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Higginbotham was commissioned a

second 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 the Northamptonshire Regiment on 5 February 1887. He was promoted to lieutenant on 16 April 1890, and stationed in the Far East, where he played cricket for the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

, playing three matches against Hong Kong between 1890 and 1891. Following promotion 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 2 January 1899, he served during the Second Boer War in South Africa, and was Superintendent of Gymnasia until July 1902, when he returned to his regiment. He took part in some

Minor Counties cricket 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 un ...

for Devon in the first years of the 20th century. Whilst stationed in South Africa after the end of the Boer war, he made his first-class debut in January 1906, playing for the South African Army against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team,First-class matches played by Charles Higginbotham
at CricketArchive who were in fact the touring England cricket team. He played one further first-class match, playing for the Army against the Royal Navy at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in May 1912. He was killed on active service at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915.CWGC entry
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginbotham, Charles 1866 births 1915 deaths People educated at Cargilfield School People educated at Rugby School Northamptonshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I English cricketers Straits Settlements cricketers Devon cricketers British Army cricketers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Military personnel from Glasgow