Frank William Gilligan

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(20 September 1893 – 4 May 1960) 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 who played for

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 ...

and was an integral part of the

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

county side for ten years. He went on to become headmaster of one

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's top independent schools and was awarded an

in 1955 for his services to education.

Background

Frank Gilligan was the son of Willie Austin Gilligan and Alice Eliza (née Kimpton). He was the oldest of four children, having two younger brothers and a sister Kathleen. His two younger brothers,

Arthur Gilligan Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan (23 December 1894 – 5 September 1976) was an English first-class cricketer who captained the England cricket team nine times in 1924 and 1925, winning four Test matches, losing four and drawing one. In fi ...

and

Harold Gilligan Alfred Herbert Harold Gilligan (29 June 1896 – 5 May 1978) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Sussex and England. Gilligan captained England on their four-Test tour of New Zealand in 1929–30, which England won 1–0. Lif ...

both went on to captain

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at cricket. All three brothers attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

. Frank was in the school 1st XI for three years (from 1911 to 1913) and was also an excellent

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player, playing for the 1st XV in 1912 and 1913. He also held the school record for the mile in 1911. From Dulwich College he had an

Exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

to read English. However, whilst there

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

caused him to join the

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 ...

, serving as an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

with the 12th Battalion of the

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

, rising to the rank of

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 ...

, and being

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for his service during the war. On 6 August 1921 he married Miss Brindle of Craven Park, Lancashire at St. James’ Piccadilly.

First-class cricket

At Oxford he won two cricket

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, one as captain, and graduated with honours in English. He went on to play 79 matches as a wicket-keeper for Essex between 1919 and 1929. In all

first-class matches 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 ...

he took 153 catches and made 68 stumpings, and averaged 23.62 with the bat. He scored one century, 110 in Oxford University's victory over Essex in 1920. After he retired from teaching he took up cricket umpiring, officiating in two

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

matches in 1956 and 1957.

In education

Gilligan joined

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

in 1920, where he eventually became a housemaster. He taught there until 1935, under the headship of another

Old Alleynian Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose ...

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs. Career The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...

. His background in cricket made him the ideal candidate to become the head of cricket at the school and it is reputed that he was responsible for a Golden Age of Uppingham cricket. From Uppingham he took the headship of

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...

. He remained in that post for 18 years, leaving in 1954. The Wanganui Collegian wrote, "He believed in good sportsmanship, modesty, tolerance, and seeing the other man's point of view, and he was himself an exemplar of these qualities. He would go to endless trouble to help anybody. To watch him taking a game was a liberal education in the art of coaching. A devotee of using one's feet to play slow bowling and of forward play."Eminent Old Alleynians : Sport
In 1955 he was appointed

for his services to education.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1961, p. 946.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilligan, Frank 1893 births 1960 deaths Military personnel from London Essex Regiment officers Oxford University cricketers English cricketers Essex cricketers People educated at Dulwich College British Army personnel of World War I Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire British people of Irish descent Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Harlequins cricketers Gentlemen cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Lord Hawke's XI cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Schoolteachers from London British emigrants to New Zealand Heads of schools in New Zealand People from Denmark Hill