George Michael Singleton

CBE 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 ...

MC (12 May 191311 December 2002) was an English

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 ...

er who played in three matches, appearing once for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and twice for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. He took five wickets with his left-arm spin and scored 34 runs in his five innings. He later played for the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

and

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the 'wa ...

. Singleton was born in Repton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, where his father was a schoolmaster. In 1916, his father became headmaster of The Elms School in Colwall. Michael was the eldest of four brothers.

Sandy Singleton Alexander Parkinson Singleton (5 August 1914 – 22 March 1999) was an English first-class cricketer. An all-rounder, he was a right-handed opening batsman and Right-arm orthodox spin bowler. He played for Worcestershire, captaining the side in ...

was a county cricketer who became captain of Oxford and Worcestershire. John became a farmer in Scotland, and Tim Singleton became President of the

Law Society A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...

, and was knighted. He was educated at

Uppingham Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ep ...

and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

, and became a teacher at West Down School near

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, before rejoining his father as a teacher at The Elms. In 1939, he joined the army and formed a company of the Hereford Light Infantry. He was seconded to the

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall ...

, landing in France shortly after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

, where he won the MC. He was offered the opportunity to join the regular army in 1946, but returned to The Elms, where he succeeded his father as headmaster in 1948, remaining headmaster for 25 years, until 1973. He was also a local

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, High Sheriff of Hereford and Worcester, and a Deputy Lieutenant. He married Diana Philpot in 1939, and they had five children. He died in

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

at the age of 89.

External links

*
Statistical summary
from CricketArchive
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 30 January 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Singleton, Michael English cricketers Recipients of the Military Cross Worcestershire cricketers Free Foresters cricketers 1913 births 2002 deaths King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry officers British Army personnel of World War II People from Repton Cricketers from Derbyshire Deputy Lieutenants of Herefordshire Herefordshire Light Infantry officers Military personnel from Derbyshire