Gordon Charles White (5 February 1882 – 17 October 1918) was a South African

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 in 17

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from 1906 to 1912. He served as an officer in the 1st Battalion,

Cape Corps The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served. History As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape ...

in the First World War, and died of wounds in Gaza,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

Cricket

White was born in Port St Johns,

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

. He played domestic

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 ...

for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

from 1902. He was a free-hitting batsman and occasional

leg-spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

bowler. He played Test cricket for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

against

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 ...

in 1905–06 and 1909–10, and was a member of the South African teams that toured England in 1904 and 1907 and in 1912 for the Triangular Tournament. On the 1904 tour to England he scored 937 runs in first-class matches, with a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 30, including 115 against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, but did not play a Test. He played in the five Tests at home against England in 1905–06, scoring 147 in the 3rd Test at Johannesburg, and two half-centuries. He played in three Tests in the 1907 tour. He was generally less successful as a batsman than in 1904, scoring only 15 runs in five Test innings, but he scored 162 not out against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He achieved more success as a

bowler, taking 72 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 13. He played in four Tests against England in 1909–10, reaching 118 at Durban. He played in five Tests in the Triangular Tournament of 1912, but he did not achieve much with the bat or the ball.

First World War

He joined the

South African Army The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. ...

in the First World War, and was erroneously gazetted as a captain in the 1st Battalion,

in August 1916, over several more senior officers. He chose to be reduced in rank voluntarily to lieutenant in December 1916. He served at

Morogoro Morogoro is a city in the eastern part of Tanzania west of Dar es Salaam. Morogoro is the capital of the Morogoro Region. It is also known informally as "Mji kasoro bahari" which translates to “city short of an ocean/port." The Belgian based ...

in the East African Campaign in 1916–17, returning to South African on the hospital ship ''Oxfordshire'' in July 1917. In March 1918, he was sent with his unit to Egypt to join the 160th Brigade. He was wounded in the bayonet charge on Turkish troops at

Khan Jibeit Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

near Jerusalem on 20 September 1918, part of the Battle of Megiddo, and died at the 47th Stationary Hospital in Gaza,

, nearly a month later. He was buried in Gaza.

References

External links

* *
The story of the 1st Battalion Cape Corps, 1915–1919
Captain I. D. Difford, 1919 {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Gordon 1882 births 1918 deaths South Africa Test cricketers Gauteng cricketers South African military personnel killed in World War I South African military personnel of World War I South African military personnel Burials in Palestine