Guy Mortimer Coleridge Davidge, DSO* (2 March 1878 – 17 February 1956) was a British Army officer and first-class cricketer. He was born in Woolwich, the son of Francis Elizabeth and Deputy Surgeon-Genera John George Davidge of the Army Medical Department. He spent the first two years of his life living in Woolwich, then from 1880 he lived on the Island of Malta where his father was serving as a Brigade Surgeon with the Malta Garrison. His younger sister Ethel Frances Davidge died of diphtheria on 8 October 1884 while the family were in Malta. They returned to the UK to live in Portsmouth in October 1885 when Guy was aged seven.
Military career
Following his education at
Malvern College
Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...
, Guy 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 Worcestershire Regiment on 16 February 1898, and promoted to lieutenant on 10 January 1900. In October 1901 he was seconded for service in South Africa, during the Second Boer War. This war ended in June 1902, but Davidge stayed in South Africa for another six months, returning to Southampton on the SS ''Orcana'' in January 1903.
He later served in the First World War as an acting lieutenant-colonel commanding the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of the regiment, receiving the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1917 and bar in 1918 for conspicuous gallantry and leadership in the field. The citation for his bar appeared in '' The London Gazette'' in September 1918 and reads as follows:
Colonel Davidge later commanded the 2nd Battalion from 1921 to 1925, when he retired.
Lieut.-Colonel G. M. C. Davidge, D.S.O.* died at home in Hove on 17 February 1956, aged 77. Brigadier H. U. Richards, C.B.E., D.S.O., represented the Worcestershire Regiment at the funeral which took place at Brighton on 22 February 1956.
The University Parks
The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...
in May 1911. He was bowled for a duck by Claude Burton in his only innings, and did not bowl, his only contribution to the scorecard coming when he held a catch to dismiss