John Thomas Gregory (22 April 1887 – 27 October 1914) was an English first-class

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 and British Army soldier. The son of Thomas Gregory, a club cricketer, and his wife, Eliza, he was born at

Sutton-in-Ashfield Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 48,527 in 2019. It is the largest town in the district of Ashfield, four miles west of Mansfield, two miles from the Derbyshire border and 12 miles nort ...

in April 1887. Between 1905 and 1907, he spent time on the ground staff at Trent Bridge, but did not play for Nottinghamshire. After leaving Trent Bridge, he played club cricket for the New Hucknall Colliery Cricket Club, and subsequently enlisted in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

. It was while garrisoned at Aldershot that he came to the attention of Hampshire while playing for his regiment, having taken all 10 wickets of the 2nd Worcestershire Regiment innings for the cost of 15 runs with his slow left-arm orthodox bowling. On the back of this performance, he was subsequently selected to play for Hampshire, making what would be his only appearance in first-class cricket against Oxford University at Southampton in 1913. Batting once in the match, he was dismissed without scoring in Hampshire's first innings by Denis Wigan; with the ball, he bowled 24 wicket-less

overs Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England **Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pete ...

across both of Oxford's innings'. In addition to playing cricket, Gregory also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the British Army football team against the England national amateur football team. Gregory served in the First World War with the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

during the early days of the war and was killed in action at

Polygon Wood In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

near Zonnebeke on 27 October 1914, that same day that

Prince Maurice of Battenberg Prince Maurice of Battenberg , (Maurice Victor Donald; 3 October 1891 – 27 October 1914) was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, and the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. He was known ...

, also a member of the 1st Battalion and a grandson of Queen Victoria, was killed. His body was never recovered, but he was commemorated on the

Menin Gate Memorial The Menin Gate ( nl, Menenpoort), officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves ar ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, John 1887 births 1914 deaths Cricketers from Sutton-in-Ashfield King's Royal Rifle Corps soldiers English cricketers Hampshire cricketers British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I