John Symes (11 January 1879 – 23 September 1944) was a member of the gold medal winning Great Britain Olympic cricket team at the 1900 Olympic Games.

Personal life

Symes was born 11 January 1879 in Crediton, Devon. He was educated at

Queen Elizabeth's School, Crediton Queen Elizabeth's School is an academy school, with a sixth-form, in Crediton, Devon. It has 1300 students. It was formed as a comprehensive school in the early 1970s by a merger of The Shelley Secondary Modern with the Queen Elizabeth's Gr ...

and

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...

in Tiverton. He worked as a solicitor in Crediton and eventually took over his father's practice. He was also clerk to Creditor Urban District Council for more than forty years. He served in the

First World War 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 ...

in the 6th Battalion Devonshire Regiment and was awarded the OBE in 1919 for his service. He died of a heart attack while out shooting on a local farm in Crediton on 23 September 1944, he was 65

Cricket career

He was a keen cricketer and captained his local side, he also played for the Devon Dumplings. He represented the gold medal winning Great Britain cricket team at the 1900 Summer Olympics, the only time cricket has featured in the Olympics. In the only match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, he scored 15 runs in Great Britain's first innings and just one run in the second.

References

External links

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Olympic final scorecard
English cricketers English Olympic medallists 1879 births 1944 deaths Olympic cricketers for Great Britain Cricketers at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Officers of the Order of the British Empire Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics People from Crediton People educated at Blundell's School {{UK-Olympic-medalist-stub