Logie Colin Leggatt (24 September 1894 – 31 July 1917) was an English sportsman and cricketer who was killed during the First World War.

Life

Leggatt was born on 24 September 1894 at St John's Hill,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. Leggatt was a successful schoolboy cricketer in a strong Eton side, and scored 74 against

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 ...

in 1913. Going up to Cambridge in 1914 he made some big scores in Trial Matches but was unable to establish himself in the eleven. He played in a single first-class match for Cambridge, against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and was dismissed by England internationals in each innings:

Wilfred Rhodes Wilfred Rhodes (29 October 1877 – 8 July 1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman t ...

for 3 in the first and

Major Booth Major William Booth (10 December 1886 – 1 July 1916) was a cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1908 and 1914, a season in which he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Note that "Major" was a given n ...

for 6 in the second. He was a skilled

Eton Wall Game The Eton wall game is a game that originated at and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long ("The Furrow") next to a slightly curved brick wall ("The Wall") erected in 1717. It is one ...

player. During a St Andrew's Day match in 1907, he scored a goal for College against the Oppidans, an extraordinarily difficult feat. However, an Oppidan player claimed he had touched the ball before the goal was given, which according to the rule denies the goal. Leggatt honourably trusted the words of his opponent more than what he thought he had seen, and did not claim the goal. Since 1909 no goal has been scored in the Wall Game on St Andrew's Day - a handful have been scored in other matches. Leggatt was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

, and was killed by a sniper's bullet through the heart at Pilckem Ridge, Belgium on 31 July 1917, the opening day of the

Battle of Passchendale The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

. His love for Eton was portrayed in a letter he sent to his parents, bequeathing the £50 that he possessed to the College 'not that it will go very far'. He was wearing a College Wall scarf, in the colours purple and white, at the moment that he was killed. He is buried at Artillery Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, where the epitaph on his gravestone reads "FLOREAT ETONA". Logie's great-nephew

George Leggatt George Andrew Midsomer Leggatt, Lord Leggatt, (born 12 November 1957) is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court of law in the United Kingdom. Education Leggatt's father is the former Lord Justice of Appeal S ...

was also a distinguished King's Scholar at Eton and Keeper of the Wall. His aunt, Muriel Annie Thompson, served with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry FANY in France from 1915 to 1918. She was awarded the British Military Medal, the Belgian Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold II and the French Croix de Guerre. She received the latter from Géneral de la Guiche in St Omer on 31 July 1918, writing in her diary of her grief that it was on the anniversary of Logie's death. (Muriel Thompson diary, FANY archives, London)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leggatt, Logie 1894 births 1917 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Cambridge University cricketers Coldstream Guards officers Burials at Artillery Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I British people in colonial India