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Louis Joseph Tancred (7 October 1876 – 28 July 1934) 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 14
Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...
from 1902 to 1913, including three as captain. Born into a cricketing family in
Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...
,
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 ...
, Tancred attended St Aidan's College,
Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...
where, along with his brothers
Bernard Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
and
Vincent Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...
, he began to show cricketing prowess. He made his first-class debut 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, ...
against
Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...
on 24 March 1897, scoring 40 and 15. The next season, Tancred starred in the
Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...
, scoring 120 against
Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
and averaging 36.12 for the season, placing him second in the batting averages. His flourishing cricketing career was waylaid by the outbreak of the
Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...
. Tancred served as a trooper with the Western Province Mounted Rifles and awarded the Queen's Medal for bravery. While still serving in the war, Tancred was named in South Africa's touring team to
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 1901 and, after being excused from active service, Tancred joined his teammates on the boat to England. In England he played 16 first-class matches, scoring 591 runs at 21 but failed to play a Test. Tancred eventually made his Test debut against
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
on 11 October 1902 at Johannesburg, scoring 97 and 24. His 97 was the highest score by a South African on Test debut until Andrew Hudson’s 163 against the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
in 1992. Following the series against Australia, Tancred was chosen in the 1904 South African touring side to England. While there he heard of the suicide of his brother Vincent, who had reportedly been depressed over his non-selection in the team. Tancred went into seclusion for a few days before returning to the South African side to post some large scores late in the tour, including 250 against
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. During the 1904/05 South African season, Tancred became the first player to score 1000 runs in Currie Cup cricket and cemented himself as one of the leading players in the country. The next season, in the First Test at Old Wanderers at
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, he was a member of the first South African team to defeat England in a Test. In 1907 he was ill, missed the Currie Cup and initially ruled himself out of that year's tour of England but, as one of South Africa's top batsmen, he was selected anyway. He made a pair in his only Test of the tour. In 1912 Tancred played in the Triangular Tournament between England, Australia and South Africa, including three matches as captain in the absence of the injured Frank Mitchell. Tancred averaged only 20.29 during the tour and South Africa lost all three matches he captained. He played his final Test the next season, against England at Johannesburg, making 13 and 20 and finishing with 530 Test runs at an average of 21.20. A dour opening batsman throughout most of his career, ''
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'' wrote “a feature of his batting is a peculiar crouch … (which is) … anything but graceful” and that Tancred was not a good bowler and “only an average field.” While playing cricket, Tancred worked as the secretary for a range of sporting and social clubs, while anticipating a lucrative post-cricket job as promised by the wealthy businessmen who financed South African cricket in the early years of the twentieth century. This job did not eventuate and Tancred became despondent, more so in 1913 when he was forced to petition for insolvency after endorsing the promissory notes of a fellow cricketer, Frank Dickenson, who promptly disappeared. Upon the outbreak of
World War I 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 ...
, Tancred enlisted in the Natal Light Horse but was discharged as being unfit for active service in 1915. His marriage to Mary Chawick later that year produced two children and following a few post War matches Tancred retired from first-class cricket in 1920. It is believed that Tancred became depressed as he struggled to live life out of the limelight that surrounded his cricketing career. His disillusionment was such that Tancred strongly advised his son Louis Jnr not to embark on a career in sport. Louis Jnr instead joined the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
and, while working as a flight instructor, was killed aged 34 in a plane crash at the
Isle of Axholme The Isle of Axholme is a geographical area in England: a part of North Lincolnshire that adjoins South Yorkshire. It is located between the towns of Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, both of which are in the traditional West Riding of Lindsey, and D ...
, Lincolnshire. Tancred died in
Parktown Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parkt ...
,
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, ...
.


References

* Hall, B. & Schulze, H. (2000) "The Cricketing Brothers Tancred, Part 2", ''The Cricket Statistician'', No. 112. Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, Cardiff.
"The Original Jack Russell"
''Cricinfo'', 7 October 2003. Accessed 2 June 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tancred, Louis 1876 births 1934 deaths Sportspeople from Port Elizabeth South Africa Test cricketers London County cricketers Gauteng cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers South Africa Test cricket captains