Percy d'Aguilar Banks (9 May 1885 – 26 April 1915) played 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 ...

for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1903 and 1908. He was born at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and died 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 ...

fighting at the

Ypres salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Banks was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

and as a schoolboy cricketer he made 103 in the annual Cheltenham match against

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1902. A right-handed batsman, he appeared in a single match for Somerset in 1903 and then returned for six more games in 1908, batting mostly in the middle- or lower order but on occasion opening the batting. He made some runs in most games, but his highest score in first-class cricket was only 30, made 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 ...

in his last first-class game. Graduating from the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

, in 1903, Banks became an officer in the Duke of Edinburgh's Wiltshire Regiment. In 1906, he was promoted from second lieutenant to full lieutenant and was attached to the Queen's Own Corps of Guides, one of the British India regiments. He was further promoted to be captain in 1912. At the time of his death in the First World War, he was attached to the

57th Wilde's Rifles The 4th Punjab Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army formed on 18 April 1849 by Captain GG Denniss at Lahore as part of the Transfrontier Brigade, which became the Punjab Irregular Force (PIF) in 1851. The regiment ...

, an Indian Army regiment that was transferred back to Europe to join the fighting in and around Ypres. During the war, he had been

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. His death is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Percy 1885 births 1915 deaths English cricketers Indian Army personnel killed in World War I British Indian Army officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Cricketers from Bath, Somerset Somerset cricketers Wiltshire Regiment officers Corps of Guides (India) officers Military personnel from Bath, Somerset 20th-century British Army personnel People educated at Cheltenham College