Ralph Hamilton Crake (13 April 1882 – 26 January 1952) was a Scottish first-class cricketer and British Army officer. The son of the merchant and footballer

William Crake William Parry Crake (11 February 1852 – 1 December 1921), sometimes known as William Parry, was an English amateur footballer who won the inaugural FA Cup with the Wanderers in 1872 and played for the English XI against Scotland in the repres ...

, he was born in British India at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He was educated in England at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, where he played for the school cricket team. Having left Harrow in 1900, Crake played a single first-class cricket match for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Nottinghamshire at

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 1901. He scored 8 runs in the MCC first innings and a single run in their second innings, being dismissed on both occasions by John Gunn. After completing his education, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He graduated from that school in May 1901, and was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the King's Own Scottish Borderers. Soon after being commissioned he went to South Africa, where he saw action with the 1st battalion of his regiment in the Second Boer War. The war in South Africa ended in May 1902, and he returned home later that year, on the in December 1902. He was promoted to lieutenant in September 1905, with promotion to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

following in November 1908. He was station in Egypt in 1909, where he played minor cricket matches for the Egyptian cricket team. Crake served in the First World War, seeing action during the Mesopotamian campaign from 1915 to 1918. He gained promotion to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in May 1916, while in August of the same year he was made an acting

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

while commanding a battalion. He relinquished his acting rank in October 1916, but was once again made an acting lieutenant colonel in August 1917. Crake was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in February 1918. Following the war, he served in British India. While there, he made his second appearance in first-class cricket, after a gap of nearly twenty years, for the

Europeans cricket team The Europeans cricket team was an Indian first-class cricket team which took part in the annual Bombay tournament and Lahore tournament. The team was founded by members of the European community in Bombay who played cricket at the Bombay Gymkhan ...

against the

Parsees Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim co ...

at Bombay in the

Bombay Quadrangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

in November 1920. Batting twice during the match, he made scores of 37 in the Europeans first innings and 1 in their second innings, being dismissed on both occasions by M. B. Vatcha. Crake was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant colonel in July 1930, before being placed on the half-pay list in July 1934. He retired from active service in January 1935. Crake was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Berwickshire in April 1937. During the Second World War he assisted the Army Cadet Force at Roxburgh. Crake died at Edinburgh in January 1952. His brother, Eric, was also a first-class cricketer.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crake, Ralph 1882 births 1952 deaths Military personnel from Chennai Cricketers from Chennai People educated at Harrow School Scottish cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers King's Own Scottish Borderers officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Europeans cricketers Deputy Lieutenants of Berwickshire