Reginald Harry Myburgh Hands (26 July 1888 – 20 April 1918) was a South African cricketer who played in one
Test match 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)
...
in February 1914. He died in France as a result of injuries sustained on the
Western Front during 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 ...
.
His death was an indirect cause of the tradition of the
two-minute silence
In the United Kingdom and other countries within the Commonwealth, a two-minute silence is observed as part of Remembrance Day to remember those who lost their lives in conflict. Held each year at 11:00 am on 11 November, the silence coinc ...
, instigated by his father
Sir Harry Hands when Mayor of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
.
Biography
Reginald Hands was born in
Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa, son of
Sir Harry Hands KBE and Lady Aletta Hands (née Myburgh)
OBE and elder brother of
Philip Hands and
Kenneth Hands
Kenneth Charles Myburgh Hands (22 March 1892 – 18 November 1954) was a South African cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1912 to 1931.
Kenneth Hands was born in Stellenbosch, Cape Colony in 1892, son of Sir Harry Hands KBE and ...
. He was educated at
Diocesan College
The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established on ...
,
Rondebosch
Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town.
History
Four years after the first Dutch s ...
from 1899 to 1907. He won the Jamieson prize for the best all-round sportsman at the college in 1906.
He went up to
University College, Oxford
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...
, in 1907 as a
Rhodes Scholar, earned a degree in
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
and became a lawyer, being
called to the bar (
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
) in May 1911.
Hands played as 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 str ...
er in one
Test match 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)
...
in February 1914. Not surprisingly given the period, his entire
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...
career lasted just 15 months, in which time he played a few matches for
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 ...
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 ...
(1912–13) and against the visiting the
MCC led by
J. W. H. T. Douglas (1913–14). During that English tour, Hands made his only Test appearance in the fifth match of the series, played at
Port Elizabeth. A useful right-handed
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...
, he scored 0 and 7 in a match won convincingly by the visitors by 10 wickets. He was dismissed
stumped
Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping creas ...
in both innings.
[.] No mention of his representative appearance was made in his ''
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 ...
'' obituary, nor that his brother,
P. A. M. Hands, also played in that same Test.
Reginald Hands was also a talented
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
forward and played two international matches for
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 1910 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 ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, as well as playing for
Blackheath Blackheath may refer to:
Places England
*Blackheath, London, England
** Blackheath railway station
**Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England
*Blackheath, Surrey, England
** Hundred of Blackh ...
and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. He (along with his two brothers, also Rhodes Scholars) had previously won his rugby blues at Oxford University in 1908 and 1909.
At the outbreak of the
first Great War he joined the
Imperial Light Horse
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas ...
and went with them to German South West Africa (now
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
). He transferred to SA Heavy Artillery and was posted to the
Western Front, where he was seconded to the
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...
. He was promoted to captain and became second in command of his battery. During the Germans' final large offensive, begun on 21 March 1918, he was gassed, and succumbed to the effects of gas poisoning while off-duty and seemingly safe behind Allied lines,
dying aged just 29 on 20 April 1918 at
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...
, France.
At the time of his death, he was serving in the 73rd Siege Battery under Major Walter Brydon, who died about a week earlier.
His death was one of the indirect causes of the tradition of the
two-minute silence
In the United Kingdom and other countries within the Commonwealth, a two-minute silence is observed as part of Remembrance Day to remember those who lost their lives in conflict. Held each year at 11:00 am on 11 November, the silence coinc ...
, instigated by his father when Mayor of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
.
Reginald Hands was awarded the
1914–15 Star, the
British War Medal
The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...
and the
Victory Medal for his military service. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
rave VII. A. 39
At his old school, every year a boy is awarded the Hands Memorial Essay Prize.
See also
*
List of international rugby union players killed in action during the First World War
References
Sources
* ''World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996)
* ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877–1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995)
* ''Who's Who of Cricketers'' by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn & Peter Wynne-Thomas published by Hamlyn (1993)
* www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players
* ''The Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals'' by Raymond Maule published by Breedon Books Publishing Company Ltd. (1992)
*
Taylor, Anton, "Honouring a Century of Silence", ''The Old Diocesan'', Vol.1, (March 2018), pp. 58–60.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Reginald
1888 births
1918 deaths
South African military personnel killed in World War I
South Africa Test cricketers
South African cricketers
Western Province cricketers
English rugby union players
England international rugby union players
South African rugby union players
Cricketers from Cape Town
Members of the Middle Temple
Alumni of University College, Oxford
South African Rhodes Scholars