Sydney Thomas Askham (9 September 1896 – 21 August 1916) was an English cricketer who played for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in 1914. Born in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

, he attended

Wellingborough School Wellingborough School is a co-educational day independent school in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. It was established in 1595 and is one of the oldest schools in the country. The school today consists of a Prep school ...

where he was, according to ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'', "an exceptional boy cricketer who met with astonishing success as a bowler and is a fine batsman too".Radd, p.15. Askham appeared in five first-class matches as a right arm

fast medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler who was a righthanded

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 took two wickets with a best performance of two for 68 and scored 83 runs with a highest score of 28

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

.Thomas Askham at CricketArchive
/ref> Askham joined the Suffolk Regiment in October 1915 instead of taking up a scholarship at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 9th Battalion,Casualty details: Askham, Sydney Thomas
Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was sent to the Western Front in 1916 where he was involved in the Battle of the Somme. On 21 August, he was in action near

Mailly-Maillet Mailly-Maillet () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated on the D919 road, about northeast of Abbeville. History It is close to the area of the Battle of the Somme. There ...

in the

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sector and was killed while leading his men in a frontal attack on the German lines. Aged just 19, he was the youngest first-class cricketer to be killed in the war.

Notes

Sources

* Andrew Radd, ''100 Greats – Northamptonshire County Cricket Club'', Tempus, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Askham, Tommy 1896 births Sportspeople from Wellingborough 1916 deaths English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme Suffolk Regiment officers Military personnel from Northamptonshire