Wilfred Arthur Farmer (7 October 1921 – 25 February 1975) was a Barbadian

cricketer 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 ...

who played

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 officiall ...

for

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

from 1947 to 1958. He was later Deputy Commissioner of Police in Barbados. Wilfred Farmer attended

The Lodge School The Lodge School is a co-educational government secondary school in Saint John, Barbados, established in 1745. The school has closed and reopened four times, and has been known as Codrington College, The College, The Mansion School, the Codrington ...

in Barbados. Before a back injury curtailed his bowling he was a fast bowler, but as a batsman he was a formidable hitter of sixes.

Keith A. P. Sandiford Keith Arlington Patrick Sandiford GCM (born 2 March 1936) is a Barbadian-born Canadian historian. He has been professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba since 2002. Life and career Keith Sandiford was born in Barbados and educated at Comb ...

, ''Cricket Nurseries of Colonial Barbados: The Elite Schools, 1865–1966'', University of the West Indies Press, Kingston, 1998, p. 54–55. The best of his cricket career came in two matches against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in January 1952. In the first match, captaining Barbados, he went to the crease at 101 for 1 and scored 275 in eight hours, putting on 152 with Cammie Smith for the second wicket, 111 with Conrad Hunte for the third, 198 with Gordon Proverbs for the fourth, and 60 with Cecil Williams for the fifth before he was out with the score at 621 for five. Barbados were all out for 753 at the end of the second day, and went on to win the match by an innings. In the second match, which began two days after the first one ended, he made 107, the only century in the match, and Barbados won by 223 runs. He later served as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Barbados, and also served in senior positions in the police forces of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and St Lucia. He was awarded the

Queen's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, most of whic ...

in 1963. His friendship and persuasion led the young Gary Sobers to join the Police Boys' Club and its cricket team in the early 1950s, where Sobers soon excelled and forced his way into the Barbados team. His son Stephen played for Barbados in the 1970s and became a QC.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Wilfred 1921 births 1975 deaths People educated at The Lodge School, Barbados Barbados cricketers Barbadian cricketers Colonial recipients of the Queen's Police Medal