William Greive (1 March 1888 – 17 July 1916) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

er and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldier. Greive was born at Howden Farm in Selkirkshire in March 1888 to James Greive, a farmer, and his wife Margaret. He was educated at

Selkirk High School Selkirk High School is a high school in Selkirk, Scotland, which serves the town and its surrounding area including the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys and the villages of Midlem and Lilliesleaf. The school's motto is 'Trusty and Leal', taken from ...

. Greive was well known in

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obs ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

region, playing for Selkirk Cricket Club. Considered one of the strongest cricketers in the Scottish Borders, he was selected to play in a

first-class match 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

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1910. He batted twice in the match and was dismissed for scores of 6 and 0 by William Harrington and

Gus Kelly Gustavus William Francis Blake Kelly (2 April 1877 – 16 August 1951) was an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler, he played 18 times for the Ireland cricket team between 1895 and 1914 including nine first-cla ...

respectively. As a bowler he bowled 21 wicket-less overs. Greive served in the First World War as a lance corporal in the

Lothians and Border Horse The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Had ...

. He was wounded in action at Siege Farm near Kemmel on 17 July 1916, when a German shell stuck the observers' building which he was in and subsequently set it alight. He was recovered from the burning building, but succumbed to his wounds shortly after. He was buried in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery. Both of his brothers, John and

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

, played first-class cricket; Walter was killed in action in 1917, while John survived the war and later became president of the Scottish Cricket Union.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greive, William 1888 births 1916 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Cricketers from Selkirk, Scottish Borders Lothians and Border Horse soldiers People educated at Selkirk High School Scottish cricketers