William Edward Colebrooke Hutchings (31 May 1879 – 8 March 1948) was an English amateur

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 who played in 24 first-class cricket matches for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

and Worcestershire County Cricket Club at the turn of the twentieth century. He served in the Army Service Corps attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War I in Egypt and on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

where he was wounded.

Early life

Hutchings was born at Southborough near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, the oldest son of Edward and Catherine Hutchings. His father was a surgeon and had been a keen cricketer.Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', p.216. Brighton: Reveille Press.William Hutchings

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2017-11-17.Hutchings, Kenneth Lotherington
Tonbridge at War. Retrieved 2017-11-17. He was educated at Tonbridge School where he played in the cricket team between 1896 and 1898, captaining the side in his final year at school. He also represented the school at rackets at

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

in 1898.Steed HE (ed) (1911) ''The register of Tonbridge School from 1826 to 1910 : also lists of exhibitioners, &c. previous to 1826 and of headmasters and second masters'', p.285. London: Rivingtons.
Available online
retrieved 2017-11-17).

Cricket career

Hutchings played in two County Championship matches for

in 1899, making his first-class cricket debut against Gloucestershire at

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 ...

in May before playing again against Nottinghamshire later the same week at Catford.William Hutchings
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-11-17. He played in three

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

matches for

Berkshire County Cricket Club Berkshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty National county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Berkshire. The team is currently a member of the National Counties Champions ...

in 1901 but did not reappear in first-class cricket until 1905. In the 1905 season Hutchings played in ten matches for Worcestershire County Cricket Club, scoring three half-centuries with a highest score of 85 runs, made against Kent at Tunbridge Wells. He played twelve times the following season, but was less successful, averaging under 20 and passing fifty only once.Lewis ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'', pp.221–223.

Military service

Hutchings volunteered in August 1915 during the First World War. He joined the Army Service Corps, initially as a Private before being commissioned as a

2nd 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 September. He served at with the Motor Transport Depot at Grove Park, London, having given his occupation as

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

when he enlisted. He spent time at the Holt Caterpillar Section at Aldershot before returning to Grove Park and attached as Road Officer of the 36th Brigade of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), responsible for organising the movement of large artillery pieces. In 1916 he was posted to the 48th Siege Artillery in Egypt before being transferred to the

in France where he served in the RGA during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

and throughout 1917 with II Corps Headquarters and with First Army, being promoted to Lieutenant in August and temporary

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 ...

in December. In January 1918 he was wounded in an artillery barrage, having previously suffered from bleeding ears which caused some deafness. He was invalided home and declared unfit for service, relinquishing his commission in July 1919.

Personal life and family

Hutchings worked for United Brewery at Abingdon-on-Thames in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and had moved to The Wheatland brewery at

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villag ...

in Shropshire by 1905. He married Winifred Fitzsimmons in 1909. His three brothers all went to Tonbridge and played in the cricket XI, with Frederick and youngest brother Kenneth both playing first-class cricket for Kent – Kenneth also playing in seven

Test matches 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) ...

for England. All four brothers served in the First World War, Kenneth being killed in action in 1916 and the others all injured. He died at The Mount in Prees near Whitchurch in Shropshire in 1948 aged 68.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchings, William 1879 births 1948 deaths People educated at Tonbridge School English cricketers Kent cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Berkshire cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Service Corps officers Royal Garrison Artillery officers People from Southborough, Kent Cricketers from Kent