Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Sir Francis Henry Humphrys (24 April 1879 – 28 August 1971) was a British

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 st ...

er, colonial administrator and diplomat.

Early life and cricket

Francis Henry Humphrys was born in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, at Beatrice Street,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough ...

, where his father was assistant master at

Oswestry School Oswestry School is an ancient public school (English independent day and boarding school), located in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1407 as a 'free' school, being independent of the church. This gives it the distinction of b ...

. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

, where he was captain of cricket and head of the school, and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, where he 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

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. His first-class debut came against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

in 1899. He played 3 further first-class matches in 1900, the last coming against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

. In his 4 first-class matches, he took 13 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly used ...

of 19.46, with best figures of 4/16. While at school, and later, he also played

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 ...

cricket for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Career

After graduating from Oxford in 1900, Humphrys joined the Worcestershire Regiment and served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

. Following the war he was in February 1902 seconded to the

Indian Staff Corps The Indian Staff Corps was a branch of the Indian Army during the British Raj. Separate Staff Corps were formed in 1861 for the Bengal, Madras and Bombay Armies, which were later combined into the Indian Army. They were meant to provide officers f ...

, and in October the same year he left his regiment and was transferred to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

. He was seconded to the Political Service and spent most of this part of his career in the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...

, although in 1918, towards the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he returned to Europe and served with a temporary commission in the newly formed

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. In 1919 he returned to India, first as a political agent and then, in 1921, as deputy Foreign Secretary in the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. Following the Anglo-Afghan "Treaty of Kabul" of 22 November 1921, in early 1922 Humphrys was appointed the first British Minister to the Amir of Afghanistan,

Amānullāh Khān Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1919, ...

. In November 1928 a rebellion began in

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...

and tribal forces marched on Kabul, and in early 1929 Humphrys supervised the evacuation by air of several hundred Europeans in what became known as the Kabul Airlift. In the House of Commons on 4 February the Foreign Secretary,

Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly ...

, commended both Humphrys and his wife for their 'courage and fortitude'. In the

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are prese ...

of that year Humphrys was given the additional knighthood of KCMG and Lady Humphrys was made DBE. Later in 1929 Humphrys was appointed to be High Commissioner in the

Kingdom of Iraq The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq ( ar, المملكة العراقية الهاشمية, translit=al-Mamlakah al-ʿIrāqiyyah ʾal-Hāshimyyah) was a state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdo ...

, then under British administration. Following the

Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930) The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 was a treaty of alliance between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British-Mandate-controlled administration of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq. The treaty was between the governments ...

, which Humphrys signed for the United Kingdom, on 3 October 1932 Iraq became an independent kingdom and Humphrys became the first British Ambassador to Iraq. In 1935 Humphrys retired from the diplomatic service and was appointed chairman of a Sugar Tribunal which resulted in the creation of the

British Sugar Corporation British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis. British Sugar processes all sugar beet grown in the United Kingdom, and produces about two-thir ...

, of which he was chairman from its formation from 1936 to 1949. He was also the director of several other companies and was the chairman of the

Iraq Petroleum Company The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), formerly known as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), is an oil company that had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq between 1925 and 1961. It is jointly owned by some of the worl ...

from 1941 to 1950.

Family

In 1907 Francis Humphrys married Gertrude Mary Deane, known as "Gertie", elder daughter of Sir Harold Deane, Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province. They had a son and two daughters. He died at a nursing home at

Hamstead Marshall Hamstead Marshall (also spelt Hampstead Marshall) is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village is located within the North Wessex Downs. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 census was 275. Location ...

near Newbury,

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 Ber ...

in 1971, aged ninety-two. Lady Humphrys died in 1973.

Honours

Francis Humphrys was knighted KBE in the

of 1924, awarded the additional honours of GCVO in 1928 and KCMG in 1929, and promoted GCMG in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1932.Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1932
/ref> Amānullāh Khān made him a member of the ''Nishan-i-Sardari'' (Order of the Leader), with the title of ''Sardar-i-ala'', in 1928; the

King of Iraq The king of Iraq ( ar, ملك العراق, ''Malik al-‘Irāq'') was Iraq's head of state and monarch from 1921 to 1958. He served as the head of the Iraqi monarchy—the Hashemite dynasty. The king was addressed as His Majesty (صاحب � ...

awarded him the Grand Cordon of the ''Wisam al-Rafidain'' (Order of the Two Rivers) in 1933.

Offices held

References

External links

Francis Humphrys
at

ESPNcricinfo 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 ...

Francis Humphrys
at CricketArchive
HUMPHRYS, Lt-Col Sir Francis Henry
Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 * Peter Sluglett
Humphrys, Sir Francis Henry (1879–1971)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edn, May 2006 * Sir Francis Humphrys – Distinguished career in Afghanistan and Iraq, ''The Times'', London, 1 September 1971, page 14 {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrys, Francis Henry 1879 births 1971 deaths People educated at Shrewsbury School English cricketers Wiltshire cricketers Oxford University cricketers Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Worcestershire Regiment officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Indian Army personnel of World War I British World War I pilots Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Afghanistan Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iraq Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire British Indian Army officers Indian Political Service officers Military personnel from Shropshire