Lancelot Grove
Personal information
Full name
Lancelot Townley Grove
Born22 August 1905
Satara, Bombay Presidency,
British India
Died9 February 1943(1943-02-09) (aged 37)
Gander, Newfoundland
BattingUnknown
BowlingUnknown
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 4
Runs scored 332
Batting average 47.42
100s/50s 1/2
Top score 106
Balls bowled 42
Wickets 1
Bowling average 22.00
5 wickets in innings –
10 wickets in match –
Best bowling 1/11
Catches/stumpings 1/–
Source: Cricinfo, 3 March 2019

Lancelot Townley Grove (22 August 1905 – 9 February 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Grove was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1925. He later played first-class cricket for the British Army and the Combined Services cricket team in the last 1930s. He served in the Second World War, during which he was killed in a plane crash in 1943.

Life and military career

Grove was born at Satara in what was then British India to Colonel Percy Lynes Grove and his wife, Lorina.[1] He was educated in England at Charterhouse School, before deciding on a career in the military and attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] He graduated from Woolwich in September 1925, and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant.[2] He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in September 1927.[3] He had to wait nearly a decade for his not promotion, which came in September 1936 when he was promoted to captain.[4]

The following year he made his debut in first-class cricket for the British Army cricket team against the University of Oxford at Oxford,[5] narrowly missing out on a century on debut when he was dismissed for 96 by Richard West in the Army's first-innings.[1] He made a further appearance for the Army in 1937,[5] against Cambridge University,[5] with Grove scoring 75 in the Army's first-innings.[1] He also played a first-class match in 1937 for a Combined Services cricket team against the touring New Zealanders at Portsmouth.[5] Grove made a final first-class appearance for the Army against Cambridge University in 1938,[5] making 106 in the Army's first-innings.[1] In four first-class matches, Grove scored 332 runs at an average of 47.42.[6]

He made an adjutant to Captain G. R. McMeekan in February 1938.[7] He served with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War, with him being promoted to the rank of major in September 1942.[8] Grove died when the Liberator he was aboard ran out of fuel during blizzard conditions and crashed at Gander in Newfoundland on 9 February 1943.[9][1] He was buried at the Gander War Cemetery.[1] Grove was survived by his wife, Joan Blanche Hill, and their son David, who would later serve as a major general in the British Army.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McCrery, Nigel (2011). The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two. Vol. 2nd volume. Pen and Sword. p. 158-9. ISBN 978-1526706980.
  2. ↑ "No. 33081". The London Gazette. 4 September 1925. p. 5836.
  3. ↑ "No. 33308". The London Gazette. 2 September 1927. p. 5671.
  4. ↑ "No. 34320". The London Gazette. 4 September 1936. p. 5723.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "First-Class Matches played by Lancelot Grove". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "Player profile: Lancelot Grove". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  7. ↑ "No. 34499". The London Gazette. 5 April 1938. p. 2247.
  8. ↑ "No. 35690". The London Gazette. 1 September 1942. p. 3855.
  9. ↑ Tibbo, Frank. "Liberator AL591 Crash". Gander Airport Historical Society. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "Major-General David Anthony Grove, OBE, DL (1941–2005)". The Daily Telegraph. 7 January 2006.
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