Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Charles Edwin Awdry TD, JP (29 April 1906 – 16 November 1965) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer, as well as a Justice of the Peace. The son of Charles Selwyn Awdry and Constance Lilias, he was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

Cricket

Awdry's batting style is unknown, but it is known that he was a right-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also i ...

bowler. In 1924, he made his debut for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County 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 counties (previously ca ...

. He played

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for Wiltshire from 1924 to 1939, making 93 appearances and taking nearly 300 wickets and scoring over 1,500 runs. He also 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

on two occasions. The first of these was for the

West of England The West of England is an area of South West England around the River Avon. The area has a local government combined authority that consists of the unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. The comb ...

against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common History of New Zealand, history, Culture of New Zealand, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citizens of Ne ...

at the County Ground, Exeter in 1927. He took the wicket of

Herb McGirr Herbert Mendelson McGirr (5 November 1891 – 14 April 1964) was a New Zealand cricketer who played in two Test cricket, Test matches in 1930. He was born at Wellington in 1891. His father William McGirr played 14 matches for Wellington as an o ...

in this match, while in the West's only batting innings, he was dismissed for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

by Bill Merritt. His second first-class appearance came for the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1937. He was dismissed in the Minor Counties first-innings for 8 runs by

David Macindoe Major David Henry Macindoe (1 September 1917 – 3 March 1986) was an English cricketer. Macindoe was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium-fast. His bowling was characterised with a long run-up and a high arm action. The son ...

, while in their second-innings he was dismissed by the same bowler for 8 runs. With the ball, he took the wickets of Eric Dixon and Alexander Singleton in the Oxford first-innings, while going wicket-less in their second. Prior to playing for the Minor Counties, he toured

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

with

Hubert Martineau Hubert Melville Martineau (24 October 1891 – 11 September 1976) was an English patron of cricket and organiser of his own team.Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1977Obituaries in 1976 He also played three first-class matches between 1931 and 1932. ...

's XI in 1932 and 1933.

Military career

While at Winchester College, Awdry was part of the Cadets there, he later entered the

Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when t ...

with the rank of 2nd lieutenant in 1928. On 8 March 1932, he was promoted from 2nd lieutenant to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, along with the

Viscount Weymouth A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is so ...

who also served in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry at the time. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 14 May 1938. Awdry would later serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the conflict, he was awarded the "

Efficiency Decoration The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the British Colonial Auxiliary Forces, Auxiliary Military Forces, ...

" in August 1944 for over twelve years in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, which formed a part of the Territorial Army. He was promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 1 June 1945. In 1956, he exceeded the age limit at which one could be part of the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, and was removed from the reserve on 1 December, retaining the rank of major. At some point he received the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer O ...

Personal life

Awdry married Ursula Marion Mordaunt, the daughter of Eustace Mordaunt and Cicely Marion Tubb, in 1933. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) high sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

in 1954, a post which his father had previously held in 1901. Awdry also worked as a justice of the peace. He died at

Bowden Hill Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about south of Chippenham and to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate. Origins of the name The spelling 'Bowdon Hil ...

on 16 November 1965.

References

External links

Charles Awdry
at

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Charles Awdry
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Awdry, Charles 1906 births 1965 deaths Cricketers from the City of Westminster People from Paddington Military personnel from the City of Westminster People educated at Winchester College English cricketers Wiltshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry officers English barristers Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century King's Counsel High sheriffs of Wiltshire West of England cricketers 20th-century English lawyers Awdry family