Ernest Augustus Fawcus (10 November 1895 – 30 June 1966) was an English

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 str ...

er. Fawcus was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

with his right-arm, although his bowling style is unknown. He was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, and educated at

Aldenham School Aldenham School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to ele ...

and would later become a

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 ...

and

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 ...

officer. He died at Halton, Buckinghamshire, on 30 June 1966.

Military career

Fawcus graduated from the

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

with the rank of second lieutenant on 26 January 1914, shortly before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He served in the war, initially in the

with the

Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution ...

. By 1917 he was a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the Fusiliers, having been promoted to that rank from second lieutenant on 26 May 1915, and was later promoted to captain on 4 January 1917. Later in January 1917, he was seconded for duty in the Royal Flying Corps, which by September 1917 he remained seconded with. By September 1917 he was given the equivalent rank of captain in the Royal Flying Corps, that of flight commander. Fawcus was awarded the Croix de Guerre, which was mentioned in dispatches in the '' London Gazette'' in 1918. On 12 December 1928, Fawcus was promoted from flight lieutenant to

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

. On 1 July 1935, Fawcus was promoted from squadron leader to

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

. On 10 January 1940, he was placed on the retired list of officers. At this time he held the rank of group captain.

Cricket

Fawcus made his debut for Buckinghamshire against the Kent Second XI in 1925. 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 Buckinghamshire from 1925 to 1928, making twenty appearances. He made his first-class debut for the

against the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1927. He made four further first-class appearances for the Royal Air Force, the last of which came against the Royal Navy in 1929. In his five first-class matches, he scored 291 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 41.57, with a high score of 115. This score, which was his only first-class century, came against on debut against the Royal Navy in 1927. With the ball, he took 8 wickets at a bowling average of 25.75, with best figures of 4/51.

References

External links

Ernest Fawcus
at

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Ernest Fawcus
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcus, Ernest 1895 births 1966 deaths Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne People educated at Aldenham School British Army personnel of World War I Royal Northumberland Fusiliers officers Royal Flying Corps officers Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Royal Air Force officers English cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers Royal Air Force cricketers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Cricketers from Newcastle upon Tyne