Alfred Soames DSO (16 September 1862 – 13 October 1915) was an English-born South African

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket''. Besides ...

and soldier. Soames was born in

Mildenhall, Wiltshire Mildenhall ( ) is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the River Kennet, Kennet Valley in Wiltshire, England, immediately east of the market town of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough. The village is about east of the cent ...

, where his father was rector. He was educated at

Haileybury School Haileybury is a co-educational Public school (United Kingdom), public school (fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols ...

in England. He served as a

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 ...

with the Buffs in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, and was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

in 1902 for his service. Soames umpired 15 first-class matches in South Africa between 1891 and 1902, including two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

in 1899 and 1902 and three

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

finals. He gave the English batsman

Pelham Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport ...

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

in response to a

stumping Stumped is a method of Dismissal (cricket), dismissing a batter (cricket), batter in cricket, in which the wicket-keeper put down the wicket, puts down the wicket of the Glossary_of_cricket_terms#S, striker while the striker is out of their Bat ...

appeal in the 1899 Test, and later admitted it was a mistake that had probably cost South Africa victory. Soames served as a

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 ...

with the Buffs in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. He died in action in October 1915 at

Hulluch Hulluch () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France about north of Lens. Population See also *Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department The following is a list of the 887 communes of the Pas ...

in northern France and is buried at the Loos memorial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soames, Alfred 1862 births 1915 deaths People from Marlborough, Wiltshire People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College South African Test cricket umpires Companions of the Distinguished Service Order British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British military personnel killed in World War I Cricketers from Wiltshire Immigrants to former British colonies and protectorates in Africa Military personnel from Wiltshire