Archer Windsor-Clive (6 November 1890 – 25 August 1914) was an English first-class

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. Windsor-Clive 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 ...

for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

between 1910 and 1912. He served in the

First World War 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 ...

with the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

and was killed in action on 25 August 1914. He was the first first-class cricketer to be killed in the war.

Life and military career

Windsor-Clive was born at Hewell Grange near

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth (27 August 1857 – 6 March 1923), known as the 14th Baron Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. He was the founding Presi ...

, and his wife, Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, where he played for the college cricket team from 1907 to 1909. From there he went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. While studying at Cambridge he made his debut in

for

against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Fenner's Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground. History Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orc ...

in 1910. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge until 1912, making seven appearances. In his seven matches, he scored 108 runs with a high score of 22, while with his left-arm medium pace bowling he took 3 wickets with best figures of 3 for 56. In addition to playing first-class cricket, Windsor-Clive played

minor counties cricket 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 ...

for

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

between 1908 and 1912, making four appearances 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 was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

. In December 1913, he was transferred from the Territorial Force to the

, at which point he was promoted to the rank of

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 ...

. Shortly after the beginning of hostilities in the

, Windsor-Clive left for France with the 3rd Battalion aboard the on 12 August 1914. The battalion soon reached

Harveng Harveng (; ) is a sub-municipality of the city of Mons located in the province of Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium. It was a separate municipality until 1977. On 1 January 1977, it was merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transaction ...

in Belgium, where they set up defensive positions. The following day the allied

Retreat from Mons The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

began. The Coldstream Guards fell back to

Landrecies Landrecies (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. History In 1543, Landrecies was besieged by English and Imperial forces, who were repulsed by the French defenders. In 1794, it was besieged by Dutch forces, who capt ...

, where they defended the north-western sector of the town. At some point between 19:00 and 20:00 on 25 August 1914, Windsor-Clive was killed by a German shell, which also killed his

batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

, Frank Lethbridge. He was the first first-class cricketer to fall in the war. His body was recovered and he was buried at the Landrecies Communal Cemetery. His brother-in-law, Hugo Charteris, was also a first-class cricketer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor-Clive, Archer 1890 births 1914 deaths Cricketers from Redditch People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Coldstream Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Younger sons of earls Military personnel from Worcestershire Territorial Force officers Burials in Hauts-de-France 20th-century English sportsmen