Admiral Cecil Spencer Hickley, (22 January 1865 – 1 May 1941) was a career

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officer who finished as a vice-admiral, promoted to full admiral in retirement in 1925. He also played first-class

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 st ...

for Western Province in

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in 1890/91 and for

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in 1898 and 1899. He was born at Ashcott,

and died in

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Naval career

Hickley was appointed as a lieutenant to the battleship in 1895. He was promoted to the rank of

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in 1899, and was in command of the destroyer in the

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

Instructional

Flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish language, Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (Naval fleet, fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a Tactical formation, formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually ...

. In February 1900 he transferred with the crew to , which took the place in the Flotilla. He was posted to shore service at Chatham Naval barracks in August 1902. There was a further promotion from commander to

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

in 1904. He took charge of the cruiser in 1906 and was listed as captain in the Royal Navy List for 1908. In 1916, he is recorded in the

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as having been awarded the membership of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) and was promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often regar ...

. As a rear-admiral, he was the senior naval officer in charge at the port of

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in 1918. In 1920, he was further promoted from rear-admiral to vice-admiral and, the next day, placed on the retired list. Later that same year, in the

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, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). His final promotion within the retired list was to become a full admiral in 1925.

Cricket career

Hickley was a right-handed middle-order batsman who had a long career in amateur cricket, though very little of it was at first-class level. He played in two matches for Western Province in the 1890/91 season and in one of them, against Eastern Province, he made 45, which was the highest score of his first-class career. He played in minor matches for both Western Province and

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

against Walter Read's cricket team the following season, and against a similar touring side in India, led by

Lord Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near ...

in 1893–94. His only other first-class cricket came in five matches in 1898 and 1899 for Somerset, when he was not successful, his highest score and his only voyages into double figures as a batsman in county cricket being scores of 32 and 13 in the game against

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in 1898. He played less important cricket for amateur teams such as the "Gentlemen of the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

" across the early years of the 20th century, and as late as 1930, when he was 65, he played for MCC against the Lords and Commons cricket team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickley, Cecil 1865 births 1941 deaths English cricketers Western Province cricketers Somerset cricketers English admirals Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy admirals of World War I