Charles Henry Vintcent (2 September 1866 – 28 September 1943) was a South African

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 who played in three

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 ...

from 1889 to 1892.Historical overview
South Western Districts Cricket. Retrieved 2025-06-30. Born in

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay () is a harbour town of about 170,000 people on the Garden Route of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the country's seat of parliament, Ca ...

and educated in Cape Town and then

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

, England, Charlie Vintcent, was without doubt the most versatile South African sportsman of his time. He excelled in many sport he played representing both

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

, obtaining his national colours for soccer, a sport he did much to promote on the Reef and as an athlete he was the Transvaal sprint champion in the events from the 100 yards to 440 yards for three years from 1889 to 1891, besides being competitive at both the long and high jump events. Charlie was a left-handed all-rounder who played in both tests in the first home series against England as well as the only test of the 1891/92 series against the second English touring side. He owed his original selection to his fine performance for Kimberley in the fifth match of the tour falling 13 runs short of a century and taking nine wickets in the match for one hundred and five runs off eighty nine overs. He was unable to carry this form into the Internationals and his Test record is not a true reflection of his ability. Nevertheless, he enjoyed a long career in provincial cricket which lasted some twenty seasons playing first an important role for Transvaal in the early

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 ...

fixtures, and then when he returned to the Southern Cape, he captained them in their only appearance at provincial level, by which stage he was nearly 40. Charlie Vintcent lived a long and active life, dying in 1943 at the age of 77.

Family

He married Lilian Jackson and they had three children, among them

Nevill Vintcent Nevill Vintcent OBE DFC (1902 – 29 January 1942) was a South African aviator and airline founder. He was the son of Charles Vintcent, a South African cricketer. Early life Nevill Vintcent, a South African, born in 1902, entered Osborne ...

DFC, joint founder of the airline that went on to become

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

. His elder brother,

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

with Old Carthusians in

1881 Events January * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The Chilean army ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vintcent, Charles 1866 births 1943 deaths Sportspeople from Mossel Bay South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Gauteng cricketers South African rugby union players Golden Lions players People educated at Charterhouse School Rugby union players from the Western Cape