Harold Godfrey Bache (20 April 1889 – 15 February 1916) was an English cricketer. He played 20 first-class matches between 1907 and 1910, 17 of them for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He also played three times 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 ...

, but was not awarded a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

to a high level, playing for Corinthian and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and winning an England Amateur

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

.Deaths in the war. ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' 1917 Born in Churchill,

, Bache was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, and

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...

. He made his first-class debut for Worcestershire against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

late in the 1907 season, scoring 9 in his only innings and holding three catches. The following season, he played twice for the county, but he made nine appearances in 1909 and eight in 1910. Mostly he played for Worcestershire but he turned out three times for Cambridge University. His top score of 36 was made against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

in 1910. Later in the same season against the same opposition, but this time at Worcester, he took two of his three career wickets: those of

Patsy Hendren Elias Henry "Patsy" Hendren (5 February 1889 – 4 October 1962) was an English first-class cricketer, active 1907 to 1937, who played for Middlesex and England. He also had a concurrent career as a footballer and had a long tenure with Brentfo ...

and Jack Hearne. His other wicket had been that of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

's Robert Relf in 1909. Bache joined the

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, and the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. It had many diffe ...

and reached the rank of Second Lieutenant. He was killed by a sniper near the Comines Canal,

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

, Belgium at the age of 26. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

Corinthian F.C.

Bache played for the Corinthian 43 times, scoring 95 goals, giving him the best goals per game record for the club. In one notable feat, he scored 7 in the 13–0 victory over Ipswich on New Year's Eve, 1910. He excelled whilst on the club's famous tours and in 1911, took little mercy on his Canadian and American hosts, netting 34 goals in just 18 matches.

Notes

External links

*
Wimbledon: Harold Bache
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, Harold Godfrey 1889 births 1916 deaths People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Cambridge University cricketers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players British military personnel killed in World War I Lancashire Fusiliers officers British Army personnel of World War I Corinthian F.C. players Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Cricketers from Worcestershire 20th-century English sportsmen