Major-General Sir Lovick Bransby Friend (25 April 1856 – 19 November 1944) was a

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 ...

major general and amateur sportsman. He served with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and was Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, during the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

. As a sportsman, Friend played in goal for the

in the 1878 FA Cup Final and as a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

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

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

Early life

Friend was born at Halfway Street near

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in 1856, the fourth son of wealthy merchant Frederick Friend and his wife Fanny (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Tyrell).Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 187–188.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) He grew up at the family home, Woollett Hall at North Cray, and was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

.Lewis P. (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', pp. 176–179. Brighton: Reveille Press. Warsop K (2004) ''The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs'', pp. 79–80. Tony Brown, Soccer Data. He was a mathematics scholar at Cheltenham and was awarded the Dobson Scholarship and the Cheltonian Society Prize in 1872, his final year at school.Hunter AA (1911) ''Cheltenham College Register, 1841–1910'', p. 324
Available online
Retrieved 2022-06-18.) Although his '' Times'' obituary said that he was "proficient in all games, at cricket being exceptionally good",Maj-Gen Sir Lovick Friend, obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 21 November 1944, p. 6.
Available online
at The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2022-06-18.) he did not play for the College XI, despite showing what his '' Wisden'' obituary described as "good batting form".Friend, Major-General The Right Hon. Lovick Bransby
Obituaries in 1944, ''

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 ...

'', 1945. Retrieved 2017-10-22.

Military career

Friend won a prize for artillery whilst at the Woolwich and was commissioned into the

in 1874 as a Temporary Lieutenant.Friend, Sir Lovick Bransby
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 2019-11-10
Archived version
archived 2009-10-09. His commission was made permanent in 1876 and he spent time stationed in Ireland and Hong Kong before being appointed as an instructor at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, in 1883 and promoted to

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

in 1885. In 1885 he was made Secretary of the Royal Engineers Experimental Committee and served in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

, training the West Indies Fortress Company, before being promoted to

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 ...

in 1893. He was posted to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 1897 and served as a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

in charge of organising supplies during the Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan in 1898 before being attached to the Intelligence Department before the

Battle of Omdurman The Battle of Omdurman, also known as the Battle of Karary, was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert ...

where he was an aide to Sir Herbert Kitchener, the commander in chief of British forces. He 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 ...

after the battle and received the Khedive's Sudan Medal and Queen's Sudan Medal as well as the Order of Osmanieh, fourth class. He was Director of Works and Stores for the

Egyptian Army The Egyptian Army (), officially the Egyptian Ground Forces (), is the land warfare branch (and largest service branch) of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Until the declaration of the Republic and the abolishment of the monarchy on 18 June 1953, it w ...

from 1900 to 1904, during which he received the Order of Medjidie, third class. He subsequently held a variety of roles both in Egypt and in Britain in the years before 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 ...

. Promotions continued and Friend rose to the rank of major general in 1912. He was appointed Major-General in charge of Administration at Irish Command in 1912 and succeeded Sir Arthur Paget as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, in 1914 the year the

began in Europe. He became a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

in January 1916. Friend was in command in Ireland when the

broke out in 1916. In the lead up to the Rising he was in command during the capture of the arms ship ''Aud'' and the arrest of

Roger Casement Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the Britis ...

on 21 April, but went on leave to England after the arrest, apparently "satisfied that the danger had passed".Lewis, ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'', p. 177. When the Rising began on 24 April, Friend returned to Dublin and he received the surrender of the rebel leaders. Although ''The Times'' wrote that he had "firmly handled" the Rising, his decision to leave Ireland in advance was seen as an error of judgement and he was replaced by Sir John Maxwell, although he was not criticised in the Royal Commission which examined the conduct of British officials leading up to the Rising. From 1916 until his retirement in 1921 Friend was President of the Claims Commission of the British Armies in France. He was awarded the Ordre de Léopold,

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

and

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

for his role and in 1919 was made KBE and mentioned in despatches for a fourth time in his career, his organisational skills being praised by Sir Douglas Haig. He was placed on retirement pay in June 1920 after 47 years of military service, although he continued to serve as Chairman of the French Committee of the Disposal Board.

Sporting career

Friend played

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 ...

for the

and then regularly for the Royal Engineers Cricket Club after he was commissioned in 1873. He was one of the club's most prolific batsmen in its history and served as its secretary for many years.Lovick Friend
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-10-22. He was described in his '' Wisden'' obituary as a "good

", and scored 10 centuries for the RE, his first in 1877 and five during the 1885 season alone. In 1885 he made 198 runs against a Band of Brothers side which included Lord Harris, a key administrator and the captain of

at the time. Friend made his

debut for Kent during the following season, playing against

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, ...

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

. In total Friend played six first-class matches, scoring 189 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 17.18 runs per innings.Lovick Friend

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 2017-10-22. He played twice more for Kent in 1887 as well as appearing for I Zingari against the Gentlemen of England the same year. In 1888 he played for the Gentlemen of England against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, making his highest first-class score of 72 runs, and his final first-class appearance was for MCC against Kent at

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 1891. He played Army and club cricket for a wide variety of sides, making his highest score of 208 for United Services Portsmouth in 1897, the last year he played for the RE. Whilst serving in the Far East he played for Hong Kong Cricket Club in 1880. He played for South Northumberland and

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

between 1887 and 1891 whilst stationed at

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and for sides such as Free Foresters and United Services. Friend played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for

. Described as "always cool and a sure kick", he played in goal for the team in the 1878 FA Cup Final.Bancroft JB (2021) ''The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army helped establish the world's first football tournament'', pp. 120–122. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.

Later life

Friend spent time during his retirement in South Africa and Australia. He died in a nursing home at West Kensington in London on 19 November 1944 aged 88.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Lovick 1856 births 1944 deaths British Army personnel of the Mahdist War Military personnel from the London Borough of Bexley Royal Engineers officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People from Sidcup Cricketers from the London Borough of Bexley Kent cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1864 to 1889 British Army major generals Commanders-in-Chief, Ireland English men's footballers Royal Engineers A.F.C. players I Zingari cricketers English cricketers Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Gentlemen of England cricketers Men's association football players not categorized by position People of the Easter Rising British Army generals of World War I Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People educated at Cheltenham College