Percy Sydney Twentyman-Jones (13 September 1876 – 8 March 1954) was a South African jurist and sportsman who played international

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 ...

in one

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

in 1902, and international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in three Tests in 1896. After his sporting career, he became a judge.

Early life and education

Twentyman-Jones was born in

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhobhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the ...

, the fourth of the six children of Alfred George Twentyman Jones, a merchant, and his wife Eliza Arderne. The family later moved to

Muizenberg Muizenberg ( , Dutch for 'mice mountain') is a beach-side town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. It is considered to be the main surfing spo ...

where Alfred died on 8 July 1885, leaving his wife and six minor children. Twentyman-Jones received his education at the

Diocesan College The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established o ...

where he took the BA degree of the

University of the Cape of Good Hope The University of the Cape of Good Hope (), renamed the University of South Africa in 1916, was created when the Molteno government passed Act 16 of 1873 in the Cape of Good Hope Parliament. Modelled on the University of London The Un ...

in 1896. He then privately studied for a

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree and after passing his examination, he was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in August 1898.

Cricket career

Twentyman-Jones played for

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 ...

from 1898 to 1905 as a right-handed batsman. He scored 33 and 50 (out of totals of just 84 and 80) against the touring

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

on a bad pitch and was picked for the third Test match at

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

immediately afterwards. But he was dismissed without scoring in both innings.

Rugby union career

Twentyman-Jones was only fifteen when he played first team rugby for

Bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, and he played for the College and Old Diocesans from 1890 to 1898, after which he joined Villagers. He played provincial rugby union for

, mainly as a wing, but also at centre and was a member of the Western Province team that won the

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 ...

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

and

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

. He played in three international matches for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, all part of the 1896 British Isles tour of South Africa. Twentyman-Jones scored his first and only international try in the Third Test at Kimberley, though the South Africans lost the game 3–9. His final international was the Final Test of the tour, which saw the very first South African international victory, beating the tourists 5–0. After his active playing days, he was a selector for the Springbok sides of 1910 and also refereed several major matches at

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region * Newlands, Western Australia, a town in the Shire of Donnybrook–Balingup Ireland * Newlands Cross, Dublin, named after the former Newlands ...

. He was president of the Western Province Rugby Football Union from 1929 to 1939, and a member of the South African Rugby Football Board.

Test history

Legal career

As a member of the bar, Twentyman-Jones practiced in Cape Town and built up a good reputation and was particularly strong in criminal law. He became

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1920 and in July 1926 he was appointed a

puisne Puisne (; from Old French ''puisné'', modern ''puîné'', "later born, younger" (and thence, "inferior") from late Latin ''post-'', "after", and ''natus'', "born") is a legal term of art used mainly in British English meaning "inferior in rank". ...

judge on the bench of the

Cape Provincial Division The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the ...

of the Supreme Court. In January 1946 he became Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division but retired the same year on reaching the age of seventy. He co-authored with H. O. Buckle the well-known legal textbook ''The Civil Practice of the Magistrate's Courts in South Africa'' and also authored several other books, including one on The Cape liquor laws.

Personal life

Twentyman-Jones was married twice. In 1901 he married Martha Bartolda (Madge) Vos and a son and a daughter were born from this marriage. After her death in 1934, he married Gwynneth Constance Dorothy Wilkinson (née Jeffreys) in 1935. His daughter passed his legal and other papers to the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

Library in 1976: they include photographs of South African cricket teams from the 1880s and later.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twentyman-Jones, Percy 1876 births 1954 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Western Province cricketers South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union wings South African judges South African Queen's Counsel Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town Villager FC players Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union players from the Western Cape