Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald Thomas "Rony" Stanyforth, (30 May 1892 – 20 February 1964) was an

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

officer and English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 ...

er, who played for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, captaining England in the four Test matches he played in. Stanyforth was born at

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

, the son of Edwin Wilfrid Stanyforth (born Edwin Wilfrid Greenwood) of Kirk Hammerton Hall,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. He played for

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 ...

in 1914 and then served in

World War I 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 ...

. He was awarded the MC and CVO. After the war he played for

Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...

in 1922,

from 1923 to 1929,

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) from 1923 to 1933 and

H. D. G. Leveson Gower Sir Henry Dudley Gresham Leveson Gower ( ; 8 May 1873 – 1 February 1954) was an English cricketer from the Leveson-Gower family. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Surrey and captained England in Test cricket. His school n ...

's XI in 1926. In 1926 he played one game for Langholm Cricket Club after being invited to by the Earl of Dalkeith. Stanyforth, 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 ...

, captained England against South Africa in 1927–28, and he won two, lost one and drew once. However, the series was a draw as the fifth Test, when

Greville Stevens Greville Thomas Scott Stevens (7 January 1901 – 19 September 1970) was an English cricket team, English amateur cricketer who played for Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex, the University of Oxford and England. A Leg spin, leg-spin and ...

stood in for Stanyforth, was lost. Only three of Stanyforth's sixty one first-class games were played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

, and all three came in 1928 after he had captained England. He also played for the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an England, English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the ...

from 1930 to 1933.Rony Stanyforth
Cricket Archive Stanyforth served in the

21st Lancers The 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1858 and amalgamated with the 17th Lancers in 1922 to form the 17th/21st Lancers. Perhaps its most famous engagement was the Battle of Omdurman, wher ...

, as Aide-de-camp to General

Alan Brooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Secon ...

1939–1940, and as GSO1

21st Army Group The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established ...

1941–1945. Stanyforth died at Kirk Hammerton, Yorkshire, in February 1964, aged 72. He was a trustee of the MCC at the time of his death, and the author of ''Wicketkeeping'', published in 1935.

Family

Ronald was the great-great-grandson of

Samuel Staniforth Samuel Staniforth (26 February 1769 – 5 April 1851) was an English slave-trader, merchant and politician originally from Liverpool. Staniforth was the son of Thomas Staniforth and Elizabeth Goore. The family was a prominent family from Darnal ...

and the great-great-great-grandson of

Thomas Staniforth Thomas Staniforth (1735–1803) was an English slave-trader, merchant and politician. He was originally from Sheffield, but spent most of his life in Liverpool. Staniforth was the son of Samuel Staniforth Esq. and Alethea Macro of Darnall Ha ...

, both former

Lord Mayor of Liverpool The Lord Mayor of Liverpool is a largely ceremonial civic office of Liverpool City Council. The Lord Mayor is the ‘first citizen’ of Liverpool representing the city and acting as a focal point of community events and is also the Chair (off ...

. His father Edwin Stanyforth was born Edwin Greenwood, however he changed his name at the request of his great uncle Rev. Thomas Staniforth of

Storrs Hall Storrs Hall is a hotel on the banks of Windermere in Storrs in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. The hotel, a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion, is also home to the National Trust-owned folly the "Temple" on the end of a stone jetty on Win ...

in his will. Edwin was the son of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

member of parliament and resident of

Swarcliffe Hall Swarcliffe Hall is a large hall that was constructed in 1800 in Birstwith, near Harrogate, England. The current house was built by John Greenwood in 1850, who engaged Major Rohde Hawkins as his architect, and is a Grade II listed building. His ...

, John Greenwood.

References

External links

Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanyforth, Rony 1892 births 1964 deaths 21st Lancers officers Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British Army cricketers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Combined Services cricketers Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Cricketers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Chelsea, London England Test cricket captains English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen English cricketers Free Foresters cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Oxford University cricketers People educated at Eton College Recipients of the Military Cross Yorkshire cricketers Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Wicket-keepers England Test cricketers