Reginald Harry Myburgh Hands (26 July 1888 – 20 April 1918) was a South African cricketer who played in one Test match in February 1914. He died in France as a result of injuries sustained on the Western Front during 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 ...

. His death was an indirect cause of the tradition of the

two-minute silence In the United Kingdom and other countries within the Commonwealth, a two-minute silence is observed as part of Remembrance Day to remember those who died in conflict. Held each year at 11:00 am on 11 November, the silence coincides with the ...

, instigated by his father Sir Harry Hands when Mayor of

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 ...

Biography

Reginald Hands was born in

Claremont, Cape Town Claremont is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, situated in the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town, Southern Suburbs region of the city. It is a mixed-use area, with both residential properties and economically-important commerce, commercial sections. ...

, South Africa, son of Sir Harry Hands

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

and Lady Aletta Hands (née Myburgh)

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

and elder brother of Philip Hands and Kenneth Hands. He was educated at

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 ...

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch ...

from 1899 to 1907. He won the Jamieson prize for the best all-round sportsman at the college in 1906. He went up to

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, in 1907 as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

, earned a degree in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

and became a lawyer, being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

(

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

) in May 1911. Hands played as 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 in one Test match in February 1914. Not surprisingly given the period, his entire

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 ...

career lasted just 15 months, in which time he played a few matches 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 ...

in 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 ...

(1912–13) and against the visiting the MCC led by

J. W. H. T. Douglas John William Henry Tyler Douglas (3 September 1882 – 19 December 1930) was an English cricketer who was active in the early decades of the twentieth century. Douglas was an all-rounder who played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1 ...

(1913–14). During that English tour, Hands made his only Test appearance in the fifth match of the series, played at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

. A useful right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, he scored 0 and 7 in a match won convincingly by the visitors by 10 wickets. He was dismissed

stumped Stumped is a method of Dismissal (cricket), dismissing a batter (cricket), batter in cricket, in which the wicket-keeper put down the wicket, puts down the wicket of the Glossary_of_cricket_terms#S, striker while the striker is out of their Bat ...

in both innings.. No mention of his representative appearance was made in his ''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' obituary, nor that his brother, P. A. M. Hands, also played in that same Test. Reginald Hands was also a talented

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 ...

forward and played two international matches for

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 ...

in 1910 against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, as well as playing for Blackheath and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. He (along with his two brothers, also Rhodes Scholars) had previously won his rugby blues at Oxford University in 1908 and 1909. At the outbreak of the first Great War he joined the

Imperial Light Horse Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Impe ...

and went with them to German South West Africa (now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

). He transferred to SA Heavy Artillery and was posted to the Western Front, where he was seconded to the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

. He was promoted to captain and became second in command of his battery. During the Germans' final large offensive, begun on 21 March 1918, he was gassed, and succumbed to the effects of gas poisoning while off-duty and seemingly safe behind Allied lines, dying aged just 29 on 20 April 1918 at

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

, France. At the time of his death, he was serving in the 73rd Siege Battery under Major Walter Brydon, who died about a week earlier. His death was one of the indirect causes of the tradition of the

, instigated by his father when Mayor of

. Reginald Hands was awarded the

1914–15 Star The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire which was awarded to all who served in the British and Imperial forces in any theatre of the First World War against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The medal was n ...

, the

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men and women of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were st ...

and the Victory Medal for his military service. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France rave VII. A. 39 At his old school, every year a boy is awarded the Hands Memorial Essay Prize.

References

Sources

* ''World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996) * ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877–1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995) * ''Who's Who of Cricketers'' by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn & Peter Wynne-Thomas published by Hamlyn (1993) * www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players * ''The Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals'' by Raymond Maule published by Breedon Books Publishing Company Ltd. (1992) *
Taylor, Anton, "Honouring a Century of Silence", ''The Old Diocesan'', Vol.1, (March 2018), pp. 58–60.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Reginald 1888 births 1918 deaths South African military personnel killed in World War I South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Western Province cricketers English rugby union players England international rugby union players South African rugby union players Cricketers from Cape Town Members of the Middle Temple Alumni of University College, Oxford South African Rhodes Scholars Blackheath F.C. players Manchester Rugby Club players Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town 20th-century English sportsmen Rugby union players from Cape Town

Biography

See also

References

Sources