Robin Henry Rowland Buckston (10 October 1908 – 16 May 1967) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played first-class cricket for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

between 1928 and 1939 and for

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

(MCC) in 1929 and 1930. He captained the Derbyshire team between 1937 and 1939. Buckston was born in Kensington, the son of George Moreton Buckston who had played for and captained Derbyshire before and after World War I. He was educated at Eton and played in the Eton XI as a wicketkeeper. He first played for Derbyshire at the age of 19 in the 1928 season as wicketkeeper in a match against Lancashire, but did not play for them again until 1937. He played two matches for MCC against Wales in 1929 and 1930 and a game for the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an 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 Rev. Wil ...

against the Netherlands in 1931. He became captain of Derbyshire in the 1937 season when after their Championship win in the 1936 season, the club came third in the Championship. In the 1938 season they were fifth and in the 1939 season they were ninth under Buckston. He played 101 innings in 72 matches for Derbyshire with a highest score of 60 and an average of 11.80. He only bowled one over and was an occasional wicketkeeper. Buckston had been a member of the Eton

Officers' Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

, and with the outbreak of the Second World War imminent, he was given an emergency commission as

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

on 2 September 1939. He served with the local Territorial Army light anti-aircraft regiment, he relinquished his commission on 23 November 1942, by which time he was a war substantive

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

; he was granted the rank of

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

. He married Chrystal Tresyllian Williams on 6 January 1940. They had a son on 3 November 1945, at which time they were living at

Bucklebury Common Bucklebury Common is an elevated common consisting of woodland with a few relatively small clearings in the English county of Berkshire, within the civil parish of Bucklebury centred northeast of Thatcham and encircling the settled localities ...

, near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. After the war he played for Derbyshire's Second XI from 1948 to 1955; captaining them for some of that time. He was chairman of the club from 1960 to 1966. Buckston lived at

Sutton-on-the-Hill Sutton-on-the-Hill is a parish in south Derbyshire eight miles (13 km) west of Derby. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 123. The village is widely spread out and contains both a church (which, unlike most of the ...

and was a Justice of the Peace. He was

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

in 1960. He collapsed and died at the wheel of his car near

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

at the age of 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckston, Robin People from South Derbyshire District Cricketers from Derbyshire 1908 births 1967 deaths English cricketers Derbyshire cricket captains People educated at Eton College Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II High Sheriffs of Derbyshire Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers