Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Rowan Scrope Rait Kerr (13 April 1891 – 7 April 1961) was an Irish-born

cricketer 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 ...

and sporting

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

. Rait Kerr was born in Bray, Ireland third son of Sylvester Rait Kerr of Rathmoyle, Edenderry King's Co and led a distinguished army career. He was educated at

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 ...

. He graduated from Sandhurst in 1910 and joined 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 ...

. By 1916 he had been promoted to temporary captain, and by 1917 he was acting major and had been awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

and the D.S.O. As a cricketer, he played in six first-class matches. Five of these were for the Europeans in India between 1913–14 and 1920–21, while the other came after a decade's absence from first-class cricket when he appeared for the Army against Oxford University in 1931. He succeeded William Findlay as Secretary of the

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 ...

in 1936 and he retired in 1952. His daughter Diana Rait Kerr became the first Curator of the MCC and she later became one of the first elected lady members of the club in 1999. Colonel Rait Kerr died at

Constantine Bay Constantine Bay (, meaning ''church of St Constantine'') is a village and beach on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles (5 km) west of Padstow and is in ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, aged 69.

Bibliography

*''A History of Royal Engineers Cricket 1862-1924'', Institute of Royal Engineers, 1925. *''The laws of cricket: Their history and growth'', Longmans, Green & Co, 1950. *''Cricket Umpiring and Scoring'', Phoenix House, 1964. *''Cricket Umpiring and Scoring'' - 3rd Revised edition, with Thomas Edward Smith, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, 1969.

External links

Rowan Rait Kerr
at Cricinfo

at Cricket Archive * 1891 births Sportspeople from Bray, County Wicklow Cricketers from County Wicklow People educated at Rugby School Europeans cricketers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Royal Engineers officers British Army cricketers Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War I English cricket administrators Irish cricket administrators Secretaries of the Marylebone Cricket Club 1961 deaths Irish cricketers {{Ireland-cricket-bio-stub