Stuart Patrick King (22 April 1906 – 28 February 1943) was an Australian sportsman who played

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 ...

for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

for

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

club St Kilda.

Family

The son of David James King (1873-), and Emily Mary King, née Matthews, later Mrs. Edwards, Stuart Patrick King was born in

Ararat, Victoria Ararat () is a town in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands region in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway, Victoria, Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills ...

on 22 April 1906. He married Kathleen Patricia Lightfoot (1911-) at Newman College's chapel on 14 January 1935. They had two children: Gerald and Diana.

Education

Educated at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, he graduated Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1930, and was admitted to the bar on 1 May 1931.

Cricket

Born in

, King started his cricket career first, debuting for Victoria in the 1926/27

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

season, on 17 December 1926, at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, against Queensland. He was a right-handed

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 ...

batsman and batted in the middle order. The last of his 12 first-class matches was played in 1932/33 and he finished with 417 runs at 27.80. His claim to fame as a cricketer was scoring seven of Victoria's

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

1107 runs against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in his debut summer.

Football

Having been recruited from the University Blacks, King played his first VFL match for St Kilda in 1931 and the following year was appointed club captain. When

Charlie Hardy Charles Hardy (1 April 1887 – 19 May 1968) was an Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) during the 1910s and Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 19 ...

left the Saints seven games into the 1932 season he acted as a caretaker coach for the rest of the year. King played mostly as a defender and in his three seasons managed 43 games.

Military service

Already a well-established barrister and solicitor, King enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

on 30 March 1942 as an

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

, and was posted to 20 Squadron, gaining the rank of

Flying Officer Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Flying officer is immediately ...

Death

He was killed as a result of an aircraft crash off the coast of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

on 28 February 1943. King wasn't a member of the crew he went along as a 'supernumerary' person to observe the mission.

Footnotes

References

World War II Service Record: Flying Officer Stuart Patrick King (255266), (Part One), ''National Archives of Australia''.

World War II Service Record: Flying Officer Stuart Patrick King (255266), (Part Two), ''National Archives of Australia''.

World War II Nominal Roll: Flying Officer Stuart Patrick King (255266).

Roll of Honour: Flying Officer Stuart Patrick King (255266), ''Australian War Memorial''.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Flying Officer Stuart Patrick King (255266).
* McCrery, N., ''The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two'', Pen and Sword, (Barnesley), 2017.

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Stuart St Kilda Football Club coaches 1906 births 1943 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) St Kilda Football Club players University Blacks Football Club players Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian military personnel killed in World War II Sportspeople from Ararat, Victoria Cricketers from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen