Edward Wentworth Dillon (15 February 1881 – 20 April 1941) was an English amateur sportsman in the early years of the 20th century. He played over 200

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 ...

matches, mainly for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

between 1900 and 1913. Dillon captained Kent to three

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 ...

victories between 1909 and 1913, the only captain in the club history to lead the county to multiple championship titles. He also played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for Blackheath and represented

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 four international matches.

Early life and education

Dillon was born at

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East Greater London, London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. Etymology The name ''Penge'' is first attested in charter of ...

in what was then

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, the fourth child of a shipbroker.Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', pp.148–151. Brighton: Reveille Press. He was educated at Abbey School,

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

and at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

, where he topped the school

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s in 1899 and 1900 and was described by ''Wisden'' as the best school batsman of the year.Obituary - Edward Dillon
'' Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack'', 1942. Retrieved 2016-03-21. He earned his cricket

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

in his first year at

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 ...

, appearing for both the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, whom he captained, and for

during his time as a student. Dillon also played

for both Rugby and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Cricket career

Dillon made his

debut for

London County Cricket Club London County Cricket Club was a short-lived cricket club founded by the The Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace Company. In 1898 they invited WG Grace to help them form a first-class cricket, first-class cricket club. Grace accepted the offer and b ...

in August 1900, making his

first-class debut later in the same month.First-class matches played by Ted Dillon
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-03-21. He was predominantly a batsman, often opening the batting.

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 ...

described him as "very free in style" and being powerful when driving the ball. In his first-class career he scored over 10,000 runs, the majority for Kent. In 1905 and 1906 he averaged more than 40, making his highest score of 141 against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in 1905. He bowled leg-breaks occasionally, taking 74 first-class wickets. Dillon captained Kent between 1909 and 1913 during which time the County won the

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

and 1913. He is the only Kent captain to have led the county to win the championship more than once. As an amateur his playing time was restricted by his business commitments as a shipbroker at times, including in 1909 when former club captain Jack Mason captained the Kent side in the final month of the season in Dillon's absence. He toured the West Indies with RA Bennett's XI in 1902 and America with Kent in 1903. After

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 ...

Dillon played in four first-class matches, including two in the

for Kent in 1919. He made his final appearance for Kent in 1923 in another Championship match. After Dillon's death in 1941, ''The Times'' cricket correspondent wrote:

Rugby union career

Dillon was a fine

player, playing as a centre for

and Blackheath. He won four international caps for

, playing against Wales, Scotland and Ireland in the

1904 Home Nations Championship The 1904 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 9 January and 19 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Table Results ...

and against Wales in the 1905 Championship.Edward Dillon, England
ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2016-03-21. He also represented Harlequins,

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

and

Military career and later life

Dillon enlisted in September 1914, being commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment in the early months of

, eventually reaching the rank of captain and serving as a company commander in the 2/4th battalion. He served during the war at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

, in the Senussi campaign in Egypt and in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, where he took part in the

First Battle of Gaza The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from th ...

. Dillon was wounded during the Stalemate in Southern Palestine and was involved in the Southern Palestine Offensive and the

Battle of Jerusalem The Battle of Jerusalem also known as the Fall of Jerusalem occurred during the British Empire's "Jerusalem Operations" against the Ottoman Empire, in World War I, when fighting for the city developed from 17 November, continuing after the s ...

in late 1917. He was transferred to the Economic Division in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in late December 1917, serving there in the Intelligence Corps for the remainder of the war. Dillon died in 1941 aged 60 at

Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Ted 1881 births 1941 deaths Intelligence Corps officers Kent cricketers Kent cricket captains Oxford University cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Blackheath F.C. players English rugby union players England international rugby union players People educated at Rugby School Alumni of University College, Oxford Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I People from Penge Cricketers from the London Borough of Bromley Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers English cricketers London County cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers P. F. Warner's XI cricketers Military personnel from Kent Rugby union players from Kent R. A. Bennett's XI cricketers Kent County RFU players Oxford University RFC players