Richard Worsley (cricketer)

Richard Worsley
Personal information
Full name
Richard Stanley Worsley
Born7 September 1879
Harrington, Lincolnshire, England
Died4 May 1917(1917-05-04) (aged 37)
at sea aboard SS Transylvania
off Bergeggi, Liguria, Italy
BattingUnknown
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1903/04Orange Free State
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 1
Runs scored 12
Batting average 6.00
100s/50s –/–
Top score 10
Catches/stumpings –/–
Source: Cricinfo, 29 March 2021

Richard Stanley Worsley DSO (7 September 1879 – 4 May 1917) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.

The son of Major General Richard Worsley, he was born at Harrington Hall in Lincolnshire in September 1879.[1] He was educated at Wellington College, before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[2] Worsley graduated from Sandhurst into the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant in February 1900.[3] He served in the Second Boer War between 1900 and 1902, receiving the Queen's and King's South Africa Medal, with five clasps,[1] in addition to gaining promotion to lieutenant.[4] He remained in South Africa after the war, playing in a single first-class cricket match in the Currie Cup for Orange Free State against Transvaal at Bloemfontein in 1904.[5] He batted twice in the match and was dismissed for scores of 2 and 10 by Gordon White and George Shepstone respectively.[6] He was promoted to captain in June 1904.[7]

In January 1911, he was seconded for duty as an adjutant with the East Lancashire Divisional Transport and Supply Column.[8][9] Worsley was seconded for duty with the Egyptian Army in 1913.[10] He served in the First World War and was promoted to major in October 1914.[11] He saw action during the Gallipoli campaign from April to September 1915, prior to taking part in the Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition of 1916.[1] He was mentioned three times in dispatches three times during the war and was made a Companion to the Distinguished Service Order in May 1916.[12] He was mentioned a further two times in dispatches during the Dafur expedition and received a letter of thanks from the Sirdar, Sir Reginald Wingate.[1] Worsley was returning to England to take up a new post aboard the transport ship SS Transylvania off the coast of Bergeggi,[2] which was being escorted by the Japanese ships Matsu and Sakaki. On 4 May 1917, the ship was torpedoed by the German U-boat SM U-63 under the command of Otto Schultze. Despite attempts to evacuate the ship by Matsu, twenty minutes after the first torpedo had hit, U-63 fired a second which hit Transylvania again, causing the ship to rapidly sink. Worsley was one of 412 people killed aboard the ship.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d "Obituary". The Near East. Vol. 13, no. 313. Cairo. 4 May 1917. p. 89. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Renshaw, Andrew (2011). Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914–1918. Vol. 2nd. Pen and Sword. pp. 375–6. ISBN 978-1526706980.
  3. ^ "No. 27167". The London Gazette. 20 February 1900. p. 1173.
  4. ^ "No. 27336". The London Gazette. 23 July 1901. p. 4842.
  5. ^ "First-Class Matches played by Richard Worsley". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Orange Free State v Transvaal, 1903/04". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  7. ^ "No. 27721". The London Gazette. 11 October 1904. p. 6519.
  8. ^ "No. 28453". The London Gazette. 3 January 1911. p. 15.
  9. ^ "No. 28462". The London Gazette. 3 February 1911. p. 862.
  10. ^ "No. 28783". The London Gazette. 19 December 1913. p. 9339.
  11. ^ "No. 28969". The London Gazette. 10 November 1914. p. 9133.
  12. ^ "No. 29565". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 May 1916. p. 4428.