2nd not 1st: Essex 1899-1914 (6th ed)

Nutfield and his father officiated. In 1915 Keble and Gwynneth had daughter Richenda Mary and in 1922 the family moved to Nutfield. In the Great War Guy served initially in the Artists Rifles and then as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. Soon after giving birth to Richenda, Gwynneth volunteered for the Red Cross, and later became a ‘lady ambulance officer’. Most of Guy’s appearances on Cricket Archive were for MCC and the strong Reigate Priory CC when he was over 40, although doubtless he played earlier games not listed there. His last recorded match was the first of the South Africans’ 1935 tour when, aged 50, he top-scored for Reigate Priory, albeit with 10 out of 30! Guy played six matches for Essex 2nd XI, a friendly against Sussex 2 nd XI in 1910 and five in the Minor Counties Championship in 1914. He always batted in the top four and did not bowl. His best performance was in the win against Cheshire at Witham in 1914, when he scored 48 and 56. He was captain in the last two matches and probably also in the previous one on 11-12 August, when Charles James Round had joined up but the captain isn’t recorded. Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Friendly/Champ 6 12 221 18.21 1 2 Highest score: 56. Halls, Henry Basil (1882-1923) Born 13 November 1882, Enfield, Middlesex. Died 15 September 1923, Epping, Essex. Played 1903. Basil Halls was the son of Henry Halls, a merchant trading with America, and Frances Clinch. He was educated at Malvern College and Oriel College, Oxford, where he took honours in the Theological School. He became a schoolmaster and did some tutoring but, according to The Malvernian, ‘ill health prevented him from doing very much’. I could not trace him on censuses for 1901 and 1911, even though his is an unusual name, so he may have spent some time abroad for his health. He was a good all-round cricketer for Epping CC, where he also coached boys. After the Great War Halls moved with his parents to Fryerning near Chelmsford, then the home of Charles Kortright and AP (Bunny) Lucas, good friends who played for Essex before the war. Basil’s parents soon died and he returned to Epping. There Halls met with a fatal accident. Shortly after leaving a friend’s house, his motor cycle was in collision with a motor cycle ridden by Frank Neale, a flying instructor. The inquest heard that Halls was an experienced motor cyclist, but his front light was dangerously dim and his back light not working at all, so Neale probably did not see him. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death and exonerated Neale. Halls, who never married, left £125. Halls played three matches in 1903. He batted no. 9 for Essex against Norfolk at Lakenham, a thrilling match scheduled for two days but completed on 21 August 1903. He scored 8 in the first innings and in the second came to the crease when Essex were 31 for 8, needing one to win. He was still there when Richard Keigwin nudged the winning run. Against Middlesex Second XI at Leyton, Halls chipped in with two wickets as Essex fought back from a seemingly lost position to win by three wickets. He was also selected for the reverse fixture, a twelve-a- side match at Lord’s, but heavy rain meant that Essex could not bat.