Famous Cricketers No 80 - E.G.Wynyard

King’s Liverpool Regiment. At the close of that year he was posted to India and while there took part in the Burma Expedition of 1885-87 for which he was awarded the DSO in 1887, won a medal with clasp and was twice mentioned in despatches. He returned to England on sick leave in spring 1887, spent some weeks in Italy recuperating then returned to India that autumn. In 1890 he joined the Welch Regiment as a captain when he was appointed Instructor in Tactics, Military Administration and Law at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, then was adjutant of the Oxford University Volunteers 1899-1900 and returned to Sandhurst as Instructor in Military Engineering from 1900 to 1903 when he retired from the Army. In 1894 Wynyard was awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal for his bravery on 9th December 1893 when “at great personal risk, he attempted to rescue a Swiss peasant from drowning in the lake at Davos, Switzerland.” He married Sarah Louise Worts of Toronto in 1914 and they had one son, Edward James Buckley Wynyard, who died in 1991. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he was recalled to the Army as major back with the King’s Liverpool Regiment, was attached for duty to the Army Ordnance Corps in May 1915, then was appointed to the Middlesex Regiment in November 1916 and became Commandant of the Thornhill Labour Camp, Southampton, 1916-1919. He finally retired in April 1919 when he received the OBE. Wynyard, who remained an active sportsman for many years, died at his residence, The Red House, Knotty Green, Beaconsfield, Bucks., on 30th October 1936 at the age of 75 and was buried at Penn Church. Among the mourners were a number of well-known cricketers including P.F.Warner (representing MCC), R.Aird (representing I Zingari), W.Findlay, R.H.de Montmorency, Major K.O. Goldie, E.J.Metcalf, Major W.G.M.Sarel, J.T.Hearne, and H.D.G.Leveson-Gower. The famous England and Corinthian footballer A.M.Walters was also present. Probate records show that Wynyard’s gross estate was £1,651. Although Wynyard achieved his greatest fame as a cricketer he was an all-round sportsman with a remarkable range of accomplishment. Charterhouse School was one of the nurseries of association football at the time Wynyard arrived there just over ten years after the formation of the Football Association though it was not until 1876 that the school brought its own football rules fully into line with the F.A.Wynyard soon made his mark at the game and won his place in the school’s first XI in 1876 when he was described in The Carthusian as “a heavy forward, charging and dribbling well; always middles splendidly.” His adult weight of 13 stone and his height of 6 foot one inch made him a troublesome opponent for defenders. His football career reached its apex at Kennington Oval on 9th April 1881 when he was in the Old Carthusians team which beat the Old Etonians 3-1 in the F.A. Cup final with Wynyard scoring one of the goals. In The Football Annual edited by C.W.Alcock, it was said of him at this time: “Good forward, plenty of dash; makes himself very obnoxious to the opposing backs.” Wynyard’s Army career brought an end to his top-level football but he kept up the game well into his thirties and he played twice for the Corinthians in 1893, scoring five goals for them. His move to St.Edward’s School, Oxford in 1877 brought a change of football codes as St.Edward’s was a rugby school. However, Wynyard soon adapted to the different version of the game and the St.Edward’s School Chronicle summed him up at the close of the 1877/78 season as follows: “Came out wonderfully at the end of the season as a three-quarter back, running very strongly, and being a very safe tackler; also kicks well and is a brilliant forward.” A year later he was the school’s top scorer with 12 goals and 21 tries, and the School Chronicle enthused: “One of the best all round players that the School has ever seen. Brilliant three-quarter back with excellent running powers, drops and punts extremely well with either foot; and it is partly owing to him that we have won so many matches.” At the time of Wynyard’s death, a contemporary paid this tribute: “He was a glorious three-quarter, fast and strong, and could turn on a sixpence when in full cry. Had he not gone into the Army, he would 5