Francis Roberts (cricketer)

Captain Francis Bernard Roberts (20 May 1882 – 8 February 1916)[1] was an English cricketer and member of the British Armed Forces who was killed in World War I. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast bowler whose brother Arthur also played first-class cricket, Roberts was born in Nasik in India and played for Cambridge University and Gloucestershire,[2] minor county cricket for Oxfordshire and for his alma mater Magdalen College School, Oxford[1] (1894–1898) and Rossall School (1898–1901).[3] Roberts' first-class career spanned 1903 to 1914 on the outbreak of World War I, across eighty matches where he scored 2,566 runs at a batting average of 20.36 with five centuries and a best of 157. With the ball he took 88 wickets.[4]

A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge,[5] he served during the First World War as a captain in the 9th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. He was killed in February 1916 in Belgium aged thirty-three.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Bebbington, David. (2014). Mister Brownrigg's Boys Archived 26 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine: Magdalen College School and The Great War. London: Pen and Sword Books.
  2. ^ "Player Profile: Francis Roberts". CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Teams Played For". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Player Profile: Francis Roberts". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  5. ^ "About Jesus College > Old Library & Archives > Exhibitions > First World War". Cambridge University. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  6. ^ "Francis Bernard Roberts". Commonwealth Graves Commission. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  7. ^ "Cricketers who died in World War 1 — Part 5 of 5". Cricket Country. Retrieved 28 November 2018.