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Lancelot Grove
Lancelot Townley Grove (22 August 1905 – 9 February 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Grove was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1925. He later played first-class cricket for the British Army and the Combined Services cricket team in the last 1930s. He served in the Second World War, during which he was killed in a plane crash in 1943. Life and military careerGrove was born at Satara in what was then British India to Colonel Percy Lynes Grove and his wife, Lorina.[1] He was educated in England at Charterhouse School, before deciding on a career in the military and attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] He graduated from Woolwich in September 1925, and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant.[2] He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in September 1927.[3] He had to wait nearly a decade for his not promotion, which came in September 1936 when he was promoted to captain.[4] The following year he made his debut in first-class cricket for the British Army cricket team against the University of Oxford at Oxford,[5] narrowly missing out on a century on debut when he was dismissed for 96 by Richard West in the Army's first-innings.[1] He made a further appearance for the Army in 1937,[5] against Cambridge University,[5] with Grove scoring 75 in the Army's first-innings.[1] He also played a first-class match in 1937 for a Combined Services cricket team against the touring New Zealanders at Portsmouth.[5] Grove made a final first-class appearance for the Army against Cambridge University in 1938,[5] making 106 in the Army's first-innings.[1] In four first-class matches, Grove scored 332 runs at an average of 47.42.[6] He made an adjutant to Captain G. R. McMeekan in February 1938.[7] He served with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War, with him being promoted to the rank of major in September 1942.[8] Grove died when the Liberator he was aboard ran out of fuel during blizzard conditions and crashed at Gander in Newfoundland on 9 February 1943.[9][1] He was buried at the Gander War Cemetery.[1] Grove was survived by his wife, Joan Blanche Hill, and their son David, who would later serve as a major general in the British Army.[10] References
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