Eric Hatfeild

{{short description|English cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Eric Hatfeild | image = | country = England | fullname = Charles Eric Hatfeild | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1887|03|11}} | birth_place = Hartsdown, Margate, Kent | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1918|09|21|1887|03|11}} | death_place = Cambrai, France | nickname = | heightft = | heightinch = | heightcm = | heightm = | batting = Left-handed | bowling = Slow left-arm orthodox | role = | family = | club1 = Oxford University | year1 = {{nowrap|1907–1909}} | club2 = Kent | year2 = 1910–1914

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| date = 30 April | year = 2016 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/15679.html CricInfo }} '''Charles Eric Hatfeild''' {{post-nominals|MC}} (11 March 1887 – 21 September 1918) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Kent County Cricket Club in the years before the First World War. Hatfeild was an officer in the Royal East Kent Yeomanry and the East Kent Regiment. He was decorated for gallantry during the war and was killed in action in September 1918 at Cambrai on the Western Front.

==Early life and education== Hatfeild was born at Hartsdown House near Margate in Kent in 1887, the son of a captain in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards and JP in a prominent local family.<ref name=lewis194a>Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', p.194. Brighton: Reveille Press.</ref><ref name=mccrery>McCrery N (2015) ''Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War'' Pen and Sword, pp.1910–1912. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3BhCgAAQBAJ&dq=eric%20hatfeild&pg=RA2-PA1910 Available online], retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref><ref name=margatecem>[http://www.margatecemetery.co.uk/Page-10-Grave-No-5-Charles-Taddy-Hatfield.htm Grave No.5 - The Grave of Charles Taddy Hatfeild] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308114336/http://www.margatecemetery.co.uk/Page-10-Grave-No-5-Charles-Taddy-Hatfield.htm |date=8 March 2016 }}, The Friends of Margate Cemetery. Retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref><ref name=renshaw>Renshaw A (2014) ''Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914-1918'', A&C Black, p.409. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eyoeAwAAQBAJ&dq=eric%20hatfeild&pg=PA409 Available online], retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref> He was the eldest child, having three brothers and three sisters. He was educated locally at Wellington House School at Westgate-on-Sea and later at Eton College where he played in the school's cricket First XI in from 1903 to 1906, captaining the team, which included Herbert, in his final year.<ref name=lewis194a /><ref name=ca>[https://cricketarchive.com/Players/30/30051/30051.html Eric Hatfeild], CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref> He was a very promising bowler at school, taking 12 wickets against Harrow School in a match at Lord's in 1903 but later developed as more of a batsman.<ref name=renshaw /> He went to New College, Oxford, and played for Oxford University Cricket Club in 15 first-class cricket matches, gaining a cricket Blue in 1908.<ref name=renshaw /><ref name=wisden19>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/228161.html Hatfeild, Capt Charles Eric - obituaries during the war], ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1919. Retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref>

After graduating from university Hatfeild attended Wye Agricultural College in 1910–11.<ref name=mccrery />

==Cricket career== Hatfeild made his debut for Kent in June 1910 in a County Championship match against Derbyshire at the County Ground, Derby.<ref name=ca /> He played only two matches in 1910 as Kent won the County Championship, before gaining a more regular place in the Kent team in the following seasons. He was described in his Wisden obituary as an "enthusiastic cricketer" who played "whenever he was wanted", making 15 appearances in 1912 and 12 in 1913 as Kent won the last of their four Championship titles of the years before the First World War.<ref name=wisden19 /><ref name=ca /> In total he made 45 appearances for the county as an all-rounder at a time when Kent were one of the dominant first-class counties and had a good supply of excellent players and, as a prominent and well-connected amateur, was considered a candidate to succeed Ted Dillon as captain of the team when he resigned after the 1913 season.<ref name=lewis194b>Lewis ''Op. cit.'', pp.194–197.</ref> He was elected a member of the Kent Committee in 1913.<ref name=lewis194b />

He toured Argentina with MCC in 1911–12 alongside his Kent colleague Lionel Troughton.<ref name=mccrery /> He played in all three first-class matches on the tour, the first first-class matches played by the Argentina national cricket team,<ref name=ca /> taking 16 first-class wickets on the tour including his best first-class bowling figures of five wickets for 48 runs.<ref name=camccbowling>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/3/Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_South_America_1911-12/f_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_Bowling.html First-class bowling for Marylebone Cricket Club in Argentina 1911–12], CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-04-30.</ref> He also toured the US with Incogniti in 1913.<ref name=lewis194b />

Hatfeild made his final first-class appearance in July 1914 against Essex at Tunbridge Wells just before he was mobilised after the start of the First World War.<ref name=mccrery /><ref name=lewis194b />

==Military career and death== Hatfeild was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal East Kent Yeomanry in 1913<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28693|page=1450|date=25 February 1913}}</ref> and later transferred to the East Kent Regiment, serving in the 10th battalion.<ref name=lewis194b /><ref name=mccrery /> He was mobilised immediately after the outbreak of war in 1914 and served throughout the First World War, seeing action in the Gallipoli campaign, Egypt, Palestine and on the Western Front in France. He rose to the rank of Captain and commanded a company.<ref name=mccrery /> Hatfeild was killed in action on 21 September 1918 fighting near Cambrai in northern France during the Hundred Days Offensive.<ref name=lewis194b /> He was posthumously awarded the Military Cross for the "conspicuous gallantry" he had shown three days before his death leading his company in an attack at Templeux-le-Guérard during the offensive.<ref name=mccrery /><ref name=renshaw /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31665|page=14787|date=28 November 1919|supp=y}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{cricinfo|id=14623}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfeild, Eric}} Category:English cricketers Category:Kent cricketers Category:1887 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Territorial Force officers Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford Category:Alumni of Wye College Category:Oxford University cricketers Category:Free Foresters cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Royal East Kent Yeomanry officers Category:Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:Sportspeople from Margate Category:Military personnel from Kent Category:Cricketers from Kent Category:20th-century English sportsmen