{{Short description|South African cricketer & England international rugby union player}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use South African English|date=July 2012}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Reginald Hands | image = File:Reginald Hands.jpg | birth_place = Claremont, Cape Town, Cape Colony | birth_date = 26 July 1888 | death_place = Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France | death_date = 20 April 1918 (aged 29) | caption = | family = {{ubl|Philip Hands (brother)|Kenneth Hands (brother)}} | batting = Right-handed | bowling = | columns = 2 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 1 | runs1 = 7 | bat avg1 = 3.50 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 7 | hidedeliveries = true | catches/stumpings1= 0/– | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 7 | runs2 = 289 | bat avg2 = 28.90 | 100s/50s2 = 0/2 | top score2 = 79* | catches/stumpings2= 7/– | international = true | country = South Africa | testdebutagainst = England | testdebutdate = 27 February | testdebutyear = 1914 | onetest = true | source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/45405.html Cricinfo | date = 13 November | year = 2022 }} '''Reginald Harry Myburgh Hands''' (26 July 1888 – 20 April 1918) was a South African cricketer who played in one Test match in February 1914. He died in France as a result of injuries sustained on the Western Front during the First World War.<ref name="geni">{{cite web|url=http://www.geni.com/people/Reginald-Hands/6000000039498539397?through=6000000039498091796|title=Geni.com profile}}</ref> His death was an indirect cause of the tradition of the two-minute silence, instigated by his father Sir Harry Hands when Mayor of Cape Town.<ref>J. C. Abrahams (Tannie Mossie), [https://tanniemossie.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/cape-town_s-wwi-mayor-sir-harry-hands.pdf "Cape Town’s WWI Mayor - Sir Harry Hands".]</ref>
==Biography== Reginald Hands was born in Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa, son of Sir Harry Hands KBE and Lady Aletta Hands (née Myburgh) OBE and elder brother of Philip Hands and Kenneth Hands. He was educated at Diocesan College, Rondebosch from 1899 to 1907. He won the Jamieson prize for the best all-round sportsman at the college in 1906.<ref name="Schulze">{{Cite book |last=Schulze| first =Heinrich| year = 1999| title = South Africa's Cricketing Lawyers| publisher =Halfway House| location =[South Africa]| isbn =9780620250498 | pages =106–109}}</ref> He went up to University College, Oxford, in 1907 as a Rhodes Scholar, earned a degree in jurisprudence and became a lawyer, being called to the bar (Middle Temple) in May 1911.<ref name="rugbyintl">{{cite web|url=http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/General/General/01/30/53/77/EnglandRugbyInternationalsWhoDiedinWWI_Neutral.pdf|title=Lest We Forget:The 27 England Rugby Internationals who died in World War 1|author=Mike Hagger|access-date=6 April 2016|archive-date=27 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127014131/http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/General/General/01/30/53/77/EnglandRugbyInternationalsWhoDiedinWWI_Neutral.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Hands played as a South African cricketer in one Test match in February 1914. Not surprisingly given the period, his entire first-class cricket career lasted just 15 months, in which time he played a few matches for Western Province in the Currie Cup (1912–13) and against the visiting the MCC led by J. W. H. T. Douglas (1913–14). During that English tour, Hands made his only Test appearance in the fifth match of the series, played at Port Elizabeth. A useful right-handed batsman, he scored 0 and 7 in a match won convincingly by the visitors by 10 wickets. He was dismissed stumped in both innings.<ref name="Walmsley">{{cite book|last=Walmsley|first=Keith|title=Mosts Without in Test Cricket|year=2003|publisher=Keith Walmsley Publishing Pty Ltd|location=Reading, England |isbn=0947540067|pages=457}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ask-steven-who-has-been-out-stumped-most-often-in-tests-1263275 |title=Who has been out stumped most often in Tests? |work=ESPN Cricinfo |access-date=18 May 2021}}</ref> No mention of his representative appearance was made in his ''Wisden'' obituary, nor that his brother, P. A. M. Hands, also played in that same Test.
Reginald Hands was also a talented rugby forward and played two international matches for England in 1910 against France and Scotland, as well as playing for Blackheath and Manchester. He (along with his two brothers, also Rhodes Scholars) had previously won his rugby blues at Oxford University in 1908 and 1909.<ref name="DC Journal"/>
At the outbreak of the first Great War he joined the Imperial Light Horse and went with them to German South West Africa (now Namibia). He transferred to SA Heavy Artillery and was posted to the Western Front, where he was seconded to the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was promoted to captain and became second in command of his battery. During the Germans' final large offensive, begun on 21 March 1918, he was gassed, and succumbed to the effects of gas poisoning while off-duty and seemingly safe behind Allied lines,<ref name="DC Journal">{{Cite journal|author=Anton Taylor|date=March 2018|title=Honouring a Century of Silence|journal=The Old Diocesan|volume=1|issue=Mar 2018|pages=58–60|url=https://www.odunion.com/newsletters/link/SGnwbaWjNx/ORBaSwNaZe/cksgpkhsHZ/57192/3/AlmcsSIAg---slash---zq7gQsrDbAxiQbTDkTGjYO9NyJeC6H0oPweaMhIE655B5qjx---plus---Y1qsprPVT9QEppv7nzESxoHkgsHDSTjGPlOaY35uttGmNyRxOjv2S64pBBDdU67kRbx0T/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/1/1/1/1}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> dying aged just 29 on 20 April 1918 at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.<ref name="geni"/><ref name="Schulze"/> At the time of his death, he was serving in the 73rd Siege Battery under Major Walter Brydon, who died about a week earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafricawargraves.org/search/details.php?id=9124|title=South African War Graves Project: Reginald Harry Myburgh Hands|accessdate=12 November 2018}}</ref>
His death was one of the indirect causes of the tradition of the two-minute silence, instigated by his father when Mayor of Cape Town.<ref name="DC Journal"/>
Reginald Hands was awarded the 1914–15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his military service. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France [Grave VII. A. 39].<ref name=rugbyintl />
At his old school, every year a boy is awarded the Hands Memorial Essay Prize.<ref name="DC Journal"/>
==See also== * List of international rugby union players killed in action during the First World War
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * ''World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996) * ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877–1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995) * ''Who's Who of Cricketers'' by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn & Peter Wynne-Thomas published by Hamlyn (1993) * www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players * ''The Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals'' by Raymond Maule published by Breedon Books Publishing Company Ltd. (1992) * [https://www.odunion.com/files/download/7773c4de047fb37?pk_campaign=Newsletter%3A+ODU+Newsletter+13th+April+2018+%28copy+1%29&pk_kwd=odu@bishops.org.za Taylor, Anton, "Honouring a Century of Silence", ''The Old Diocesan'', Vol.1, (March 2018), pp. 58–60.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Reginald}} Category:1888 births Category:1918 deaths Category:South African military personnel killed in World War I Category:South Africa Test cricketers Category:South African cricketers Category:Western Province cricketers Category:English rugby union players Category:England international rugby union players Category:South African rugby union players Category:Cricketers from Cape Town Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford Category:South African Rhodes Scholars Category:Blackheath F.C. players Category:Manchester Rugby Club players Category:Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town Category:20th-century English sportsmen Category:Rugby union players from Cape Town