J | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 July 1915 Cockermouth, Cumberland, England |
| Died |
3 December 1945 (aged 30) Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France |
John Gordon Halliday (4 July 1915 – 3 December 1945) was an English cricketer active in the nineteen-thirties. Born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, Halliday was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler who made over twenty appearances in first-class cricket.
Life and career[]
Halliday was educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where he excelled at cricket.[1] He debuted for Oxfordshire in the 1932 Minor Counties Championship,[2] and, while studying at Merton College, Oxford,[3] made his debut in first-class cricket for the university cricket team in 1934 against Gloucestershire.[4] Making five first-class appearances for the university in 1934, Halliday was also selected to play for the Minor Counties cricket team against Oxford University in that same year.[4] He played first-class cricket for university until 1937, making a total of 25 appearances.[4] Though unable to recapture his form as a schoolboy cricketer,[1] Halliday nonetheless scored a total of 766 runs at an average of 23.21, making eight half centuries and top-scoring with 87.[5] As a bowler, he took 18 wickets at an average of 37.66, with best figures of 3/11.[6] Halliday's minor counties career with Oxfordshire continued until 1939, making sixty appearances.[2] He was elected county captain in 1938.[1]
Halliday served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, holding the rank of pilot officer in 1940,[7] in the following year he became a flying officer.[8] In June 1942 he was promoted to flight lieutenant,[9] At some point after this Halliday became a wing commander.[1] Following the end of the war, he remained with the Royal Air Force, serving with No. 59 Squadron. He was a passenger on board a B-24 Liberator on 3 December 1945, when it was struck by lightning and crashed near Rochefort in France, killing all 28 on board.[10] He was buried at Rochefort-sur-Mer Naval Cemetery.[11]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Deaths in the war, 1945". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/229840.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Minor Counties Championship Matches played by John Halliday". CricketArchive. https://cricketarchive.com/Players/29/29903/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ Levens, R.G.C., ed (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 245.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "First-Class Matches played by John Halliday". CricketArchive. https://cricketarchive.com/Players/29/29903/First-Class_Matches.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by John Halliday". CricketArchive. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29903/f_Batting_by_Team.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "First-class Bowling For Each Team by John Halliday". CricketArchive. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29903/f_Bowling_by_Team.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "No. 34854". 21 May 1940. p. 3037. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34854/page/3037
- ↑ "No. 35183". 6 June 1941. p. 3234. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35183/page/3234
- ↑ "No. 35725". 29 September 1942. p. 4259. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35725/supplement/4259
- ↑ "No. 59 Squadron RAF". www.number59.com. http://www.number59.com/new_59/post_war.html. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "HALLIDAY, JOHN GORDON". The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2695171/HALLIDAY,%20JOHN%20GORDON. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
External links[]
- John Halliday at ESPNcricinfo
- John Halliday at CricketArchive
The original article can be found at John Halliday (cricketer) and the edit history here.