John Macartney-Filgate

John Victor Opynschae Macartney-Filgate CBE MC (20 May 1897 — 23 July 1964) was an Irish first-class cricketer and British Indian Army officer.

The son of Edward Macartney-Filgate and Bertha Eugenie Lomax, he was born at Dublin in May 1897.[1] He was educated in England at Rugby School, from where he joined the British Army to serve in the First World War. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on probation in July 1915,[2] and was confirmed in that rank in May 1916.[3] He was made an acting captain in May 1917,[4] with promotion to lieutenant in July of the same year.[5] Throughout the course of the war, Macartney-Filgate was twice wounded in action.[1] In March 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when he helped to evacuate the wounded when his artillery battery was heavily shelled.[6] For his service in the war, Macartney-Filgate was decorated by Belgium with the Croix de guerre.[1]

Shortly after the conclusion of the war, he married Beatrice Helen Angela Nevill, the daughter of Sir Reginald Neville, 1st Baronet.[1] Macartney-Filgate also matriculated to University College, Oxford following the war. After graduating from Oxford, he spent time in British India, where he played in a single first-class cricket match for the Europeans cricket team against the Indians at Madras in the 1924–25 Madras Presidency Match.[7] Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed for a single run in the Europeans first innings by T. K. Sukumaran, while in their second innings he was dismissed for 10 runs by M. Venkataramanjulu.[8] By profession he was a merchant banker and was a fellow of the Institute of Bankers.[1]

During the Second World War, he served as a major in the Territorial Army,[9] for which he was decorated with the Territorial Decoration in April 1950.[10] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1964.[1] In later life he lived at Danbury, Essex. Macartney-Filgate died in London in July 1964; he was survived by his wife and their three children.[1]