John Rawlence

John Rooke Rawlence OBE (23 September 1915 — 17 January 1983) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.

The son of Dr. H. E. Rawlence,[1] he was born in September 1915 at Brockenhurst, Hampshire. He was educated at Wellington College, where he played for the college cricket team.[2] Rawlence made two appearances in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire in the 1934 County Championship.[3] Against Nottinghamshire at Southampton, he scored 38 runs and helped to put on 60 runs for the seventh wicket in just over half an hour with Len Creese.[2] From Wellington, he pursued a career in the British Army and attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He graduated from there into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant in August 1935.[4] Alongside his nascent military career, Rawlence also studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge and graduated from there in 1937.[5]

Following his graduation from Cambridge, Rawlence was promoted to lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in August 1938.[6] In that same year, he made two first-class appearances for the British Army cricket team against Cambridge University and Oxford University.[3] He served in the Second World War, during which he was promoted to captain in August 1943,[7] and was made a MBE in February 1945.[8] Promotion to major followed after the war in August 1948.[9] Twelve years after his previous first-class appearance, Rawlence played for the Combined Services cricket team in a first-class fixture against Glamorgan at Cardiff in June 1950.[3] In the Royal Engineers, promotion to lieutenant colonel came in September 1956,[10] whilst in the 1957 New Year Honours, his order of chivalry was upgraded to OBE.[11] Rawlence was promoted to colonel in April 1959,[12] After retiring from the military, he returned to Pembroke College to study for his master's degree, graduating in 1965.[5] Rawlence died on 17 January 1983 at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, Berkshire.[2]