William Brindley

Captain William Thomas Brindley OBE, OStJ, KPFSM (4 December 1896 – 13 August 1958) was an English police officer. Brindley was also a cricketer, who played as a right-handed batsman, although his bowling style is not known. He was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School from 1910 to 1915.[1] He would later become a senior colonial police officer in Ceylon.

Brindley served in World War I, entering service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the reserve of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.[2] By November 1917 he held the rank of Lieutenant and was still serving in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, in that same month he was promoted to Acting Captain.[3] Following the war, Brindley reverted to a Lieutenant on 25 June 1919.[4] He left the British Army on 1 April 1920, upon resigning his commission he was granted the rank of captain.[5]

At some point following the war he joined the Ceylon Police Force.[6] In the 1920s Brindley began playing representative cricket. In England, he made his debut for Buckinghamshire in the 1925 Minor Counties Championship against the Kent Second XI.[7] In British Ceylon he made his first-class debut for Dr J Rockwood's Ceylon XI against WE Lucas' Bombay XI in February 1926. A year later he made another two first-class appearances, one for the Europeans (Ceylon) against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club, and another for Ceylon against the same opposition.[8] He returned to England in 1930, playing Minor counties cricket for Buckinghamshire,[7] as well as making a first-class appearance for the Minor Counties against Lancashire.[8] He also appeared for Club Cricket Conference against the Australians (Lords, 6–8 September), taking five for 71, including Kippax and McCabe in one over.[9] His next first-class appearance came for Ceylon against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club in February 1934. In that same month he appeared for a combined India and Ceylon XI against the same opposition.[8] In 1935, he once again returned to England, where he made eight further Minor Counties Championship appearances for Buckinghamshire,[7] as well as making two further first-class appearances for the Minor Counties, against Cambridge University and Oxford University.[8] These matches marked his final first-class appearances, in total he made nine appearances, scoring 221 runs at an average of 17.00, with a high score of 59 not out. With the ball, he took 14 wickets at a bowling average of 27.78, with best figures of 5/40.[10]

He was present at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey in December 1936.[11] In January 1938, Brindley was admitted to the Venerable Order of Saint John as an officer.[12] In 1947, he was made a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.[13] By this stage in his policing career, he was the Deputy Inspector General of Police in Ceylon. He continued this role into 1951, a year in which he was awarded the King's Police and Fire Services Medal by King George VI in the 1951 Birthday Honours.[14] In Ceylon, he led the Police side to several Government Services Cricket Championships.[6] He died in Virginia Water, Surrey on 13 August 1958.