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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2020}}
{{short description|English cricketer and British Army officer}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name =
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Lancelot Townley Grove
| birth_date = 22 August 1905
| birth_place = [[Satara (city)|Satara]], [[Bombay Presidency]],<br>[[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1943|2|9|1905|8|22}}
| death_place = [[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]]
| nickname =
| family =
| batting = Unknown
| bowling = Unknown
| role =
| club1 =
| year1 =
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1 = 4
| runs1 = 332
| bat avg1 = 47.42
| 100s/50s1 = 1/2
| top score1 = 106
| deliveries1 = 42
| wickets1 = 1
| bowl avg1 = 22.00
| fivefor1 = –
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = 1/11
| catches/stumpings1 = 1/–
| date = 3 March
| year = 2019
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/13807.html Cricinfo
}}

'''Lancelot Townley Grove''' (22 August 1905 – 9 February 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and [[British Army]] officer. Attending the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], Grove was commissioned into the [[Royal Engineers]] in 1925. He later played [[first-class cricket]] for the [[British Army cricket team|British Army]] and the [[Combined Services cricket team]] in the last 1930s. He served in the [[Second World War]], during which he was killed in a plane crash in 1943.

==Life and military career==
Grove was born at [[Satara (city)|Satara]] in what was then [[British India]] to Colonel Percy Lynes Grove and his wife, Lorina.<ref name="BOOK">{{cite book |last1=McCrery |first1=Nigel |title=The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two |date=2011 |publisher=Pen and Sword |page=158-9 |volume=2nd volume |isbn=978-1526706980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYQwDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> He was educated in England at [[Charterhouse School]], before deciding on a career in the military and attending the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]].<ref name="BOOK"/> He graduated from Woolwich in September 1925, and was commissioned into the [[Royal Engineers]] as a [[Second_lieutenant#United_Kingdom_&_other_Commonwealth_countries|second lieutenant]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33081|date=4 September 1925|page=5836}}</ref> He was promoted to the rank of [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] in September 1927.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33308|date=2 September 1927|page=5671}}</ref> He had to wait nearly a decade for his not promotion, which came in September 1936 when he was promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34320|date=4 September 1936|page=5723}}</ref>

The following year he made his debut in [[first-class cricket]] for the [[British Army cricket team]] against the [[Oxford University Cricket Club|University of Oxford]] at [[University_Parks#Cricket_ground|Oxford]],<ref name="FCM">{{cite web|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29834/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class Matches played by Lancelot Grove |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=5 March 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> narrowly missing out on a [[century (cricket)|century]] on debut when he was dismissed for 96 by [[Richard West (cricketer, born 1916)|Richard West]] in the Army's first-innings.<ref name="BOOK"/> He made a further appearance for the Army in 1937,<ref name="FCM"/> against [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge University]],<ref name="FCM"/> with Grove scoring 75 in the Army's first-innings.<ref name="BOOK"/> He also played a first-class match in 1937 for a [[Combined Services cricket team]] against the touring [[New Zealand national cricket team|New Zealanders]] at [[United Services Recreation Ground|Portsmouth]].<ref name="FCM"/> Grove made a final first-class appearance for the Army against Cambridge University in 1938,<ref name="FCM"/> making 106 in the Army's first-innings.<ref name="BOOK"/> In four first-class matches, Grove scored 332 runs at an [[batting average (cricket)|average]] of 47.42.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29834/29834.html |title=Player profile: Lancelot Grove |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=5 March 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

He made an [[adjutant]] to Captain G. R. McMeekan in February 1938.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34499|date=5 April 1938|page=2247}}</ref> He served with the Royal Engineers during the [[Second World War]], with him being promoted to the rank of [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] in September 1942.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35690|date=1 September 1942|page=3855}}</ref> Grove died when the [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|Liberator]] he was aboard ran out of fuel during blizzard conditions and crashed at [[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|Gander]] in [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] on 9 February 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ganderairporthistoricalsociety.org/_html_war/Liberator.htm |title=Liberator AL591 Crash |first=Frank |last=Tibbo |publisher=Gander Airport Historical Society |accessdate=5 March 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="BOOK"/> He was buried at the Gander War Cemetery.<ref name="BOOK"/> Grove was survived by his wife, Joan Blanche Hill, and their son [[David Grove (British Army officer)|David]], who would later serve as a [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|major general]] in the British Army.<ref>{{cite news|title=Major-General David Anthony Grove, OBE, DL (1941–2005)|date=7 January 2006|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cricinfo|id=13807}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove, Lancelot}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Satara (city)]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:British Army cricketers]]
[[Category:Combined Services cricketers]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1943]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Canada]]
[[Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Lancelot Grove - Revision history

Bot at 22:38, 1 February 2022