imported>DavidBoneYoung at 09:59, 19 November 2020

2020-11-19T09:59:45Z

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{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Reginald Lagden
| fullname = Reginald Bousfield Lagden
| birth_date = 15 April 1893
| birth_place = [[Maseru]], [[Lesotho]]
| death_date = 20 October 1944 (aged 51)
| death_place = [[Karachi]], [[British India]] (now [[Pakistan]])
| nickname =
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| heightm =
| batting =
| bowling =
| family = [[Ronald Lagden]] (brother)
| role =
| club1 = [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge University]]
| year1 = 1912–1914
| club2 = [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]]
| year2 = 1912
| club3 = [[Europeans cricket team|Europeans]]
| year3 = 1926
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
| matches1 = 32
| runs1 = 1,751
| bat avg1 = 31.83
| 100s/50s1 = 6/6
| top score1 = 153
| deliveries1 = 609
| wickets1 = 11
| bowl avg1 = 31.18
| fivefor1 = 0
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 2/22
| catches/stumpings1 = 18/–
| date = 10 September
| year = 2015
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/13/13879/13879.html CricketArchive
}}
'''Reginald Bousfield Lagden''' [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Military Cross|MC]] (15 April 1893 – 20 October 1944) was a British businessman and sporting administrator in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]. He was a [[Blue (university sport)|double blue]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], in [[cricket]] and [[field hockey]], and went on to represent [[England men's national hockey team|England]] in the latter sport, although his sporting career was interrupted by the First World War. After the war, Lagden settled in India, where he became prominent in [[Bengal]] business circles. He served as a president of the [[Calcutta Cricket and Football Club]] and the [[Cricket Association of Bengal]], but died in a plane crash in 1944, aged 51.

==Early life and sporting career==
Lagden was born in [[Maseru]], [[Basutoland]], which corresponds to present-day [[Lesotho]].<ref name="ca">[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/13/13879/13879.html Reginald Lagden] – CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 September 2015.</ref> His older brother, [[Ronald Lagden|Ronald Owen Lagden]], had also been born in Maseru, and was a first-class cricketer and England [[rugby union]] representative.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30849/30849.html Ronald Lagden] – CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 September 2015.</ref> Their father, Sir [[Godfrey Yeatman Lagden]], was an Englishman who had been [[Resident Commissioner in Basutoland]], while their mother was a South African, the daughter of [[Henry Bousfield]], the first [[Bishop of Pretoria]].<ref>[http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/lagden-gy.html Collection Level Description: Papers of Sir Godfrey Yeatman Lagden] – Bodleian Library. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> The brothers were sent to school at [[Marlborough College]], but then went their separate ways, with Ronald going on to [[Oriel College, Oxford]], and Reginald going on to [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]].<ref name="obit">[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228199.html Obituaries, 1944] – ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]''. Retrieved from ESPNcricinfo, 11 September 2015.</ref>

Making his first-class debut for the [[Cambridge University Cricket Club]] during the [[1912 English cricket season|1912 season]],<ref name="fc">[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/13/13879/First-Class_Matches.html First-class matches played by Reginald Lagden] – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> Lagden went on to score two centuries during the year – 101 against [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] and 132 against [[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]].<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8668.html Cambridge University v Yorkshire], University Match 1912 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref><ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8745.html Hampshire v Cambridge University], University Match 1912 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> In the 1912 [[The University Match (cricket)|University Match]] against Oxford, he played against his brother, who dismissed him for six runs in the second innings of what was to be his final first-class match.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8781.html Oxford University v Cambridge University], University Match 1912 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> Towards the end of the season, in July, Lagden also played a single [[County Championship]] match for [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]], appearing against Yorkshire at [[The Oval]].<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8806.html Surrey v Yorkshire], County Championship 1912 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> Lagden added three more centuries [[1913 English cricket season|in 1913]] – 142 against [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]] in the opening match of the season, a career-high 153 against Hampshire, and 125 against the [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]]. Owing to this good form, he was selected in both of the [[Gentlemen v Players]] fixtures at the season's end, representing the Gentlemen (the [[Amateur status in first-class cricket|amateur players]]).<ref name="fc"/> In Lagden's final year at Cambridge, he scored only a single century, an innings of 106 which once again came against Hampshire. In the same time, he was serving as captain of the [[University Match (hockey)|Cambridge University Hockey Club]]. His hockey was played as a centre half-back, and he represented England in several internationals during both 1913 and 1914.<ref name="obit"/>

==Military service and later life==
In the First World War, which saw his brother [[killed in action]], Lagden served as an officer in the [[Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)]]. He reached the substantive rank of [[Captain (United Kingdom)|captain]] and the temporary rank of [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] by the war's end, and was also awarded the [[Military Cross]]. After the war, Lagden moved to [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], India, setting himself up as a businessman in Calcutta. He remained involved in cricket, and in December 1926 played one final first-class match, captaining the "[[Europeans cricket team|Europeans of the East]]" against [[Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team in India in 1926–27|a touring English team]]. Over twelve years had passed since his previous match at that level.<ref name="fc"/> In 1928, he and [[Alexander Hosie (cricketer)|Alexander Hosie]], a former [[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]] player, were "the moving force behind the formation" of the [[Cricket Association of Bengal]] (CAB).<ref>{{cite book |last=Mukherji|first=Raju|date=2015|title=Eden Gardens Legend & Romance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqPDBgAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Brandnext|page=106|isbn=}}</ref> Lagden served as one of the first presidents of the association, and was also president of the [[Calcutta Cricket and Football Club]] (CC&FC), first elected in 1933.<ref name="gate">Ali Zaman. [http://www.koi-hai.com/default.aspx?id=490678 "Down memory lane: the Lagden Gate"] – Koi Hai. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref>

In May 1937, Lagden was made an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE), at which time he was a partner at [http://anton.blundelli.com/r-b-lagden/ McLeod] & Co., a Calcutta tea firm.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34396|date=11 May 1937|page=3097|supp=y}}</ref> He had also served as chairman of the Indian Tea Association. In October 1944, while returning to Calcutta from England, the RAF plane in which Lagden was travelling overshot the runway at [[Karachi Airport]], killing several of those on board in the subsequent explosion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Renshaw|first=Andrew|date=2014|title=Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914–1918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyoeAwAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=A&C Black|page=145|isbn=9781408832356}}</ref> He was survived by a widow and six children,<ref name="obit"/> who were awarded £17,300 in compensation after a six-year legal battle.<ref>[http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/freepress19501106-1.2.32.aspx "£17,300 for widow of air crash victim"] – ''[[The Singapore Free Press]]'', 6 November 1950. Retrieved 11 September 2015.</ref> After his death, the CC&FC erected a stone archway in his memory, which is known as the Lagden Gate.<ref name="gate"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/16412.html Reginald Lagden playing statistics] at ESPNcricinfo
* [https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/13/13879/13879.html Reginald Lagden playing statistics] at CricketArchive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagden, Reginald}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:Lesotho people of South African descent]]
[[Category:Lesotho people of English descent]]
[[Category:Lesotho emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Cambridge University cricketers]]
[[Category:English amateur cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen cricketers]]
[[Category:Indian cricket administrators]]
[[Category:Lesotho cricketers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Maseru]]
[[Category:Surrey cricketers]]
[[Category:English male field hockey players]]
[[Category:People of British India]]
[[Category:People educated at Marlborough College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1944]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Pakistan]]

Reginald Lagden - Revision history

imported>DavidBoneYoung at 09:59, 19 November 2020