Hitendra Narayan: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{Use Indian English|date=July 2022}}

Hitendra Singh Narayan was born in [[Cooch Behar]], [[Bengal]], [[India]], on 1 July 1890.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/31796.html |title=Player profile: Prince Hitendra Narayan |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref> He was the youngest of four sons born to [[Nripendra Narayan]], the Maharaja of [[Cooch Behar State]].<ref name="royal">{{cite web |url=http://coochbehar.nic.in/HTMfiles/royal_history.html |title=Royal History of Cooch Behar |publisher=Cooch Behar District |access-date=16 October 2022}}</ref> The Maharaja was a keen sportsman, and funded at least three cricket teams in India, as well as hosting [[polo]], [[horse racing]] and [[wrestling]] on his palatial estate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/royalty-cricket-cooch-behar-story/132593 |title=Royalty, cricket and the Cooch Behar story |last=Dasgupta |first=Shamya |work=[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden India]] |date=31 October 2014 |access-date=17 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018013535/http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/royalty-cricket-cooch-behar-story/132593 |archive-date=18 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A history of the [[Eden Gardens]] cricket ground in [[Kolkata]] describes Nripendra as "a patron of cricket without parallel in east India."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqPDBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |title=Eden Gardens Legend & Romance |last=Mukherji |first=Raju |publisher=Kolkatatoday.com |year=2015 |page=34}}</ref> Two of Hitendra Narayan's older brothers, [[Jitendra Narayan]] and [[Victor Narayan]], played [[first-class cricket]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/38/38596/38596.html |title=Player profile: Jitendra Narayan |website=CricketArchive |access-date=17 October 2017 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/45/45540/45540.html |title=Player profile: Prince Victor |website=CricketArchive |access-date=17 October 2017 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Hitendra Narayan was tutored as a child by [[John Daniell (cricketer)|John Daniell]], an English sportsman who had played top-level [[rugby union]] and [[cricket]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Somerset Cricketers 1882 – 1914 |last=Hill |first=Stephen |year=2016 |publisher=Halsgrove |location=Wellington, Somerset |isbn=978-0-85704-291-0 |pages=190–191}}</ref> Narayan continued his education in England, first at Farnborough School,<ref name="princes">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.36665/2015.36665.Ruling-Princes-And-Chiefs-Notables-And-Principal-Officials-Of-The-Punjab-Native-States#page/n35/mode/2up |title=Ruling Princes And Chiefs, Notables And Principal Officials Of The Punjab Native States |year=1918 |publisher=Government of Punjab |page=28}}</ref> and then [[Eton College]], where he enjoyed some sporting success, being school junior champion in the [[high jump]], and runner-up in the [[long jump]]. He went up to [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], where he played cricket for his college, but did not make it into the university team.<ref name="hill">{{cite book | title = Somerset Cricketers 1882 – 1914 |last=Hill |first=Stephen |year=2016 |publisher=Halsgrove |location=Wellington, Somerset |isbn=978-0-85704-291-0 |pages=323–324}}</ref>

He was commissioned as an Honorary Lieutenant on 15 October 1914 in the [[Indian Army during World War I#Indian Expeditionary Force A|Indian Expeditionary Force]] during the [[First World War]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28939 |supp=4 |date=15 October 1914 |page=8237}}</ref> initially as part of the Dehra Dun Brigade, and later the Garhwal Brigade. He was posted as a [[Staff (military)|staff officer]] to the [[general officer commanding]]. On 22 June 1915, he was [[mentioned in dispatches]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29200 |supp=3 |date=22 June 1915 |page=5980}}</ref> for his role in the [[Battle of Neuve Chapelle]]. He was injured on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in 1915 and spent the rest of the war in India.<ref name="princes"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lafayette.org.uk/coo2805.html |title=Sitters from India: 1901 |publisher=Lafayette Negative Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum |access-date=18 October 2022}}</ref> He later served as Military Secretary to [[Bhupinder Singh of Patiala]].<ref name="princes"/>

His father had died in 1911, and his oldest brother, [[Rajendra Narayan|Rajendra]] had succeeded him as Maharaja, though he only lived two more years before succumbing to illness, and another brother, Jitendra, ascended to the throne.<ref name="royal"/> He continued his father's tradition of sporting patronage, and the "Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI" played five first-class matches between November 1917 and January 1919.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/914/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-class matches played by Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI |website=CricketArchive |access-date=18 October 2017 |url-access=subscription  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019003500/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/914/First-Class_Matches.html |archive-date=19 October 2022}}</ref> Hitendra played in three of these matches, though with little success; he scored fifteen runs at an average of 7.50.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3730/f_Batting_by_Team.html |title=First-class batting and fielding for each team by Prince Hitendra Narayan |website=CricketArchive |access-date=18 October 2017 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> He died from influenza on 7 November 1920, in [[Darjeeling]].<ref name="hill"/>