Betty Archdale
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Helen Elizabeth Archdale | |||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Paddington, London, England | 21 August 1907|||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 1 January 2000 Killara, New South Wales, Australia | (aged 92)|||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Betty | |||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Batter | |||||||||||||||||||||
Relations | Helen Archdale (mother) Alexander Archdale (brother) | |||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
National side |
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 1) | 28 December 1934 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 13 July 1937 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||
1937 | Kent | |||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 12 March 2021 |
Helen Elizabeth Archdale (21 August 1907 – 11 January 2000) was an English educationalist and cricketer. She played as a right-handed batter, and appeared in 5 Test matches for England between 1934 and 1937. She was the first captain of England, leading them on their first tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1934/35. She played domestic cricket for various regional teams, as well as Kent.[1][2]
Biography[]
Archdale was born in London, the daughter of Helen Archdale (née Russel), a suffragette who was at one time jailed for smashing windows at Whitehall, and was later renowned as a leading British feminist;[3] and an Irish professional soldier in the British Army, who died in World War I when she was eleven. Her godmother was Emmeline Pankhurst. Archdale attended Bedales School in Hampshire where she learned to play cricket and, thence, to St Leonards School in St Andrews, Fife.[4]
After school Archdale attended McGill University in Montreal, graduating in 1929 with a BA in Economics and Political Science. She studied Law in London. Specialising in international law, she conducted part of her studies in the Soviet Union. In 1938 she was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn.[5]
During World War II, she served in the WRNS as a wireless operator in Singapore. She arrived in July 1941 at the head of a group of forty Wrens trained in wireless telegraphy.[6] She was awarded an Order of the British Empire for helping nurses escape from the conflict.[5]
Having moved to Australia, in 1946 she was appointed principal of Sydney University's "Women's College", a post she held for 10 years. Archdale was a member of the University Senate for 25 years, and a television and radio personality throughout the 1960s.[5]
Archdale was headmistress of the private girls school Abbotsleigh in Wahroonga, Sydney for 12 years from 1958. Archdale was credited with breaking down the rigid system of discipline at the school, with introducing sex education and abandoning the gloves and hat as part of the school uniform. She also reformed the curriculum, introducing physics and cutting back on British, in favour of Australian, history. The Assembly Hall (1963) and Chapel (1965) both date from this time. She lived on an estate in Galston, Sydney with her brother Alexander Archdale, an actor.[5]
Honours and legacy[]
In 1997, she was listed as a National Living Treasure.[7] In March 1999, Archdale was one of the first ten women to be granted Honorary Life Membership of Marylebone Cricket Club in England.[8] She died on 1 January 2000 at the age of 92, in Sydney.[5]
The Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools, 'Archdale Debating' competition (for Sydney's Private and Catholic Girls' schools) is named in her honour.[9]
References[]
- ^ "Player Profile: Betty Archdale". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ "Player Profile: Betty Archdale". CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ "LEADING BRITISH FEMINIST IN SYDNEY". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 25 October 1946. p. 9. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
- ^ David Doughan (2004) "Archdale, Helen Alexander (1876–1949)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Philip Jones (16 February 2000) Obituary: Betty Archdale, The Guardian, London
- ^ 'History of Far East Combined Bureau and H.M.S. Anderson', typescript in the National Archives, HW 4/25, chapter 2, p. 10.
- ^ "15 new Living National Treasures". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 March 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "MCC delivers first 10 maidens". BBC News. 16 March 1999. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "Archdale Debating". Association of Heads of Independent Girls Schools. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
External links[]
- Betty Archdale at ESPNcricinfo
- Betty Archdale at CricketArchive (subscription required)
Further reading[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Betty Archdale. |
- Deirdre Macpherson, The Suffragette's Daughter: Betty Archdale, Her Life of Feminism, Cricket, War and Education, Rosenberg Publishing, Dural
- FitzSimons, Peter (2006). Great Australian Sports Champions. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-7322-8517-8.
- 1907 births
- 2000 deaths
- Australian educators
- England women Test cricketers
- Kent women cricketers
- McGill University alumni
- People educated at Bedales School
- People educated at St Leonards School
- Cricketers from Greater London
- Members of Gray's Inn