Hervey Tudway

Hervey Robert Charles Tudway (23 September 1888 – 18 November 1914) was a member of a long-established family from Wells, Somerset who played one first-class cricket match for Somerset in 1910.^[1] He was born at Westminster, London and died while serving as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards at Boulogne, France.

Family and background[]

The Tudway family were prominent in Wells from the middle of the 18th century with wealth derived from sugar plantations in the West Indies, and a series of three family members served as the Member of Parliament for Wells from 1754 to 1830, with a further family member being MP for three years from 1852 to 1855.^[2] Hervey's father was Charles Tudway, who owned industrial and other property in and around Wells and who lived at Milton Lodge, Wells, where he created a spectacular garden on a hillside that is now regularly open to the public.^[3]

Hervey Tudway's mother, and the source of his first name, was Alice, who was the daughter of Sir Frederick Hervey-Bathurst, 4th Baronet and the granddaughter of Sir Frederick Hervey-Bathurst, 3rd Baronet, both of her ancestors being prominent cricket players.

Cricket career[]

Tudway's career in first-class cricket was brief: he played in one match for Somerset against Hampshire in 1910, batting at No 8 and making six runs in each of the two innings.^[4] He did not bowl, and it is not known whether he batted right- or left-handed. The venue of Tudway's only first-class match, the Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot may have reflected the fact that he was a serving army officer: his obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for 1915 records that he "played frequently for the Household Brigade".^[5]

Army career[]

Tudway was commissioned as a probationary second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 5 February 1908.^[6] Two years later, in February 1910, he was confirmed as a full second lieutenant.^[7] Later that same year, on 29 September 1910, he was promoted to lieutenant.^[8]

Tudway died of his wounds at Boulogne in the first months of the First World War.^[5] The 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards was engaged in the First Battle of Ypres at this stage of the war. He is buried in the .^[1]

References[]