Edward Barrett (English sportsman)

Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett, CIE (22 June 1879 – 10 July 1950) was an English Army officer, cricketer[1] and rugby union international.[2] A right-handed batsman[3] who was considered one of the finest and hardest hitters of his day,[4] he played first-class cricket for Hampshire, mainly between 1896 and 1912, with additional matches in 1920 and 1925.[5]

Edward Barrett

Personal information
Full name	Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett
Born	(1879-06-22)22 June 1879 Churt, Surrey, England
Died	10 July 1950(1950-07-10) (aged 71) Boscombe, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1896–1925	Hampshire
1903–1920	Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)
1912	South of England
1912	Gentlemen of England
1912	Rest of England
First-class debut	13 August 1896 Hampshire v Warwickshire
Last First-class	25 July 1925 Hampshire v Worcestershire
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 86 Runs scored 3,804 Batting average 32.23 100s/50s 6/20 Top score 215 Balls bowled 32 Wickets 0 Bowling average – 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling – Catches/stumpings 36/0
Source: CricketArchive, 4 December 2007

Cricket career

Born on 22 June 1879 in Churt, Surrey, England, Barrett played his earliest cricket at Cheltenham College. He made his debut for Hampshire in 1896 against Warwickshire, and also played against Essex and Leicestershire the same year. He played more matches in 1897 and 1898[5] before serving in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902[6] though he did return for a handful of matches in 1901.[5]

He returned to the Hampshire team in 1903, playing three matches that year,[5] but by then his career with the police force was beginning to affect his availability for Hampshire, even more so when he was posted in the far east, where he played cricket for the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States and was eventually made Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police, where he played 14 matches for their cricket team over the years,[4] his last coming as late as 1927.[7]

In amongst his police career in the far east, he did still manage to play more for Hampshire, including a complete season in 1912, during which he also played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the Gentlemen of England, the South of England and the Rest of England. Following that season, he did not play again for Hampshire in 1920, when he again played a full season, and returned for one final match against Worcestershire in 1925.[5]

Rugby career

Barrett was injured during the war,[6] though this did not stop him from appearing for the England national rugby union team in 1903, playing one match against Scotland in the Four Nations.[8]

Military and disciplined service

Edward Barrett

Birth name	Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett
Date of birth	22 June 1879
Place of birth	Churt, Frensham, Sy
Date of death	10 July 1950
Place of death	Boscombe (aged 71 years 18 days)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) Lennox FC () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1903 England 1

After officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Barrett was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers on 11 February 1899. He served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in the Second Boer War 1899-1902, including as part of the Ladysmith Relief Force, and was slightly wounded at the engagement at Venters Spruit on 20 January 1900, when he had to take the responsibility as lieutenant, promotion to the rank later confirmed to the same day.[9] The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which formally ended in June 1902 after the Peace of Vereeniging. Barrett joined other officers and men of the battalion who left Cape Town on the SS Britannic in October that year, and was stationed at Aldershot after their return.[10] In 1903 he was promoted to captain, and in June 1903 was seconded as a Wing Officer to the Malay States Guides, a mostly Sikh regiment, stationed in Perak, in the Federated Malay States.[11]

On 1 May 1907 he joined the Shanghai Municipal Police, as Assistant Superintendent of Police, heading the Sikh Branch for some years, before becoming Commissioner of Police in December 1925. On 1 October 1929 he was forced to resign after disputes about police effectiveness and reform.[12] Barrett was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1919 Birthday Honours.[13]

Barrett died 10 July 1950 in Boscombe, Bournemouth, in a bicycling accident.[14][6]

References

1. Cricinfo profile
2. Edward Barrett Profile on scrum.com
3. CricketArchive profile
4. Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, Sports Books Publishing, 2007
5. First-class matches played by Edward Barrett at CricketArchive
6. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1951, Obituaries in 1950
7. Other matches played by Edward Barrett at CricketArchive
8. Rugby Union Statistics from scrum.com
9. "No. 27165". The London Gazette. 16 February 1900. p. 1077.
10. "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning Home". The Times (36899). London. 15 October 1902. p. 8.
11. Who's Who in the Far East, June 1906–07 (Hong Kong, 1906), p. 15
12. Robert Bickers, Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai (London: Allen Lane, 2003), p. 187.
13. The London Gazette, 30 May 1919, p. 7049
14. "Captain Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett (1879 - 1950)". The History of Sport Played in China's Treaty Ports. Retrieved 21 October 2019.

External links

• Biography of Barrett (with photos)