Full name Robin Evelyn Whetherly Role Cricket Player Name Robin Whetherly | 1937–1938 Oxford University Batting style Right-handed Died November 27, 1943 | |
Born 23 July 1916 ( 1916-07-23 ) Westminster, London, England | ||
Robin Evelyn Whetherly MC (23 July 1916 – 27 November 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and soldier who died in action in World War II.
The son of Lieutenant Colonel William Stobart Whetherly, a decorated veteran of the Boer War and World War I, Whetherly was educated at Harrow School, where he kept wicket for the first XI in his final year, 1935, before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford, to read history.
He played several matches as a wicket-keeper for Oxford University in 1937 and 1938, but was overlooked for the annual match against Cambridge University in favour of Michael Matthews in 1937 and Roger Kimpton in 1938. He usually batted in the lower order, his only innings of more than 22 coming in the match against MCC at Lord's in 1937 when he batted at number four and made 63, adding 132 for the third wicket with Mandy Mitchell-Innes.
After working for a travel agency, he accepted a commission in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards on the outbreak of World War II. He served in Libya, where in April 1941 his regiment was attacked by the Afrika Korps. For his actions during the battle, in which he saved many of his men from capture, he was awarded the Military Cross. He continued to serve in North Africa until 1943, when he joined the Special Operations Executive, and parachuted into Yugoslavia to serve under Fitzroy Maclean in assisting the Yugoslav Partisans. He died near Glamoč in November 1943 while saving a fellow officer from a bomb during a German raid.