Devon's youngest centurion by Conrad Sutcliffe

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Player:

SO Reed

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DateLine: 29th December 2010

 

Torquay cricketer Matt Thompson has finally been confirmed as the youngest player to score a century for Devon – nearly six months after he hit 122 against Herefordshire.

 

Opening batsman Thompson was aged 18 years and 206 days when he made his century at Eastnor on July 4 this year. That makes him Devon’s youngest centurion by just one day.

 

Carrying out the research that established Thompson's place in the history books revealed the touching, and ultimately tragic story of Stanley Oscar Reed, who was a day older when he made his first Devon ton back in 1913.

 

Devon's archive is a bit hit-and-miss in place – much of it was lost during bombing raids on Exeter during World War Two – and there was no definite list of century makers, never mind the youngest ones.

 

Harold Shaw, the Newton Abbot-based Devon scorer, set to work collating the 400 or so Minor Counties Championship centuries scored by 98 different batsmen since the county joined the competition in 1901.

 

Finding the centuries was relatively easy compared to establishing when all the players were born, a task which took months of research by the octogenarian Shaw.

 

Shaw got down to a short list of two who may have been younger than Thompson when they scored their maiden centuries: South Devon's JAL Watts and Reed, who was a Torquay player before the Great War.

 

When dates of birth were finally established – painstaking work which required the help of register offices in Torquay and Newton Abbot – Shaw discovered that Reed was just one day older than Thompson when he hit a century against Dorset at Sherborne at the end of the 1913 season.

 

Watts turned out to be 18 years and 254 days old when he made his maiden century, also against Dorset but at Blandford in 1933.

 

"It turned out to be quite an involved job tracking down Stanley Reed's date of birth as we had no clear idea where to start," said Shaw.

 

"Two different sources put his date of birth two years apart – and neither of them had the month or day he was born.

 

"Eventually, we found an obituary for him in Wisden, which said how old he was when he died. From that we were able to trace his date of birth to January 23, 1895.

 

"To think, he was Devon's youngest century maker for almost 100 years – and no one knew!"

 

Delving around on the Internet, in musty archives and military record offices unearthed the fascinating, but tragic, life story of Stanley Reed, who was an unlikely Minor Counties cricketer to say the least.

 

He was born in St Marychurch, Torquay to Charles Reed and his wife Annie, whose address was 42 St Margaret’s Road. Mr Reed's occupation was listed as 'carter' on the birth certificate.

 

Young Reed excelled at cricket and football as a youngster and was signed by Torquay Town to play on the wing. Later he was transferred to Plymouth Argyle, for whom he played three league games, and he also turned out for Exeter City.

 

Reed's passion though was for cricket and by 1911 he was among the professionals at Torquay CC, who played on the Chapel Hill ground not far from his St Marychurch home.

 

Lots of clubs had professionals – often more than one – but generally they were there to do the jobs the gentlemen didn't relish, usually bowling.

 

Reed was a batsman through and through and within a couple of years he was attached to the groundstaff at the County Ground in Exeter as one of five professionals engaged by Devon on summer terms.

 

Amateur cricket historian Roger Mann, who lives just a six-hit away from Chapel Hill, said Reed would have been almost unique in that era as a batting professional.

 

"Young lads who were decent cricketers and mad about the game would hang around clubs looking to be taken on as groundsman's assistants, or even ball chasers for the amateurs at practice," said Mann.

 

"They would want to be part of the club, but could not afford the membership fee. He was probably taken on at Torquay to help with the ground, fill up the XI when needed, or might be loaned to the opposition as a paid mercenary.

 

"He would have been one of the professionals, but not the teaching professional. He would have been too young for that as and would have been of little use to Torquay because he did not bowl to any standard.

 

"The fact he was one of five Devon professionals reinforces the idea he was a menial pro, rather than a teaching one.

 

"He was clearly a fine batsman though. Given his humble background he would not have got into the team of patricians Devon had at the time – landowners, baronets, clergymen and senior military officers - otherwise."

 

Reed played 11 times for Devon in 1913 and 1914, making 81 against Monmouth on his debut at Exeter and topping the county batting averages in his first season with 39.58. The following season his average improved to 48.00, but he dropped down to third in the averages.

 

Read made 18 trips to the crease for Devon, hitting six 50s and his lone century in a grand total of 695 runs scored at an average of 40.88.

 

His last innings for Devon was on August 4, 1914 at Exeter in the 10-wicket win over Cornwall. It was the day the United Kingdom declared war against Germany and the Kaiser. Reed never played a serious game of cricket again.

 

Read enlisted in the11th Devonshire Regiment in December 1915 – the Allies were pulling out of the Dardanelles at the time - and was sent to Wareham Battle Camp in Dorset to train before being sent to the frontline in France.

 

Clearly Read impressed his superiors as he was promoted to lance-corporal while still undergoing his training.

 

The day after he was awarded his stripe, Reed was killed when a grenade he was about to throw during a training drill exploded in his left hand. He suffered severe head injuries and died instantly. It was April 1916 and Reed was 21 years old.

 

There was no Herald Express then – the first edition was nine years away – however the now defunct Torquay Times carried a message from Reed’s family thanking their friends, and the officers and sergeants of the Devon's for their sympathy and tributes.

 

A full coroner’s report appeared in the Dorset County Chronicle of May 4, in which gruesome details L Cpl Reed’s death were reported. After hearing the facts, and pronouncing a verdict of accidental death, the jury asked the coroner to send their fees to the family of the deceased.

 

Stanley Oscar Reed’s final journey was back to Torquay for a full military funeral in the graveyard at Hele. His coffin was mounted on a gun carriage at Wareham Barracks and accompanied to the railway station by the regimental band playing Beethoven's Death March.

 

A detachment of soldiers accompanied Reed back to Torquay to form a firing party at his graveside.

 

 

With thanks to the Herald Express for permission to reproduce this article.