National and local hero.

posted by John Winn

As part of my research into the history of cricket in Wensleydale I have been privileged to have access to the minute book of Spennithorne and Harmby CC for the period from 1936 to 1960. Spennithorne, a small village near Leyburn, were members of the Wensleydale League almost from its inception in 1947 and a name that features in the history of the club throughout the period covered in the book is that of Philip van Straubenzee and to give him his full title by 1960 you need to add Colonel at the beginning and DSO for afters.

Colonel van Straubenzee was descended from a North Yorkshire family of Dutch descent and his forebears came to England to support the Jacobite cause in 1745. The colonel was born in Johnannesburg in 1912 and educated at Aysgarth School before Sherborne and then Sandhurst. The DSO was awarded for distinguished war service against the Japanese in Burma and after his military career he had various businesses including market gardening, dairy farming and most successfully, a caravan park. When he died in 2005 he merited obituaries in the national press and descriptions of his military campaigns read like something from 'Boy's Own' or the pages of H Rider Haggard.

P van S held various offices with his local cricket club and he was clearly a conscientious and generous committee member. The first meeting documented in the minute book was called on February 10th 1936 'to consider the revival of the club' and ten years later that same phrase is used to describe the village's reaction to the resumption of cricket in peacetime but with Philip's brother Henry, also a colonel and DSO, in the chair. Philip holds the office of President at this time and it is minuted that the club 'has been provided with a new ground..... by the President.' The ground at Mill Flats Field remains in use by the club to this day. No ground is complete without a pavilion and by 1947 this need had been fulfilled, again with the help of The President.

As young men the brothers lived at Spennithorne House with their grandfather(their father had died of enteric fever when the boys were very young) and both were very keen cricketers. Henry, younger by two years played first class cricket including one game for Essex in the championship. He was at Dunkirk and fearing the worst, buried his I Zingari sweater to prevent it falling into German hands!

Place the name van Straubenzee into a search engine and it will reveal more of the lives of these two remarkable men. You will also find entries for other members of the family including friends of Prince Harry.

Heavy rain has fallen in The Lower Ure Valley today and on such days  next season seems a long way off but I understand Tuesday will bring the publication of the first class and other county fixtures for 2013, always a special day in my calendar and I suspect many other pcws feel the same.