Ralph Hamilton Crake DSO DL (13 April 1882 – 26 January 1952) was a Scottish first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ralph Hamilton Crake | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 April 1882 Madras, Madras Presidency, British India | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 January 1952(1952-01-26) (aged 69) Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Unknown | ||||||||||||||
| Relations | Eric Crake (brother) | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1901 | Marylebone Cricket Club | ||||||||||||||
| 1920/21 | Europeans | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: Cricinfo, 30 May 2021 | |||||||||||||||
The son of the merchant and footballer William Crake, he was born in British India at Madras. He was educated in England at Harrow School,[1] where he played for the school cricket team.[2] Having left Harrow in 1900, Crake played a single first-class cricket match for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Nottinghamshire at Lord's in 1901.[3] He scored 8 runs in the MCC first innings and a single run in their second innings, being dismissed on both occasions by John Gunn.[4]
After completing his education, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He graduated from that school in May 1901, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers.[5] Soon after being commissioned he went to South Africa, where he saw action with the 1st battalion of his regiment in the Second Boer War.[1] The war in South Africa ended in May 1902, and he returned home later that year, on the SS Kildonan Castle in December 1902.[6] He was promoted to lieutenant in September 1905,[7] with promotion to captain following in November 1908.[8] He was station in Egypt in 1909, where he played minor cricket matches for the Egyptian cricket team.[9] Crake served in the First World War, seeing action during the Mesopotamian campaign from 1915 to 1918.[2] He gained promotion to major in May 1916,[10] while in August of the same year he was made an acting lieutenant colonel while commanding a battalion.[11] He relinquished his acting rank in October 1916,[12] but was once again made an acting lieutenant colonel in August 1917.[13] Crake was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in February 1918.[14]
Following the war, he served in British India. While there, he made his second appearance in first-class cricket, after a gap of nearly twenty years, for the Europeans cricket team against the Parsees at Bombay in the Bombay Quadrangular in November 1920.[3] Batting twice during the match, he made scores of 37 in the Europeans first innings and 1 in their second innings, being dismissed on both occasions by M. B. Vatcha.[15]
Crake was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant colonel in July 1930,[16] before being placed on the half-pay list in July 1934.[17] He retired from active service in January 1935.[18] Crake was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Berwickshire in April 1937.[19] During the Second World War he assisted the Army Cadet Force at Roxburgh.[20] Crake died at Edinburgh in January 1952.[2] His brother, Eric, was also a first-class cricketer.