John Wilfred Findlay (27 November 1891 – 1 June 1951) was a New Zealand cricketer, soldier and businessman.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Wilfred Findlay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1891-11-27)27 November 1891 Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 1 June 1951(1951-06-01) (aged 59) Mount Kisco, New York, United States of America | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Sir John Findlay (father) James Lloyd Findlay (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1910-11 to 1911-12 | Wellington | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 23 November 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wilfred Findlay was the eldest of three sons of John Findlay, a New Zealand KC and politician who became a Cabinet minister and was knighted in 1911.[1] The second son, James Lloyd Findlay, was an officer who served in both world wars,[2] and the third son, Ian Calcutt Findlay, died on active service in the First World War.[3]
Wilfred Findlay attended Wellington College, Wellington, where he played in the cricket team. He showed promise in Wellington senior cricket as a fast bowler of genuine pace.[4] He made his first-class debut shortly after he turned 19, and played four matches for Wellington in two seasons, taking 13 wickets at the low average of 15.30 and at a high strike-rate of a wicket every 33 deliveries.[5]
However, family and business commitments took Findlay to England in 1912.[6][7][8] He enlisted in the British Army shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and served throughout the war, first with the King's Royal Rifles and then with the Machine Gun Corps, ending with the rank of major.[9]
On 23 December 1919, in Loughton, Essex, he married Miss Helen Blagden Rich of New York. He was working in insurance in London at the time.[10][11] He spent most of the rest of his life in Britain and finally the United States, where he was an executive in the insurance industry in New York.[12]