Charles McVittie explained

Charles McVittie
Fullname:Charles Arthur Blake McVittie
Birth Date:1908 7, df=yes
Birth Place:Rugeley, Staffordshire
Death Place:Stowting Common, Kent
Batting:Right-handed
Role:Wicket-keeper
Club1:Cambridge University
Year1:1929
Club2:Kent
Year2:1929
Type1:FC
Debutdate1:8 May
Debutyear1:1929
Debutfor1:Cambridge University
Debutagainst1:Glamorgan
Lastdate1:17 August
Lastyear1:1929
Lastfor1:Kent
Lastagainst1:Derbyshire
Source:https://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/17504.html CricInfo
Date:22 December
Year:2020

Charles Arthur Blake McVittie (30 July 1908 – 4 September 1973) was an English amateur cricketer who played in four first-class cricket matches during the 1929 season.

McVittie was born at Rugeley in Staffordshire, the son of Arthur and Margaret McVittie. Both of his parents were born in Shetland, although his paternal grandfather was a surgeon general in the Indian Medical Service and spent much of his working life in India, serving in wars in Afghanistan and Burma.[1] [2] [3] [4] His father was a doctor and the family moved to Aldington in Kent during McVittie's childhood.

McVittie was educated at Bedford School and Caius College, Cambridge, although he was only at Cambridge for four terms and left the university without graduating.[5] [6] [7] He played cricket as a wicket-keeper for his school from 1924 to 1927, heading the school's batting averages in 1925 and 1926 when he was described as Bedford's best batsman "with strokes and a very watchful defence".[8] He was chosen to keep wicket in the annual Rest v Lord's Schools match and for Young Amateurs v Young Professionals in his final year at school and played Second XI cricket for Kent whilst still a schoolboy.[5] [9]

He went up to Cambridge in 1927. He did not win a Blue, but played in three first-class matches for the university during 1929, making his debut against Glamorgan in May. Later the same season he played one County Championship match for Kent County Cricket Club at Dover, having impressed with the bat in Second XI matches.[5] [10]

After having "some success" as a racehorse trainer, McVittie served in the Welsh Guards during World War II. He finished the war as a captain and was awarded an MBE for his war service in north-west Europe. He later worked in the air transport industry.[5] McVittie married Everill Stobbs in 1932; the couple had three children.[1] He died at Stowting Common in Kent in 1973 aged 65.

Notes and References

  1. https://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I84098&tree=ID1 Charles Arthur Blake MCVITTIE
  2. https://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9178&tree=ID1 Arthur Craigie MCVITTIE
  3. 2347300 . 1916 . Surgeon-General Charles Edwin McVittie . British Medical Journal . 1 . 2881 . 435 . 10.1136/bmj.1.2881.435 .
  4. Hart's Army List 1899, pp.524–526. (Available online. Retrieved 2020-12-22.)
  5. Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part Two: 1919–1939, pp.116–117. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
  6. http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228455.html McVittie, Charles Arthur Blake
  7. http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/17504.html Charles McVittie
  8. Altham HS (1927) Public School Cricket in 1926, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1927, p.337. ( Available online. Retrieved 2020-12-22.)
  9. Altham HS (1928) Public School Cricket in 1927, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1928, p.338. ( Available online. Retrieved 2020-12-22.)
  10. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/31/31391/31391.html Charles McVittie