Tom Urquhart Pollitt OBE (14 July 1900 – 13 August 1979) was an English first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer. Initially a non-commissioned officer when he joined the Royal Air Force, he later served as a commissioned officer during the Second World War. He also played first-class cricket for the Royal Air Force cricket team.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Tom Urquhart Pollitt | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 14 July 1900 Farnham, Surrey, England | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 13 August 1979 (aged 79) Ely, Cambridgeshire, England | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Left-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 21 March 2019 | |||||||||||||||
Life and military career
editPollitt enlisted in the Royal Air Force as a non-commissioned officer prior to 1931. He played first-class cricket for the Royal Air Force cricket team against the Army at The Oval in 1931.[1] Batting twice in the match as an opening batsman, he was dismissed for 6 runs in the Royal Air Force first-innings by Adrian Gore, while in their second-innings he was dismissed for 14 runs by the same bowler.[2]
Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Pollitt was made a commissioned officer when he was promoted from warrant officer to flying officer in June 1939.[3] In August 1940, he was granted the war substantive rank of flight lieutenant.[4] He was mentioned in dispatches twice in 1941, in January and March.[5][6] He was made an OBE in the 1942 Birthday Honours.[7] He was mentioned in dispatches in June 1943,[8] and then in the same month he was promoted to the war substantive rank of squadron leader, antedated to July 1942.[9] He was promoted to the temporary rank of wing commander in July 1944.[10] A year after the conclusion of the war, he was promoted to the full rank of squadron leader.[11] He was granted seniority in the rank of squadron leader back to June 1945.[12] He was promoted to the full rank of wing commander in July 1947, with seniority to October 1946.[13] He retired from active service in April 1955, retaining the rank of wing commander.[14]
He died at Ely in August 1979.
References
edit- ^ "First-Class Matches played by Tom Pollitt". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Army v Royal Air Force, 1931". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "No. 34641". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 June 1939. p. 4454.
- ^ "No. 35042". The London Gazette. 14 January 1941. p. 276.
- ^ "No. 35029". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1940. p. 35.
- ^ "No. 35107". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 March 1941. p. 1574.
- ^ "No. 35586". The London Gazette. 5 June 1942. p. 2488.
- ^ "No. 36033". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 May 1943. p. 2454.
- ^ "No. 36030". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 May 1943. p. 2363.
- ^ "No. 36618". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 July 1944. p. 3396.
- ^ "No. 37812". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 December 1946. p. 6018.
- ^ "No. 37892". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 February 1947. p. 992.
- ^ "No. 38020". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 July 1947. p. 3421.
- ^ "No. 40485". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 May 1955. p. 3001.