Lawrence le Fleming

Lawrence Julius le Fleming (3 June 1879 – 21 March 1918) was an English soldier who played first-class cricket for Kent and the Army.^[1] He was born at Tonbridge in Kent and died at Maissemy, Aisne, France in the First World War.

Educated at Tonbridge School where he was in the school cricket team, le Fleming was a right-handed middle-order batsman.^[2] In his first first-class game for Kent in 1897, he made 40 out of a total of 123 against Middlesex, but this remained his highest score and he did not appear in county cricket after 1899.^[3] His only other first-class appearance was in the game between the Army and the Royal Navy in 1912, the first year in which inter-services matches were given first-class status.^[4]

Le Fleming was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment in 1899 and saw service during the Boer War, when he was present at the relief of Ladysmith and took part in the battles at Colenso and Spion Kop.^[5] He was on the staff at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst when the First World War broke out, but resigned to rejoin his regiment.^[5] He was wounded twice and returned to Sandhurst in 1915 in charge of a "gentlemen corps" of cadets, but went back to active service in 1917 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in charge of a battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, and was killed in March 1918.^[5]

Le Fleming was the sixth son of John le Fleming of Tonbridge; his older brother, also John, played cricket for Kent and was capped once for England at rugby union. Lawrence le Fleming married in December 1914, but his wife died in July 1917 leaving two small daughters.^[5]

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