On the night of 20 October 1941, the England Test fast bowler Pilot Officer Ken Farnes was killed when his Vickers Wellington bomber crashed shortly after take-off from RAF Chipping Warden in Oxfordshire on a night-flying training exercise. Farnes was 30, had taken 60 wickets in 15 Tests between 1934 and 1939, and had been one of the few amateurs in the country considered the equal of the leading Australian fast bowlers. His death, just 11 weeks before Hedley Verity was wounded in Sicily, was the first major loss of an active England Test cricketer in the Second World War.
Born in Leytonstone in 1911, Farnes stood 6ft 5in and bowled with a long, looping run-up. He made his Test debut in 1934, dismissing Bradman and taking 10 wickets in the Trent Bridge Ashes Test. As a schoolmaster and an amateur, he played only when school holidays permitted, which limited his county appearances but never his impact: in 1938 he took 11/76 in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's, considered one of the great fast-bowling displays of the inter-war period.
Farnes joined the RAFVR in 1940 and trained as a pilot in Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He was commissioned on 1 September 1941 and posted to No.12 OTU at Chipping Warden, where bomber crews completed conversion to the Wellington before joining operational squadrons. Night-flying training was statistically the most dangerous phase of Bomber Command service.
Farnes had been commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 1 September 1941, having served first in the ranks and trained as a pilot in Canada. He was posted to No.12 Operational Training Unit at RAF Chipping Warden, near Banbury, where new bomber crews flew Wellingtons by night before being released to operational squadrons.
On the night of 20 October 1941 he took off on a routine night-flying exercise. The aircraft crashed almost immediately after leaving the runway, killing Farnes and several of the crew. The Air Ministry recorded the cause as 'lost control on take-off, night'. He was buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, where his headstone still carries the simple inscription 'Cricketer'.
The news travelled quickly through wartime cricket. Essex captain Tom Pearce paid tribute; Wisden's 1942 almanack noted that England had lost a man who would surely have spearheaded the post-war attack. Farnes had taken 720 first-class wickets at 21.45, including a fearsome 11/76 for The Gentlemen v The Players at Lord's in 1938, and had been part of Hammond's tour of South Africa in 1938-39.
Unusually for a fast bowler of his era, Farnes was also a published author and a teacher at Worksop College. His wartime memoir Tours and Tests was published posthumously in 1940.
1 Sep 1941 — commissioned as Pilot Officer in the RAFVR
Posted to No.12 Operational Training Unit, RAF Chipping Warden
Night of 20 Oct 1941 — takes off on night-flying training exercise
Aircraft crashes shortly after leaving the runway
Farnes killed instantly along with several crew
Buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey
8 Jul 1911
Born in Leytonstone, Essex
1934
Test debut v Australia at Trent Bridge; 10 wickets in match
1938
Takes 11/76 for Gentlemen v Players at Lord's
1938-39
Tours South Africa under Hammond
1940
Joins RAFVR; trains as pilot in Canada
1 Sep 1941
Commissioned as Pilot Officer
20 Oct 1941
Killed in Wellington crash on take-off, RAF Chipping Warden
“He had everything: pace, lift, hostility and the temperament of a Test bowler. England would have built her post-war attack around him.”
“Cricketer.”
Wisden's 1942 obituary ran to nearly two columns and was written by RC Robertson-Glasgow. Essex CCC held a memorial service at Chelmsford. The Royal Air Force lost more than 55,000 aircrew during the war; Farnes was one of more than a dozen first-class cricketers killed in service.
The first England Test cricketer killed in active service in the Second World War. A loss of a player still in his prime and considered the natural successor to Larwood as England's spearhead.
Farnes's reputation has only grown with time as a fast bowler of genuine pace and hostility — perhaps the most genuinely quick English bowler between Larwood and Tyson. The Gentlemen v Players spell of 11/76 at Lord's in 1938 is still cited in Wisden lists of great fast-bowling performances. A memorial board at Worksop College, where he taught, still bears his name.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.