Robin Whetherly
Robin Evelyn Whetherly MC was an English first-class cricketer and soldier who died in action in World War II.
The son of Lieutenant Colonel William Stobart Whetherly, a decorated veteran of the Boer War and World War I, Whetherly was educated at Harrow School, where he kept wicket for the first XI in his final year, 1935, before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford, to read history.
He played several matches as a wicket-keeper for Oxford University in 1937 and 1938, but was overlooked for the annual match against Cambridge University in favour of Michael Matthews in 1937 and Roger Kimpton in 1938. He usually batted in the lower order, his only innings of more than 22 coming in the match against Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 1937 when he batted at number four and made 63, adding 132 for the third wicket with Mandy Mitchell-Innes.
After working for a travel agency, he accepted a commission in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards on the outbreak of World War II. He served in Libya, where in April 1941 his regiment was attacked by the Afrika Korps. For his actions during the battle, in which he saved many of his men from capture, he was awarded the Military Cross. He continued to serve in North Africa until 1943, when he joined the Special Operations Executive, and parachuted into Yugoslavia to serve as part of Macmis under Fitzroy Maclean, in assisting the Yugoslav Partisans. He died at Glamoc Airfield near Glamoč in November 1943 while on a Dornier Do 17 piloted by Croatian Air Force defectors. The plane was strafed with bombs and machine-guns by a Heinkel He 46, and Whetherly was killed by a bomb strike that hit while he and others were climbing out of the Dornier.
