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Professor David Buckingham

It is with sadness that we announced that Professor David Buckingham CBE FRS FAA has died at the age of 91, peacefully at home surrounded by members of his family.

Please click here to view the announcement on the Pembroke College website.

 

Professor Buckingham was a Past President of CUCC and below is a personal tribute from Professor Ken Siddle the current Senior Treasurer of CUCC.

"David was my predecessor as Senior Treasurer of CUCC in the 1980s, and Roger Knight’s predecessor as President for the best part of 20 years through the 90s and noughties.  He was a lovely man, a great personal friend and a tremendous servant of the Club he cared for so passionately.  He was also a very eminent academic, FRS and Fellow then Honorary Fellow of Pembroke (where for many years CUCC Committee meetings and AGMs were held).  He was Australian by birth and first came to Cambridge in the early 50s to do a PhD after studying in Sydney.  He then spent time in Oxford (1955-65) and Bristol before returning to Cambridge in 1969.

I tracked down his full first class record on Cricket Archive. He was an opening batsman and very occasional off-break bowler.

4 matches for CUCC in 1955, against Surrey, Yorkshire (I remember him recounting facing Fred Trueman at Fenners), Essex and Middlesex

6 matches for Free Foresters against CUCC and OUCC, 1957-1960 (He opened the innings with Henry Blofeld in his last match)

10 games in all, 349 runs at ave 18.3, highest scores of 52 not out for CUCC, 61 for Foresters.

In those few first class appearances he played with and against some of the greats of the game (the likes of Peter May, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Trevor Bailey, Fred Trueman, Brian Close, Bill Edrich, Bob Barber, Ted Dexter, Tony Lewis…..)"

 

From everyone at the University of Cambridge Sports Service, we offer our sincere condolences to Professor David Buckingham's family and friends. 

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