Druce Brandt

{{short description|English cricketer, academic, and British Army officer}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name =

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Druce Robert Brandt

| birth_date = 20 October 1887

| birth_place = Streatham, Surrey, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1915|7|6|1887|10|20}}

| death_place = Boezinge, West Flanders, Belgium

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| nickname =

| family =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| role = Wicket-keeper

| club1 = Oxford University

| year1 = {{nowrap|1907–1908}}

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 8

| runs1 = 105

| bat avg1 = 9.75

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 23

| hidedeliveries = true

| catches/stumpings1 = 6/3

| date = 4 January

| year = 2020

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/9952.html Cricinfo

}}

Druce Robert Brandt (20 October 1887 – 6 July 1915) was an English first-class cricketer, academic and British Army officer.

The son of Robert E. Brandt and Florence Brandt, he was born at Streatham in October 1887. He was educated at Harrow School, where he met with success in sport. He was in both the football and cricket XI's, in addition to winning the lightweight public schools' boxing championship in 1903.{{cite book|last=McCrery|first=Nigel|title=Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mphCgAAQBAJ|date=30 July 2015|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1473864191|page=111-2}} From Harrow he went up to Brasenose College, Oxford where he played first-class cricket for Oxford University in 1907 and 1908, making eight appearances.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28096/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class Matches played by Druce Brandt |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=2020-01-05 |url-access=subscription}} Playing as a wicket-keeper, he scored 105 runs with a highest score of 23, while behind the stumps he took 6 catches and made 3 stumpings.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28096/f_Batting_by_Team.html |title=First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Druce Brandt |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=2020-01-05 |url-access=subscription}} After graduating from Oxford, he was employed as a lecturer and fellow by Brasenose College, Oxford. Brandt spent two years with the college, before leaving to become a social worker in Bermondsey.{{cite web|url=https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/1307-brasenose-and-wwi |title=Brasenose and WWI |publisher=www.bnc.ox.ac.uk |accessdate=2020-01-05}}

Having previously been a member of the Oxford University contingent of the Officers' Training Corps, Brandt enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade at the start of the First World War.{{London Gazette|issue=28876|date=15 September 1914|page=6599}} He was promoted to lieutenant in February 1915 and was killed in action at Boezinge in Belgium on 6 July 1915, while commanding a company of men detailed to capture a German trench.{{London Gazette|issue=29125|date=9 April 1915|page=3569|supp=y}} His body was never recovered from the battlefield and he was commemorated at the Menin Gate.