Geoffrey Chance

{{short description|English cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2016}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Geoffrey Chance

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Geoffrey Henry Barrington Chance

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|12|16|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Burghfield, Berkshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|7|11|1893|12|16|df=yes}}

| death_place = Minety, Wiltshire, England

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Left-handed

| bowling = Right-arm medium

| family =

| club1 = Berkshire

| year1 = {{nowrap|1912–1913}}

| club2 = Hampshire

| year2 = 1913

| club3 = Marylebone Cricket Club

| year3 = 1922

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 2

| runs1 = 0

| bat avg1 = 0.00

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 0*

| deliveries1 = 72

| wickets1 = –

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = –

| catches/stumpings1 = –/–

| date = 30 December

| year = 2009

| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10701.html Cricinfo

}}

Geoffrey Henry Barrington Chance {{postnominal|CBE}} (16 December 1893 – 11 July 1987) was an English first-class cricketer.

The son of Ernest Chance, he was born in December 1893 at Burghfield, Berkshire.{{cite book|editor-last1=Crisp|editor-first1=Frederick Arthur|editor-last2=Howard|editor-first2=Joseph Jackson|year=1895|title=Visitation of England and Wales|volume=3|page=63|publisher=Privately printed}} He was educated at Eton College, where he played for the college cricket team in his final year. In his first match for Eton, against the Marylebone Cricket Club, he took figures of 10 for 36. His wickets included experienced first-class batsman Edward Dowson, William Findlay, Frank Phillips and Peter Randall Johnson. The Times described his bowling for Eton in their match against Winchester College as "Chance made good use of his wicket; he bowls fast to medium in pace over the wicket; he kept a length and made the ball get up quickly and go away just a little."{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228608.html|title=Wisden - Obituaries in 1987|date=5 December 2005 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=2021-12-28}} His skills as a cricketer were noted by Berkshire, with him playing minor counties cricket for the county in 1912 and 1913, making three appearances in the Minor Counties Championship.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6530/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Geoffrey Chance|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2021-12-28|url-access=subscription}} He played for Hampshire in 1913, making a single appearance against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6530/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Geoffrey Chance|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2021-12-28|url-access=subscription}} His only appearance for Hampshire was to be an unsuccessful one, with Chance being dismissed in Hampshire's first-innings without scoring by Frank Tarrant, while across the match he bowled nine wicketless overs.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8980.html|title=Marylebone Cricket Club v Hampshire, 1913|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2021-12-28|url-access=subscription}}

Chance served in the British Army during the First World War, being commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Hampshire Regiment (later the Royal Hampshire Regiment) in October 1914.{{London Gazette|issue=28935|date=13 October 1914|page=8139}}{{London Gazette|issue=29363|date=9 November 1915|page=11158|supp=y}} He was promoted to lieutenant in June 1915,{{London Gazette|issue=29591|date=23 May 1916|page=5068}} and by May 1916 he was serving with the Machine Gun Corps.{{London Gazette|issue=29909|date=19 January 1917|page=758}} He was made a temporary captain in April 1917,{{London Gazette|issue=30680|date=10 May 1918|page=5684|supp=y}} before being made a temporary major in February 1918.{{London Gazette|issue=31018|date=15 November 1918|page=13589|supp=y}} In September 1918 he was seconded to become an instructor at the Small Arms School Corps at Hythe, Kent.{{London Gazette|issue=30956|date=15 October 1918|page=12225|supp=y}} Two months later he ceased to hold this position.{{London Gazette|issue=31079|date=20 December 1918|page=15017|supp=y}} Following the war, Chance returned to play first-class cricket, making one appearance for the MCC against Scotland at Lord's in 1923. He was later made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1962 Birthday Honours for political and public service in Wiltshire.{{London Gazette|issue=42683|date=25 May 1962|page=4316|supp=y}} Chance served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1965.{{London Gazette|issue=43610|date=26 March 1965|page=3049|supp=y}} In 1984, at the age of 90, he became the oldest person to pass their driving test in the United Kingdom.{{cite book|last=Barwell|first=Mike|year=1990|title=The Alternative Book of Records|page=15|publisher=Peter Haddock|isbn=9780710505989}} He died in July 1987 at Minety, Wiltshire; at the time of his death he was one of the few surviving cricketers to have played first-class cricket before the First World War.