Percy Hardy

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Percy Hardy

| image =

| fullname = Frederick Percy Hardy

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|6|26|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Blandford Forum, Dorset, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1916|3|9|1880|6|26|df=yes}}

| death_place = King's Cross railway station, London, England

| batting = Left-handed

| bowling = Right arm medium

| club1 = Somerset

| year1 = {{nowrap|1902–1914}}

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 100

| runs1 = 2,743

| bat avg1 = 16.32

| 100s/50s1 = 0/7

| top score1 = 91

| deliveries1 = 5,130

| wickets1 = 91

| bowl avg1 = 35.34

| fivefor1 = 2

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 6/82

| catches/stumpings1 = 41/–

| date = 22 December

| year = 2009

| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3600/3600.html CricketArchive

}}

Frederick Percy Hardy (26 June 1880 – 9 March 1916) was a first-class cricketer who played for Somerset.

Career

Hardy was a left-handed batsman who sometimes opened the innings and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He played for Surrey's colts team, but left to join Somerset. He made his debut in 1902 and in his second match took the slip catch that dismissed Victor Trumper for just five – Trumper was dismissed a second time for five by the same bowler, George Gill, later in the match.

Hardy played as a professional in a mainly amateur team and made fairly regular appearances for Somerset right through to 1914. In 1910, when the side lost 15 out of 18 County Championship matches and failed to secure a single point all season, he headed the Somerset batting figures with 700 runs, including his own highest score of 91 against the champions, Kent, at Taunton. His best bowling figures, six for 82, also came in that season, against Middlesex at Bath.

Death

Hardy's death is something of a mystery. He was, in the words of Wisden's 1917 edition, "found dead on the floor of a lavatory at King's Cross station (G.N.R.)... His throat was cut and a blood-stained knife was by his side."{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228031.html|title=Other deaths in 1916|work=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|date=December 2005|publisher=John Wisden & Co.|accessdate=22 December 2009}} Hardy was serving as a private with the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) at the time.{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2906074/frederick-percy-hardy/ |title=Private Frederick Percy Hardy |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=15 August 2022}} The historian David Foot wrote that the knife was Hardy's own and that the death was suicide brought on by distress at being sent back to the World War I battlefield.{{cite book|last=Foot|first=David|title=Sunshine, Sixes and Cider|publisher=David & Charles|date=30 October 1986|isbn=0-7153-8890-8}} Hardy, who left a widow, Maud Mary, was buried at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green.