Leslie Bean

Colonel Leslie Hugh Bean OBE (2 February 1906 – 13 January 1988) was a British Army officer who played first-class cricket for Somerset in three matches in the 1929 season. He also played Minor Counties cricket more frequently for Dorset between 1928 and 1939 and in non-first-class matches for the British Army Cricket Team.^[1] He was born at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England and died at Accra, Ghana.

Military career

Bean was a career soldier who was commissioned in 1926 into the Somerset Light Infantry; he was promoted from second lieutenant to full lieutenant in 1929.^[2] In 1933, he was seconded to the Colonial Service and joined the Royal West African Frontier Force and in 1935 was promoted to be an acting captain.^[3][4] Three years later, in 1938, he was gazetted as a captain and had been promoted to acting major, still within the RWAFF, but at this time his notional "home regiment" was the Glosters.^[5] He was promoted to full major within the Glosters in 1943.^[6] He retired from the army "on account of disability" and with the honorary rank of colonel in 1948.^[7] By the time of his discharge from the British Army he had been awarded the MBE; this was upgraded to an OBE in 1961 when he was cited in the London Gazette as "General Manager of the Ghana Chamber of Mines".^[8]

Cricket career

Bean's cricket was limited to a few matches in each about half a dozen seasons for Dorset, and one period of three matches for Somerset in 1929. A right-handed batsman who opened the innings or batted high in the order for Dorset, he was played in the lower middle-order for Somerset. He also bowled leg breaks and googlies. He was not successful in his three first-class matches for Somerset, with a highest score of just 17 in his six innings and a single wicket.

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