Patrick_Keen

Patrick Keen

Patrick Keen

English cricketer and soldier

Patrick John Keen CMG MBE (30 June 1911 – 8 March 1983) was an English first-class cricketer and an officer in the Indian Political Service, having previously served in both the British Army and the British Indian Army.

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Life and military carer

The son of the Brigadier P. H. Keen,[1] he was born in British India at Kohat in March 1983.[citation needed] He came from a family of colonial administrators in India, with his grandfather and uncle both holding positions in the Indian Political Department.[2] Keen was educated in England at Haileybury, before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. From there, he graduated into the Hampshire Regiment as a second lieutenant in January 1931,[3] with promotion to lieutenant following in January 1934.[4] He was appointed to the British Indian Army as an aide-de-camp to Sir Ralph Griffith, Governors of the North-West Frontier Province.[5][6] He was promoted to lieutenant in the British Indian Army October 1936,[7] with promotion to captain following in January 1939.[8] In India, Keen made a single appearance in first-class cricket for the Europeans cricket team against the Indians at Madras in the 1939–40 Madras Presidency Match.[9] Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed for a single run in the Europeans first innings by A. G. Ram Singh, while in their second innings he was dismissed without scoring by C. K. Nayudu.[10]

Keen was a member of the Indian Political Service during the Second World War, being assistant-director of the Intelligence Bureau at Quetta. In May 1943, he was appointed to be His Majesty's vice-consul at Bushehr.[11] He was made an MBE in the 1944 New Year Honours.[12] After the end of the war, he was promoted to major in December 1949,[13] having retired from the British Indian Army following Indian Independence. He was later made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1968 New Year Honours for his post-war work with the Foreign Office.[14] Keen later retired to Hampshire, where he died in March 1983. He was married to Anna Cunitia Gordon-Smith of Stansted Park, with the couple marrying at St James' Church in Emsworth in January 1958.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    "Married at Emsworth". Hampshire Telegraph. Portsmouth. 31 January 1938. p. 11. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. [2]
    Drephal, Maximilian (2019). Afghanistan and the Coloniality of Diplomacy: The British Legation in Kabul, 1922–1948. London: Springer International. pp. 136–7. ISBN 9783030239602.
  3. [3]
    "No. 33685". The London Gazette. 30 January 1931. p. 676.
  4. [4]
    "No. 34019". The London Gazette. 30 January 1934. p. 680.
  5. [5]
    "No. 34228". The London Gazette. 6 December 1935. p. 7756.
  6. [6]
    "No. 34217". The London Gazette. 8 November 1935. p. 7048.
  7. [7]
    "No. 34373". The London Gazette. 19 February 1937. p. 1177.
  8. [8]
    "No. 34610". The London Gazette. 24 March 1939. p. 2013.
  9. [9]
    "First-Class Matches played by Patrick Keen". CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  10. [10]
    "Europeans v Indians, Madras Presidency Match 1939/40". CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  11. [11]
    "No. 36407". The London Gazette. 3 March 1944. p. 1065.
  12. [12]
    "No. 36309". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1943. p. 24.
  13. [13]
    "No. 38784". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 December 1949. p. 5951.
  14. [14]
    "No. 44484". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1967. p. 4.
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