34 Facts About Coote Hedley

Coote Hedley was a gifted amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket for several County Championship sides and competed to a high level in rackets and golf.

Coote Hedley became a surveyor in the 1890s and was attached to the Ordnance Survey.

Coote Hedley was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and served on the society's council.

Coote Hedley was born at Monkton Heathfield near Taunton in Somerset on 12 December 1865.

Coote Hedley's father, Robert, had served as a captain in the British Army and was a Poor Law Inspector at the time of Hedley's birth.

Coote Hedley was educated at Marlborough College, winning a Modern school scholarship in his first term and was a college prefect.

On leaving school, Coote Hedley entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in March 1883.

Coote Hedley was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a lieutenant on 9 December 1884, serving initially at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham in Kent before being posted to Shorncliffe with 30 Field Company.

Coote Hedley served in Gibraltar between 1890 and 1895 as adjutant of 6 Fortress Company and was promoted captain on 17 January 1894, taking charge of 20 Fortress Company.

Coote Hedley arrived in South Africa in November 1899, he was present at the Relief of Ladysmith, and was mentioned in despatches in a despatch dated 30 March 1900, though this was not gazetted until February 1901.

Coote Hedley had been hospitalised earlier in 1900, and was discharged to return to duty in the week ending 18 May 1900.

Coote Hedley received a third mention in September 1901 for service up to April 1901.

Coote Hedley received the Queen's South Africa Medal, with six clasps, for his service during the war.

Coote Hedley returned to 19 Company once the war was over, and remained with them until 1903, continuing in surveying duties with the Ordnance Survey until 1906.

Coote Hedley was then appointed as an advisor to the Survey of India in order to modernise map production methods, following efforts by the previous Viceroy of India, George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, to reform the Survey.

Coote Hedley returned to the United Kingdom, and the Ordnance Survey, in 1908, now concentrating on new colour printing techniques.

Coote Hedley was appointed a General Staff Officer, Grade 1 at the War Office on 20 September 1911, and took command of the Geographical Section General Staff, known as MO4.

Coote Hedley succeeded Charles Close, who had been appointed Director General of the Ordnance Survey.

In preparation for a possible war in Europe, Coote Hedley directed that maps of France and Flanders be produced and stock-piled and that survey work should be carried out in strategically important locations such as Palestine and the Balkans.

Coote Hedley was promoted to colonel in December 1913, and remained the technical advisor and manager for MI4 at the War Office throughout the First World War, being influential in encouraging the development of sound ranging to survey enemy artillery positions.

Coote Hedley was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1915 Birthday Honours, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1917 Birthday Honours, and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in October 1919.

Coote Hedley received the Legion d'Honneur, Ordre de Leopold, and Officier of the Ordre de la Couronne as a result of his war service and retired in December 1920, having reached the upper age limit for service.

Coote Hedley played cricket whilst at the RMA and for the Royal Engineers Cricket Club.

Coote Hedley first played for Somerset in 1886 before the side had first-class status before making his first-class cricket debut for the Gentlemen of England against Cambridge University in 1888.

Coote Hedley played for I Zingari against the Gentlemen of England three years running from 1888 as part of the Scarborough Festival and for Marylebone Cricket Club, before becoming a regular in the Somerset side in 1892.

Coote Hedley played 84 first-class matches for Somerset from 1892 to 1904, with his final first-class match for the county coming against Hampshire.

Coote Hedley scored 2,395 runs for Somerset at a batting average of 18.14, with two centuries and a high score of 102 against Yorkshire in 1892, and took 254 wickets at an average of 20.77 runs, including 14 five wicket hauls, three ten wicket hauls and best figures of eight for 18 against Yorkshire in 1895.

In 1902, Coote Hedley played for Devon in three Minor Counties Championship matches and was awarded a Devon county cap.

In 1905 Coote Hedley, then working at Southampton for the Ordnance Survey, joined Hampshire, playing three times for the county during the season before serving in India from 1906.

Coote Hedley made a total of 103 appearances in first-class cricket, taking 343 wickets at an average of 19.32; amongst these were 23 five wicket hauls, with him taking ten wickets in a match on five occasions.

Coote Hedley married Anna Susan Fellowes in 1894 at Gibraltar Cathedral.

Coote Hedley's father, James Fellowes, was a colonel in the RE who had worked at the Ordnance Survey and played first-class cricket for Kent in the 1870s.

Coote Hedley remained involved in cricket, and in 1926 wrote a letter to the editor of The Times, suggesting that a change be made to the leg before wicket law in order to prevent high-scoring matches, an opinion he reiterated in another letter to that paper in 1928.

Coote Hedley died in December 1937 at his home in Sunningdale in Berkshire, aged 72.