Reynold Clement


Major Reynold Alleyne Clement was an English first-class cricketer who was Clerk of the Course of Ascot Racecourse from 1884 until his death in 1905, when the office was inherited by his only son Sydney Reynold Clement.

Early life

Family

Reynold Alleyne Clement was born at Cabbage Tree Hall in Saint Peter, Barbados, on 3 March 1834, to Hampden Clement, who was an English landowner who was educated at Rugby School and Exeter College, Oxford, and Philippa Cobham Alleyne who was the daughter of Sir Reynold Abel Alleyne, 2nd Baronet and Rebecca Olton. His parents were married on 6 July 1831 in St. Peter, Barbados. His maternal grandmother's father was John Allen Olton who owned the Harrow estate in Saint Philip, Barbados.
His father Hampden and uncle John inherited the estates Black Bess and Clement Castle in Saint Peter, Barbados, from his paternal grandfather the landowner and Napoleonic Wars veteran Richard Clement (1754 – 1829), whose English residence was 13 Bolton Street, Mayfair, and who was buried at St George's, Hanover Square. Reynold's aunt Martha Clement was the wife of Colonel Thomas Moody, Kt.
Reynold Clement had three siblings: Richard, Rosalie Philippa Hampden Clement, and Helena Rebecca Clement.

Early life

Reynold Clement was raised in England at No. 23 and No. 20 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, where his father also owned No. 21, and at Snarestone Lodge, Snarestone, Leicestershire. He was educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, at which he matriculated in 1853.

Career

Cricket

He played cricket as a middle-order batsman both for Rugby School and for Cambridge University: in 1854 he was selected for the University Match against Oxford University, although he failed to score in either innings. He played for Cambridge only in the 1854 season. By 1857, he was appearing in a minor match for a United Ireland eleven, and in 1863 his last first-class match was for the Marylebone Cricket Club. Reynold's elder brother Richard played cricket for Oxford University in the 1853 University Match.

Army

After Cambridge, Clement joined the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and served during the 1860s in the New Zealand Wars, in which he attained the rank of Major. In 1876, he was a member of Queen Victoria's personal bodyguard.

Ascot Racecourse

He was appointed secretary to the Board of Trustees of Ascot Racecourse in 1881, and Clerk of the Course at the same in 1885, as which he made 'vast improvements' to the course and to the stands. He was in 1900 Secretary to the Master of the Buckhounds. His only son Sydney Reynold Clement inherited his office as Clerk of the Course when he died during 1905, and held the office until 1911.

Marriage and family

Reynold was the only child of Hampden to marry and have children. He married Louisa Cecilia Blackwood, who was the daughter of Henry Martin Blackwood and of Harriet Louisa Bulkeley, and the granddaughter of Vice-Admiral Henry Blackwood, on 20 July 1867. They had four children before he died in 1905.