Gerald Yorke

Major Gerald Joseph Yorke (10 December 1901 – 29 April 1983) was an English soldier and writer. He was a Reuters correspondent while in China for two years in the 1930s, and wrote a book China Changes (1936).[1][2]

Life

Gerald Joseph Yorke was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, on 10 December 1901; the second son of Vincent Wodehouse Yorke and Hon. Maud Evelyn Wyndham.[3] He attended Eton College, and then Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts. He joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned in the 21st (Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company, Tank Corps in 1922,[4] later gaining the rank of Major. He married Angela Vivien Duncan, and the pair had three children: John Sarne, Vincent James and Michael Piers.[3]

The travels of Yorke together with his manservant Li through often bandit-stricken areas were part of China Changes and also commented on by adventurer and Special Correspondent to The Times Peter Fleming in his One's Company, a travelogue of a journey to China in 1933.[5]

Back in Britain at Forthampton Yorke was also the personal representative to the West of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (died 1933) and the author of an original foreword to a secret book on the Kalachakra initiation.[6] Yorke was also a member of the A∴A∴, the magical order established by Aleister Crowley (died 1947), and towards the end of Crowley's life was known as his chief disciple.

Bibliography

Cricket

Gerald Yorke
Personal information
Full name Gerald Joseph Yorke
Born (1901-12-10)10 December 1901
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England
Died 29 April 1983(1983-04-29) (aged 81)
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England
Relations VW Yorke (father)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1925 Gloucestershire
Only First-class 27 June 1925 Gloucestershire v Glamorgan
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 1
Runs scored 6
Batting average 3.00
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 6
Catches/stumpings 0/–
Source: CricketArchive, 10 January 2011

He was also a keen cricketer who made a single first class appearance for Gloucestershire, against Glamorgan during the 1925 season. From the middle order, he scored a duck in the first innings in which he batted, and 6 runs in the second.

References

  1. ↑ The New York Times Book Review - Volume 1 1936 - Page 37 "A Reporter Observes China's Changes Mr. Yorke, a Reuters Correspondent, Spent Two Recent Years There come acquainted with the situation which was contributing to such a sweeping success of the invader. Some of the extraordinary ..."
  2. ↑ Now & Then: A Journal of Books and Personalities 1935 "This is what the Sunday Times said of Mr. Gerald Yorke's China Changes: This is a vital and absorbing book, which will give Western readers a far better understanding of the Chinese and their difficulties than many more pretentious volumes, .."
  3. 1 2 Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 1778.
  4. ↑ "No. 32739". The London Gazette. 18 August 1922. p. 6098.
  5. ↑ Gareth Jones (journalist) : JOURNEY FROM CANTON TO CHANGSHA "(see Peter Fleming's One’s Company for a description of Li and of Gerald and also of the journey I did, except that Fleming and Gerald came with his Chinese servant Li from Changsha to Canton while I did it from Canton to Changsha)."
  6. ↑ HYMENAEUS BETA, ed. (19 December 2001). "MAGICK LIBER ABA, Book Four – Parts I–IV" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2011.
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