Sportsman, soldier and businessman; Born April 8, 1921; Died November 7, 2007. HARRY Locke, who has died aged 86, was a man of extremely wide-ranging interests and achievements, although it will be as a very successful amateur cricketer that he will be most widely remembered throughout the west of Scotland and beyond.
He was cricket captain at Hillhead High School in Glasgow before being called up in 1939 to the Army, in which he served in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
At the end of the war he began a long and successful cricketing career with Hillhead High School Former Pupils, for whom he amassed more than 10,000 runs, despite the loss of five of his best years while serving his country.
His skills at the crease and his determination to win will be remembered by colleagues and opponents alike, but his respect for the ethos of the game and his sportsmanship were paramount.
Had he played for a more fashionable club, he would almost certainly have represented Scotland. As it was, Locke captained the West of Scotland District representative side, but he typically stayed loyal to his club side, where he put an enormous amount back into the game, particularly in coaching schoolboys. He was thus directly responsible for creating the base for future generations of cricketers at Hughenden and for providing many of them with a lifetime of treasured memories.
He also served his club administratively, becoming its president and also chairman of its governing body, The Hillhead High School War Memorial Trust.
Locke's military service was equally distinguished. He joined the 16th Royal Signals in 1940 and was ultimately a Desert Rat in Montgomery's victorious 8th Army, enduring the horror of the siege of Tobruk. After spells in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, he served in Italy with the 5th Army.
Shortly after returning home in 1945 he married Sophie Watson, the girl next door in Mosspark he had loved since he was 15, and with whom he was to share 62 happy years of marriage and family life.
He pursued a training programme which led him into the flooring industry and in due course became a director of Robertson, Locke and Heggie. The business expanded and was sold to Rowan and Boden, of whom he became executive director of flooring and contracts in 1965 until his retiral in 1982. During this time he became chairman of the Scottish Flooring Association and his instinct to volunteer for the benefit of others emerged again when, in 1983, he was appointed a small firms counsellor with the Scottish Development Agency.
Locke was a faithful member of the Kirk and was an elder at Belhaven Westbourne Church and latterly a member of Bearsden Cross Church.
He was a very competitive and sociable member of Glasgow Golf Club - where he achieved a hole-in-one on his 81st birthday - and before that at Hilton Park Golf Club.
He was also an enthusiastic player, administrator and spectator of rugby and served as president of Hillhead High School FP Rugby Club.
At various stages in his full and rewarding life he also found time for athletics, badminton, gardening and, of course, his family, who supported him with devotion, particularly when a blood disorder started to drain his formidable energy levels.
Locke is survived by his wife, Sophie, daughter Elizabeth, sons Grahame and David - both Hillhead cricketers -and four grandchildren.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article