Percy Morfee

Percival Ernest Morfee (2 May 1886 – 12 February 1945), known as Percy Morfee or Pat Morfee, was an English professional cricketer who played in 11 first-class matches for Kent County Cricket Club between 1910 and 1912.

Early life Morfee was born at Ashford in Kent in 1886, the son of George and Catherine Morfee. His father was a publican who became a railway clerk and his mother a private dressmaker by trade. Morfee followed his father and two brothers into the railway industry, leaving school to become a coach maker at the Southern Railway works at Ashford.

Cricket career A fast bowler, Morfee joined Kent's Tonbridge Nursery in 1907 and played for the county's Second XI during the same year. When Kent's primary fast bowler Arthur Fielder became ill in 1910, Morfee made his first-class cricket debut for Kent at Lord's against Middlesex, dismissing Middlesex captain and England international Plum Warner for a duck in each innings. As late as 1937 he was employed as the professional at Darlington Cricket Club. Morfee also played football, appearing for his home-town club Ashford United.

Military service Morfee enlisted as an air mechanic in the Royal Flying Corps in February 1916. He served in France from at least 1917, including at No. 1 Aircraft Depot at St Omer. Transferring to the Royal Air Force when it was formed in 1918, Morfee was transferred to the RAF Reserve in February 1919 and demobilised in 1920.

Later life Morfee married Ann Miller in 1919 at Dunferline and had one son. He worked as a driver and in industry, including as a welder in the chemical industry. He died as the result of a heart attack at Darlington in County Durham in 1945 aged 58.