Background
He was born at Nottingham and died at Harestock, Hampshire. Poyntz was the sixth child and second son of a military family. His father was a major in the Royal Marines Light Infantry who later became the Chief Constable of Essex.
He was born at Nottingham and died at Harestock, Hampshire. Poyntz was the sixth child and second son of a military family. His father was a major in the Royal Marines Light Infantry who later became the Chief Constable of Essex.
Hugh Poyntz was educated at Eastbourne College and went straight from there into the Army, joining the third battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (the battalion was the former Derbyshire Regiment) in 1896.
He also played three matches for Orange Free State in 1912-1913. He was to remain as a serving officer for 37 years until his retirement in 1936. Poyntz saw service in the Boer War and in April 1900 was promoted from second lieutenant to be a full lieutenant.
He was further promoted to captain in 1907.
By the time of the First World War, Poyntz was already a major and he was promoted to be a temporary lieutenant-colonel in November 1915. This promotion lasted only until January 1916.
There were further temporary promotions in 1917 and 1918 until Poyntz became a full lieutenant-colonel at the beginning of 1921. Towards the end of the First World War, Poyntz was appointed to be in charge of an officer cadets" battalion and when the war was over he was appointed to the newly formed Royal Army Educational Corps.
When he retired from this and from the Army in 1936, he was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Poyntz played a few first-class cricket matches for Somerset in each season from 1904 to 1910 as a middleor lower-order batsman.
In his third match in 1904, against Kent at Beckenham, he top-scored in both Somerset innings with 85 in the first and 48 in the second: the 85 would remain his highest first-class score. The following season, 1905, he made an unbeaten 50 in a drawn match against Warwickshire. And, elevated to Number 3 in the batting order, he made 80 in a rain-ruined match against Hampshire at Bath.
There were no other scores of more than 50 in his other games for Somerset, and he did not appear folr the colunty in the 1911, 1912 or 1913 seasons.
As captain, he put himself on to bowl leg-breaks, and took three for 37 in the first innings he bowled in, and five wickets in the three games: these were his only first-class wickets. He returned to Somerset for two matches in 1914 and a single game in 1921.
Poyntz was also an association football player and was captain of the Army soccer team in 1907.