Wilfred Elles Bannerman (8 September 1888 – 8 February 1944) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played in three first-class cricket matches for Otago between the 1911/12 and 1914/15 seasons.Wilfred Bannerman, CricInfo. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
Early life Bannerman was born at Ophir in Central Otago in 1888, the second son of William and Agnes Bannerman. His father worked for the Bank of New Zealand and Bannerman worked as a bank clerk.BANNERMAN, Wilfrid Elles - WW1 8/2839 - Army, Army Record, New Zealand Archives. Retrieved 3 January 2021.Otago and Southland men expected to Port Chalmers today, Otago Daily Times, 14 May 1917, p. 3. Retrieved 3 January 2021. He had two brothers, the journalist Hugh Bannerman and the lawyer Ronald Bannerman; all three of the brothers attended Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin.McCarron T (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 15. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. (Available online. Retrieved 8 June 2022.)
Cricket Bannerman played club cricket for Carisbrook Cricket ClubLocal grade cricket: Carisbrook A v Carisbrook B, The Evening Star (Dunedin), 14 March 1910, p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2022.Grange v Carisbrook A, The Evening Star (Dunedin), 20 March 1911, p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2022. and for the Bank of New Zealand,Cricket, Clutha Leader, 13 March 1908, p. 5.Cricket, Evening Star (Dunedin), 21 March 1908, p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2022. and made his Plunket Shield debut for Otago in December 1911 in a match against Canterbury. He played in two more first-class matches for Otago, one against Canterbury in December 1912 and the last against Southland in February 1915, as well as playing in at least two non first-class matches for the side.Wilfred Bannerman, CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
War service By the time Bannerman played his final first-class match World War I had broken out and, shortly after his final match for Otago, he joined the New Zealand Army. He passed his medical in April 1915Otago's quota, Evening Star (Dunedin), 28 April 1915, p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2022. and was posted to the Otago Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to lance-corporal and later in the year embarked for Egypt where he served until he was declared unfit for active service on account of flat feet and varicose veins in his left foot―conditions which had been noted when he attested but which had been exacerbated by his service. He was sent back to New Zealand, arriving in 1917, and was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Family and later life Both of Bannerman's brothers also served during World War I. His younger brother Ronald joined in 1916, serving in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force where he became a flying ace and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar. During World War II he rejoined the Royal New Zealand Air Force, reaching the rank of Air Commodore.Ronald Bannerman, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 3 January 2022. His old brother Hugh attested in 1917 and served as a lieutenant in 7 battalion, Otago Regiment. He was killed in action on the Ypres Salient shortly after arriving in Belgium in December 1917.James William Hugh Bannerman, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 3 January 2022.McCrery N (2015) Final Wicket: Test and first class cricketers killed in the Great War. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
Bannerman died at Martinborough near Wellington in 1944. He was aged 55.
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