He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 15 December 1871 and the following April was posted to the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Kent. Donop continued playing cricket while serving with the Royal Engineers: in one match, against the Harlequins at Chatham in June 1884 he scored 91 runs out of his side's total of 224.[6]
Later career
Donop was promoted to captain in December 1883.[7] In September 1884, as a member of the Royal Engineers' 8th Railway Corps Company, he was posted to Egypt to take part in the Nile Expedition. While in Sudan, his company constructed 87.5 miles (140.8 km) of railway track, from Sarras to Akasha, to facilitate the transport of provisions and stores to and from the fighting front. He returned from Egypt in June 1886.[8] Between January 1889 and February 1894, he served as Inspector of Submarine Defences at Bombay, India,[9][10] where, on 15 March 1890, he married Ethel Farran Orr, the daughter of a Bombay barrister.[11] He was promoted to major in May 1890[12] and to lieutenant-colonel in December 1897.[13]
He continued to play cricket at club level and, in January 1890, he made two appearances for G. F. Vernon's XI in matches against local sides at the Gymkhana Ground, Bombay. However, he never played in a top-class match.[14]
In 1899, Donop temporarily left the Royal Engineers to become an Inspecting Officer of Railways for the Board of Trade's Railway Inspectorate. He formally resigned from the Royal Engineers in November 1902,[15] while working for the Board, was promoted to Chief Inspecting Officer in July 1913 and held that position until his retirement in 1916. During his time with the Board of Trade he investigated numerous railway accidents, such as those at Witham, Essex in 1905[16] and at Ilford, Essex, in 1915,[17] and also carried out safety inspections of tram services, such as that at Warrington, Lancashire. He died on 7 November 1921 and is buried in Mortlake.[18]
As well as playing cricket, Donop was soon selected to represent his regiment at football,[20] and was in the Royal Engineers' team which reached the 1874 FA Cup Final. In the
final, at Kennington Oval on 14 March 1874, Donop played at inside left. The Engineers lost 2–0 to Oxford University.[21] The following year, the Engineers defeated Oxford University in the semi-final to set up a second consecutive appearance in the final, this time against the Old Etonians. The final was played at Kennington Oval on 13 March, with Donop now playing at centre half for the Engineers. The game ended in a goal-less draw. In the replay, at the same venue on 16 March, the Engineers won 2–0.[22]
Donop also gained two caps for England in friendly matches against Scotland.[1] He made his international debut on 8 March 1873, in the second official match played between the two countries, which England won 4–2. Donop, playing in the centre of the defence, was described as a "stalwart of the Royal Engineers team".[23] He made his second international appearance two years later, on 6 March 1875, in a 2–2 draw.
Donop continued to represent the Royal Engineers until he was in his mid-thirties: in November 1886, he scored three goals in a match against the Royal Military Academy.[24]
^"The Witham Railway Accident", The Times, 15 December 1905
^"Ilford Collision Inquiry", The Times, 5 January 1915
^"Funeral of Colonel von Donop", The Times, 11 November 1921
^Phelps, Barry (1992), P G Wodehouse: Man and Myth, London: Constable, p. 37, ISBN0-09-471620-X
^Betts, Graham (2006), England: Player by player, Green Umbrella Publishing, p. 247, ISBN1-905009-63-1
^Gibbons, Philip (2001), Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900, Upfront Publishing, pp. 41–42, ISBN1-84426-035-6
^Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900, pp. 44–45
^Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900, pp. 37–38
^"Football: Royal Engineers v Royal Military academy, Woolwich", The Times, 19 November 1886
