Roy Kilner (17 October 1890 – 5 April 1928) was an English professional cricketer who played nine Test matches for England between 1924 and 1926. An all-rounder, he played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1927. In all first-class matches, he scored 14,707 runs at an average of 30.01 and took 1,003 wickets at an average of 18.45. Kilner scored 1,000 runs in a season ten times and took 100 wickets in a season five times. On four occasions, he completed the double: scoring 1,000 runs and taking 100 wickets in the same season, recognised as a sign of a quality all-rounder.
Kilner first played for Yorkshire as a batsman before the First World War, establishing a regular place in the side. After being wounded in the war, he returned in 1919 to a Yorkshire side which was short of bowlers. As a result, Kilner began to practise his bowling to the point where he became highly regarded as a slow left-arm bowler. His aggressive batting and warm personality made him a popular player with both cricketers and spectators. His form brought selection by England in 1924 and a visit to Australia for the Ashes tour of 1924–25. Although the second most successful bowler of the tour, his bowling subsequently declined in effectiveness, and did not trouble batsmen on good pitches. He was selected during the 1926 Ashes but dropped for the final Test. Kilner went on several coaching trips to India during English winters, and on one of these, in 1928, he contracted an illness; on his return to England, he died aged 37. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people and there was widespread sadness at his death.
Kilner was born on 17 October 1890 in Wombwell, Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, the second son and one of eleven children of Seth Kilner and Mary Alice Washington. His brother Norman also played cricket, representing Yorkshire and Warwickshire. The Kilners attended Wombwell Parish Church and the boys were members of the Church Lads' Brigade. His father and his uncle, Irving Washington, the former Yorkshire player, encouraged him to play cricket from an early age. He showed enough ability to join the local colliery team, Mitchell Main.
At the age of 14 in 1904, Kilner reached the Mitchell Main first team. Although selected regularly from 1905, Kilner was not particularly successful with the bat. He displayed aggression but often attempted difficult shots and consequently lost his wicket. His bowling was more effective but used infrequently. By 1909 his batting improved; he scored his first century for the team and began to make consistently good scores, attracting the attention of Yorkshire.
After scoring a second century for Mitchell Main at the start of the 1910 season, Kilner was chosen to play for Yorkshire Second XI. In his first season, he took three wickets and had a batting average of 12.50 but continued to do well for Mitchell Main. For 1911, Yorkshire sent Kilner to play for Harrogate Cricket Club which provided a higher standard of cricket than Mitchell Main: the county had a system whereby promising young players were sent to gain experience in competitive matches for local clubs. Kilner began to record good batting and bowling performances. Although his form for Yorkshire Second XI was more inconsistent, he made his first-class debut for Yorkshire that season against Somerset in the County Championship. He scored 0 and 14 and did not bowl. In a further six matches for Yorkshire in 1911, his highest innings was 18 runs, his average with the bat was just 6.66 in ten innings and he did not take any wickets. For Harrogate, he was more successful, with 519 runs and 28 wickets.
Kilner made a good start to 1912 for Yorkshire Second XI, scoring centuries in two consecutive games; in the second he also took twelve wickets for 75 runs. These performances, coupled with continued good form for Harrogate, led to Kilner's recall to the Yorkshire first team in June. He replaced the injured all-rounder George Hirst for a match against Nottinghamshire. On the first morning, Kilner was used as the sixth bowler and proved successful; he finished with four wickets for 66 runs. Although failing to score in the first innings, he came in to bat in the second innings with Yorkshire 133 for four, needing 249 for victory. He shared a partnership of 113 for the fifth wicket and scored 83 not out to take Yorkshire to a five wicket win. This performance kept Kilner in the team for the remainder of the season, even after Hirst's return. He played 23 times for Yorkshire. He scored 570 runs at an average of 22.80 and took 16 wickets at an average of 22.12, figures regarded as respectable for a first full season. Yorkshire won the County Championship that season. Apart from one game in the 1913 season, he ceased playing for Harrogate. In his years there, he scored 967 runs, averaging 38.68, and took 71 wickets at an average of less than ten runs per wicket.
In the 1913 season, Kilner scored 1,586 runs at an average of 34.47, which remained his highest seasonal aggregate of runs and placed him third in the Yorkshire batting averages. He also took 18 wickets at 25.22. At the end of May and beginning of June, Kilner took part in century partnerships in four consecutive matches, culminating in his maiden first-class century against Leicestershire. During his innings of 104, he hit 18 fours and shared a partnership of 184 in under two hours with his close friend Major Booth, rescuing Yorkshire from 58 for five and taking the score to 300. Throughout the season, he played several valuable innings when Yorkshire were under pressure. His batting was always adventurous and attacking although he often made uncertain starts to his innings and showed impatience. The strength and variety of the Yorkshire bowling attack meant his left-arm spin was not often required. Even so, Yorkshire dropped to second in the Championship.
An illness during the winter of 1913–14 took its toll on Kilner at the start of the 1914 season. He passed 1,000 runs for the second time but due to his uncertain form, his aggregate of runs and his average both fell. He scored 1,329 runs (average 30.90), placing him fourth in the Yorkshire batting averages. His bowling was rarely used and he took just one wicket. Kilner scored his second first-class century against Gloucestershire late in the season; he made 169 in nearly three and a half hours, hitting 28 fours. Yorkshire fell to fourth in the championship.
The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, while Kilner was playing in that season's Roses Match at Old Trafford. Initially the government requested that cricket should continue, though several cricketers with military obligations, including Yorkshire's captain, Sir Archibald White, were called up immediately. As the fighting started, and casualties began to mount, public opinion turned against the continuation of the season, and Yorkshire's match against Sussex at Hove, which concluded on 1 September, was the last County Championship match until 1919. The newspaper Cricket reported "The men's hearts were barely in the game, and the match was given up as a draw at tea." With the suspension of the championship, Kilner and Major Booth enlisted in the army together, joining the Leeds and Bradford "Pals" in the West Yorkshire Regiment. Kilner trained as a mechanic before being stationed at Colsterdale in North Yorkshire as a corporal. While on leave in November 1914, Kilner married Annie Campbelljohn—the daughter of James Campbelljohn, an engineer—at Wombwell Parish Church; Booth served as best man. During the war, Annie gave birth to the couple's first child, Roy junior. Kilner was posted with his battalion to Egypt but was forced home with an injury. When he recovered, he was sent to the Western Front in France. During the Battle of the Somme, he was wounded shortly before his battalion engaged in the fighting, receiving a shrapnel wound in the wrist; later in the same action, Booth was killed. Kilner recovered in a military hospital near Blackpool before being assigned to Preston Garrison as a mechanic. Kilner suffered a second loss when his brother Bernard was killed at Ypres in 1917.