DESPITE his rank, William Michael Eastwood White wanted to be remembered as a soldiering cricketer rather than the reverse — a wish confirmed by his family when they announced that, after a long illness, he had “finally declared at 89”.

He had been enticed by cricket at the age of nine after watching Frank Woolley and James Seymour stroke hundreds for Kent against Lancashire at Dover, where he was to be educated at the County School. Tall and powerfully built, he honed his medium-fast bowling and aggressive batting with the Dover and Hythe clubs before going up to Trinity Hall and playing eight first-class matches for Cambridge University in 1937. To his eternal disappointment, he was pipped to a Blue by a future captain of England, Norman Yardley.

Commissioned in the Royal Army Service Corps later that year, he saw war service in France, North Africa and Italy, and was appointed OBE (Mil) in 1944. He still managed to fit in eight matches for the British Empire XI in 1941 and subsequently played at such unlikely venues as a Tunisian hillside and a Roman sports stadium.

After the hostilities his performances for Army and Combined Services teams attracted the attention of Northamptonshire, and in 1947 he celebrated his county debut with spells of three wickets in six balls in each of Somerset’s innings.

The feat that gave him most pleasure was achieved on July 23, 1949, when he scored two separate hundreds in the day, the second of which carried the Aldershot Services to victory against the McC. In 21 first-class matches he scored 398 runs at 13.72 and took 42 wickets at 36.28.

Promoted to Brigadier in 1959, his postwar roles included Commandant of the RASC training centre and director of supplies and transport of the Far East Land Forces. After six years as aide-de-camp to the Queen (1963-69), during which he was appointed CBE, he retired to Guernsey to indulge in cricket, golf and boating.

In addition to serving as president of the island’s cricket club and the illustrious Incogniti CC, he also became Commodore of the Guernsey Royal Yacht Club. At 72 he finally hung up his cricket boots after heading the Guernsey Island CC bowling averages with his off-spin.

Mike White is survived by his wife, Anne, and his two daughters. His final public appearance was to watch his daughter Julia make her cricketing debut for the Guernsey Sirens.

Brigadier Mike White, CBE, former aide-de-camp to the Queen, was born in Barnes on May 22, 1913. He died in Guernsey on February 15, 2003, aged 89.