Hesketh Vernon Prichard, later Hesketh-Prichard DSO MC FRGS FZS (17 November 1876 — 14 June 1922) was an English cricketer, explorer, adventurer, writer, big-game hunter, and marksman who contributed to sniping practice within the British Army during the First World War.

Concerned not only with improving the quality of marksmanship, the measures he introduced to counter the threat of German snipers were credited by a contemporary with saving the lives of over 3,500 Allied soldiers.

He also explored territory never seen before by a European, played cricket at first-class level (taking nearly 340 wickets from 86 appearances), including on overseas tours, wrote short stories and novels in the adventure, mystery, and occult detective genres (one of which was turned into a Douglas Fairbanks film), and was a successful newspaper correspondent and travel writer.

Like other turn-of-the-century hunters such as Theodore Roosevelt (who was an admirer), he was an active campaigner for animal welfare and succeeded in seeing legal measures introduced for their protection.

[3] Hesketh-Prichard and his mother returned to Great Britain soon after, and lived for a while at her parents' house, before moving to St Helier on Jersey for several years.

[2] Hesketh-Prichard, then nineteen, wrote his first story "Tammer's Duel" in the summer of 1896, which his mother helped him refine, and was sold soon after to Pall Mall Magazine for a guinea.

[7] Hesketh-Prichard and his mother created a series of stories around the character "Flaxman Low"', the first psychic detective of fiction, though they were disconcerted to find the tales promoted by Pearson as "real".

[7] In 1899 Pearson chose Hesketh-Prichard to explore and report on the relatively unknown republic of Haiti, wanting something dramatic with which to launch his forthcoming Daily Express.

Kate Prichard accompanied her son as far as Jamaica; in later years she would often travel with him to remote destinations in a time when it was uncommon for a woman of her age to do so.

[1] No white man was believed to have crossed the island since 1803, and his trip provided the first written description of some of the secret practices of "vaudoux" (voodoo).

[9] Pearson welcomed his reports, and on his return immediately commissioned him to travel to Patagonia to investigate dramatic rumours of a hairy beast roaming the land.

The animal was conjectured by Natural History Museum director Ray Lankester to be a living example of the long-extinct giant ground sloth.

[12] Although he found no traces of the creature after a year overseas and 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of travel, he did provide compelling descriptions of unknown areas of the country, its fauna and inhabitants.

[9] In 2000, on the hundredth anniversary of both Hesketh-Prichard's trip and the newspaper's founding, the Daily Express despatched his great-grandson Charlie Jacoby to retrace his footsteps.

[15] His most ambitious trip to the region was however in July 1910, when he undertook to explore the interior of Labrador, saying "it seemed to us a pity that such a terra incognita should continue to exist under the British flag".

[16] His reputation was such that former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow writer, explorer and hunter, wrote to him, commending him on his latest book, which he described as the best that season, and asking to meet him.

[28] A tall man, he was able to use his height and reach to his advantage when bowling his right-arm fast deliveries, particularly in relation to his ability to exact quick bounce off the pitch.

[32] Hesketh-Prichard was dismayed by the poor quality of marksmanship amongst the British troops and shocked to learn of the high attrition rate due to well-trained German snipers.

[26] He borrowed more sights and hunting rifles from friends and famous hunters back home, funded the acquisition of others from his own pocket, or donations he solicited.

He discovered that their armour could only be penetrated by a heavy cartridge such as Jeffery 333, while British plate could be easily defeated by a much smaller gun such as a Mauser.

In contrast, British trench practice had been to give a military-straight neat edge to the parapet top, making any movement or protrusion immediately obvious.

[38] Initially, realistic papier-mâché heads were supplied to Hesketh-Prichard by the famous London theatrical wig and costume maker, Willy Clarkson.

[38] Hesketh-Prichard was eventually successful in gaining official support for his campaign, and in August 1915 was given permission to proceed with formalised sniper training.

It was during this period of leave that he learned that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order,[46] for his work with the First Army School of Sniping, Observation, and Scouting.

However, his ailments, including fatigue, heart–digestive–neurological disorders, appendicitis, cognitive problems, depression, anxiety – are today recognised as differential symptoms of malaria.

[55][56] Hesketh-Prichard's biography was written two years after his death by his friend Eric Parker, who encapsulated his many accomplishments within its title: Hesketh Prichard D.S.O., M.C.

Alfgar, recruited to the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, became the first head of its Czech Section, training agents to conduct the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.