The son of the cricketer and barrister Joseph Yates, he was born in March 1883 at Ellesmere Park, Lancashire.
[5] Having been promoted to captain in March 1913,[7] Yates served during the war, in the course of which he was made a brevet major in January 1918.
[9] After the war, he made a further first-class appearance for the British Army cricket team, against the Royal Navy at Lord's in 1920.
[6] Yates later emigrated to South Africa, where he continued to play club cricket to a good standard until he was 60.
[4] In South Africa, he took up scoring for the Transvaal Cricket Union in first-class and Test matches in Johannesburg from 1945 to 1956.