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Stanley Mainwaring Farrar Sylvester (13 June 1912 — 20 October 2003) was an Anglo-Argentine first-class cricketer, businessman and diplomat.

Sylvester was born at Rosario in June 1912. He was educated in England at Cheltenham College, before returning to Argentina after completing his education. Sylvester played first-class cricket for Argentina in January 1938, making a single appearance against Sir T. E. W. Brinckman's touring XI at Buenos Aires. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in the Argentine first innings for 4 runs by Jim Sims, while in their second innings he was dismissed for 21 runs by the same bowler.

Sylvester was the honorary British consul at Rosario, a role he carried out alongside his management of a meat processing plant owned by the Swift Company, which in 1970 had laid of 15,000 workers. He was abducted in May 1971 from his home by guerrillas affiliated to the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA); his abduction was initially thought to be retaliation for the 15,000 job losses, with the group stating he would be "tried before a people's court of justice". The kidnapping was planned without the permission of the PRA national command. The Rosario PRA demanded that the Swift Company rehire 300 workers, reduce work quotas for their workers, terminate the indiscriminate firing of workers, provide medical attention to employees, reduce the cold working conditions in the packing plant, distribute $50,000 worth of food to working-class neighbourhoods, and publish their communiqués in public media. After one week their demands were met, with Sylvester being released. In November 2003, former PRA guerrilla Enrique Gorriarán Merlo travelled to Rosario to apologise to Sylvester for his 1971 kidnapping, but Sylvester had passed away 20 days prior on 20 October 2003; he instead issued an apology to his son, Juan.

References

1. "Player profile: Stanley Sylvester". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
2. "First-Class Matches played by Stanley Sylvester". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
3. "Argentina v Sir TEW Brinckman's XI, 1937/38". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
4. "Argentine Leftists Kidnap British Aide". New York Times. 24 May 1971. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
5. Fay, John J. (1993). Encyclopedia of Security Management. Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 724. ISBN 9780750696609.
6. "El día que Gorriarán Merlo pasó por Rosario para pedir disculpas por un secuestro". La Capital (in Spanish). 9 November 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2022.

External links

• SM Sylvester at ESPNcricinfo

• 1912 births
• 2003 deaths
• Argentine people of English descent
• People educated at Cheltenham College
• Argentine cricketers
• Argentine businesspeople
• British consuls
• Kidnappings in Argentina
• Kidnapping in the 1970s