Howard Luscombe Rayner (12 March 1896 – 13 June 1975) was an Australian first-class cricketer, Australian rules footballer, and medical doctor. Rayner was the son of religious parents; his father was a Methodist minister and his mother was a missionary in Fiji. Born in Adelaide, he was educated at Prince Alfred College before attending the University of Adelaide to study medicine, where he gained a first-class degree. A keen sportsman, he captained the Prince Alfred College cricket team and later played Australian rules football for the Sturt Football Club as a half-forward flanker, making one senior appearance for the club in the 1915 South Australian Football League. He was the University of Adelaide’s Rhodes Scholar for 1916 but did not travel to England to take up his scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, until 1918.
Howard Rayner
