Arthur Twiss Kemble (3 February 1862 – 13 March 1925) was an English sportsman who played international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. Kemble, a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, made his first-class debut in 1885 but had to wait until the retirement of gloveman

Dick Pilling Richard Pilling (11 August 1855 – 28 March 1891) was an English professional cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1877 to 1889, and in eight Test matches for England from 1881 to 1888. He was born at Old Warden, Bedford ...

to become a regular fixture in the team. He had 50 dismissals in the 1891 season, the most by any wicket-keeper that year in English first-class cricket. Although he was unable to repeat his effort of effecting the most dismissals the following season, 1892, he did finish with the most stumpings. Other first-class teams that he played for during his career include AJ Webbe's XI, CI Thornton's XI and the Gentlemen of England. On the rugby field, Kemble played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. A forward, he was capped three times for England. He made two appearances in the

1885 Home Nations Championship The 1885 Home Nations Championship was the third series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but the tournament was not completed. The 1885 Championship was notable for the disp ...

, both of which England won. His other Test cap came against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the 1887 Home Nations.

Family and career

Kemble was the son of the Rev. N. F. Y. Kemble, the vicar of

Allerton, Liverpool Allerton is a suburb of Liverpool, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is located southeast of the city centre and is bordered by the suburbs of Garston, Hunt's Cross, Mossley Hill, and Woolton. It has a number of large houses in the pres ...

; he qualified as a solicitor in 1891 and was chairman of Garston District Council and a member of

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemble, Arthur 1862 births 1925 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players English cricketers Lancashire cricketers North v South cricketers Liverpool and District cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers A. J. Webbe's XI cricketers People from Crawley Down Rugby union players from Cumbria Wicket-keepers