Robert Lipscomb (28 February 1837 – 8 January 1895) was an English amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He played 60

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 ...

matches, mostly for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

, between 1862 and 1873.

Early life

Lipscomb was born at Penshurst in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Lipscomb. His father was a farmer and, after being educated at Rocky Hill House School in Maidstone, Lipscomb followed in his father's footsteps and farmed for much of his life, initially at East Peckham. He suffered financially during the agricultural depression of the 1870s and later worked as a

hop A hop is a type of jump. Hop or hops may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hop'' (film), a 2011 film * Hop! Channel, an Israeli TV channel * ''House of Payne'', or ''HOP'', an American sitcom * Lindy Hop, a swing dance of the 1920s and ...

factor at

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp.334–335.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 8 May 2021.)

Cricket

As a cricketer, Lipscomb was a fast bowler, playing as an amateur when his work allowed him to. He has been described as a "valuable addition" to the Kent bowling attack who often played at his best during

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first hel ...

, the social highlight of the county's cricketing year. A well-built man,

Lord Harris Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3 February 1851 – 24 March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay. He was also an English amateur cricketer, mainly active f ...

described him as the "fiercest of bowlers" and Lipscomb took 206 wickets in his 48 first-class matches for Kent. His '' Wisden'' obituary described him as "one of the fastest and straightest amateur fast bowlers of his day".Obituaries in 1895
''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1896. Retrieved 8 May 2021. After impressing whilst playing for

Town Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

, Lipscomb's first-class debut was for Kent against an England XI during the 1862 Canterbury Cricket Week. He played first-class cricket in every season until 1873, making a total of 60 appearances. Other than the county side, he played for the Gentlemen of Kent as well as other amateur sides. His best bowling performance came in 1871 against MCC at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

when he took nine wickets for the cost of 88 runs (9/88), including bowling six batsmen.Bob Lipscomb
CricketArchive. Retrieved 8 May 2021.

Family and later life

Lipscomb married Lucy Richmond in 1859; the couple had five children. One of their sons,

Frank Lipscomb Frank Lipscomb (13 March 1863 – 25 September 1951) was an English amateur cricketer. He played 18 first-class matches, mainly for Kent County Cricket Club, between 1882 and 1884. Early life Lipscomb was born at East Peckham in Kent in 1863 a ...

, played first-class cricket, mainly as a fast bowler for Kent in the 1880s before emigrating to Australia.Carlaw, ''op. cit.'', pp.332–334. Lipscomb served on the General Committee at Kent between 1871 and 1877. He died at Tudeley Hale in Kent in 1895, aged 57.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipscomb, Bob 1837 births 1895 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers People from Penshurst Gentlemen of Kent cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North of the Thames v South of the Thames cricketers Cricketers from Kent