Brian Kenneth Castor (21 October 1889 – 2 October 1979) was a

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

-born English

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 who played for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He was born in

Mahaica Mahaica is a village located in region 4 of Demerara-Mahaica in Guyana. Mahaica is often used as a subregion for the adjoining villages near the Mahaica River like Hand-en-Veldt, Good Hope, Chelsey Park, and Jonestown The Peoples Temple A ...

and died in

Maida Hill Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

. Castor made one first-class appearance for Essex during the 1932 season, in a game against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. In the single innings in which Castor played, he put on thirteen runs before being bowled out. Two years previously Castor had lined up for Essex against Sir J. Cahn's XI. He was secretary of Essex from 1930–46 and of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

from 1947-57. Of his time at Surrey, David Lemmon wrote:

He was firm but kind to staff and players and active and influential throughout the game. He was rather gruff in manner, but there was great humour in the man as evidenced by his public address announcements to the pigeons who had invaded the outfield. Booming over the loudspeaker would come the order: "Go away, you pigeons. Go to
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 ...
!'

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was a Japanese

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

from 1942 to 1945.

External links

Brian Castor
at Cricket Archive

References

*David Lemmon, ''The History of Surrey County Cricket Club'', Christopher Helm, 1989, , p252. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castor, Brian 1889 births 1979 deaths English cricketers Essex cricketers English cricket administrators 20th-century British businesspeople British people in British Guiana