The Rev. Charles Edward Burroughs Nepean (5 February 1851 – 26 March 1903) 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 str ...

er and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who later became a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. As a cricketer he played ten first-class matches for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

between 1870 and 1874, whilst in football he was in goal for

, the winning side in the 1874 FA Cup Final.

Early life and education

Nepean was born in

Mayfair, London Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

, the youngest of 13 children of Rev. Canon Evan Nepean (1800–1873) and Anne Fust. His father was the son of Sir

Evan Nepean Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet, PC FRS (9 July 1752 – 2 October 1822)Sparrow (n.d.) was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was the first of the Nepean Baronets. Family Nepean was born at St. Stephens near Saltash, Cornwall, ...

, 1st Baronet and was the

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

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and a Chaplain in Ordinary to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. Nepean was educated at Charterhouse School between 1861 and 1869 before going up to

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. At Charterhouse, he was a regular member of the school cricket XI.

Family

Nepean was one of thirteen children (six girls, seven boys). His elder brother, Augustus Adolphus Nepean (1849–1933) (known as "Dolly") was also a cricketer with Middlesex as was his nephew, Evan Alcock Nepean (1865–1906). Nepean's brother, Evan Colville Nepean (1836–1908), father of Evan Alcock Nepean, had several children, including a daughter, Emily Margaret (1867–1950). She married Felton George Randolph; their daughter, Margaret Isabel (1901–2001) married James Cassilis MacLean and in turn had a daughter, Fynvola Susan (1933–2001). Fynvola married James Murray Grant in 1957; their children included

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...

(b. 1960), the actor. ' Charles Nepean died unmarried in 1903.

Sporting career

Cricket

On his arrival at Oxford, Nepean had a good reputation as a batsman. He made his debut for the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

against M.C.C. on 26 May 1870, scoring 11 and 8 in a match won by the M.C.C. by 6 wickets. His next first-class match came at the end of June against Surrey, when he played as the

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. ...

, claiming three

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s, including those of Surrey's top-scorers,

Leonard Howell Leonard Percival Howell (16 June 1898 – 23 January 1981), also known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh (for ''Gangun Guru''), was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee, Howell was born into an Anglican family. He was one ...

and Richard Humphrey; the university won the match by 3 wickets. According to his obituary in

Wisden ''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 ...

, "his future at Oxford seemed assured, but from some cause he did not get a place in the eleven till his last year"; he was described as "an admirable batsman, with a very neat and business-like style". His next first-class appearance came in May 1873 against M.C.C. In the summer of 1873, he played regularly including the two wicket victory over

in June and the match against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

at Lords, scoring 22 and 50 (his top first-class score), helping

Cuthbert Ottaway Cuthbert John Ottaway (19 July 1850 – 2 April 1878)''Jackson's Oxford Journal'', 6 April 1878. was an English footballer. He was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in the first official international football ma ...

to gain a victory by three wickets and for Nepean to obtain his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

. On the strength of his performances for Oxford he was selected for the Gentlemen in the first

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

match to be played at the Prince's Cricket Ground, in

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. The Gentleman won the match by an innings and 54 runs, with A. N. Hornby and

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

scoring 104 and 70 respectively, and Grace and his brother

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

claiming 11 wickets between them. This match came between Nepean's two appearances for

against M.C.C. in June 1873 (when Nepean was again wicket-keeper) and against his former university in June 1874. Both matches ended in defeats for the county side. Following his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform v ...

, he no longer played first-class cricket, although he was a member of the

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 ...

committee, thus keeping him in touch with the game.

Football

At Oxford, Nepean also played football, winning a blue. In November 1870, he was selected by Arthur Kinnaird to represent "Scotland" in the second pseudo-international match against the English side, organised by Charles Alcock. The Scottish XI was made up from players from London and the Home Counties with "Scottish connections". (In his biography of Arthur Kinnaird, Andy Mitchell says that Nepean's "closest link to Scotland was a cousin who married a Scot.") According to the report on the match played at the

Kennington Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since it ...

on 19 November 1870, "proceedings were commenced with a kick-off by C.E.B. Nepean on behalf of the Scottish team". The English won the match with a single goal from R.S.F. Walker; for the "Scotch", "C.E.B. Nepean . . . was a perfect rock in the way of defence". Oxford univ afc 1874

Nepean retained his place in the Scottish team for the next three games, playing in various positions. In the match on 25 February 1871, Nepean scored the Scottish goal in a 1–1 draw; the match report says "about a quarter of an hour after the kick-off a loud shout proclaimed the fall of the English goal – an achievement entirely due to the play of C.E. Nepean". With England equalising through R.S.F. Walker, the match ended "leaving the question of supremacy undecided". The report comments: "to C. E. Nepean, Q. Hogg and W. H. Gladstone was mainly due the successful defence of he Scottishlines against a series of well-organised attacks". In the last of the pseudo-internationals, played on 24 February 1872, Nepean played in goal for part of the game, alternating with M. J. Muir Mackenzie; this match ended in a 1–0 victory for the English, with a goal from J. C. Clegg. In

1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...

entered a team in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time, reaching

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against the Wanderers. Nepean had become the university's first-choice goalkeeper but was unavailable for the final, which was won 2–0 by the Wanderers. The university reached the final again in 1874; this time Nepean was available to play in goal. In the match against the Royal Engineers, Nepean repeatedly thwarted the Engineers' attempts on goal. Oxford won the match 2–0 and secured the cup. He was also a member of the Wanderers club.

Later career

On leaving Oxford in 1874, Nepean entered the

and in 1876 he was appointed as

Lenham Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses (one of which is a hotel), a couple of restaurants, and a tea ...

in Kent. In 1894, he was appointed as vice-chairman at the inaugural meeting of Lenham Parish Council. He died on 26 March 1903 at Lenham, aged 52 years and 49 days.

Sporting honours

Oxford University *

winner: 1874

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nepean, Charles 1851 births 1903 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of University College, Oxford Association football goalkeepers Cricketers from Greater London England v Scotland representative footballers (1870–1872) English cricketers of 1864 to 1889 English cricketers English footballers FA Cup Final players Footballers from the City of Westminster Gentlemen cricketers Jenner family (Wales) Middlesex cricketers Old Carthusians F.C. players Oxford University A.F.C. players Oxford University cricketers People educated at Charterhouse School People from Mayfair Wanderers F.C. players People from Lenham Wicket-keepers