Edward Popham Spurway (4 April 1863 – 8 February 1914) was an 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. He was a right-handed batsman and

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 ...

who made two first-class appearances for

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

in the late 19th century, and served as the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Heathfield from 1896 until 1914.

Early and personal life

Edward Popham, the son of

The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Edward Bryan Coombe Spurway, was born in Heathfield,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He attended

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, and appeared for the school's cricket team in a number of fixtures between 1880 and 1882. He took over from his father as Rector of Heathfield, and continued until his own death. He married Gertrude Mary Bagnall, and the couple had five sons and a daughter. Three of their sons were killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

: two of the boys, George Vyvan Spurway (1893-1918) and Richard Popham Spurway (1890-1915), attended

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

and their names are recorded in the School's Book of Remembrance. The Spurway family had close connections with Somerset County Cricket Club; Edward's father was noted in his ''

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 ...

'' obituary as being "a well-known member" of the club, while two of his sons, Francis Edward and Michael Vyvyan played first-class cricket for the county, as did his brother, Robert Spurway.

Cricket career

He played the first of his two first-class matches for Somerset in 1885. Playing against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, he scored ten runs for the county in the first innings, batting at number three, and one run in the second innings at number six. Somerset lost the match by eight wickets. His next, and final first-class appearance was made almost thirteen years later, when he played as

for the county in a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. In an innings defeat for Somerset, Spurway scored 15 runs after opening the batting in the first innings, but was

run out Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket. A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket befo ...

for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

in the second innings. He played regularly for Wellington Cricket Club, and for the Somerset Stragglers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurway, Edward 1863 births 1914 deaths English cricketers Somerset cricketers People educated at Charterhouse School People from Taunton Deane (district) Wicket-keepers Cricketers from Somerset