Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Edward Stanley (29 June 1852 – 7 April 1896) was an English military officer who played one

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 ...

match 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 ...

as an emergency stand-in in 1884. Somerset had arrived in Manchester a player short for their fixture against

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 ...

, and had to seek special permission to include Stanley in their team. Stanley lived in Manchester, but had been born in Somerset, and thus qualified for the county. His only first-class appearance was not successful; he did not bowl, and scored no runs in either innings of the match.

Life and career

Edward Stanley was born in

Charlton Horethorne Charlton Horethorne is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated five miles north-east of Sherborne and five miles south-west of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 591. The parish also includ ...

, a village between

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

and

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

in south-east

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_ ...

, on 29 June 1852. He was the son of Edmond Stanley Stanley, 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 pref ...

. Due to his father's position, he moved often during his childhood, spending time in Pembroke and then

Saint Saviour, Jersey St Saviour (Jèrriais: ; ) is a parish of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is located directly east of St Helier. It has a population of 13,580. It has a land surface area of 3.6 square miles (9.3 km2) and has a very small coastline at Le Dicq. T ...

. Stanley attended

Victoria College, Jersey Victoria College is a Government of Jersey, Government-run, Independent school, fee-paying, academically selective day school

, a private school, where he played cricket for the school's first team from 1868 until 1870. He was also a keen athlete, and won a mile-race in a time of 5:45. Stanley became an assistant master in a

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

school, but left this job to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He lived a nomadic lifestyle after this, travelling around the world with his military postings. Initially serving in the

2nd West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

, he spent time in

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 ...

and

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

before transferring to the 2nd Regiment of Foot which took him to

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 ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. A subsequent transfer to the

North Staffordshire Regiment The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was created on 21 April 1758 from the 2nd Battali ...

sent him to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, before domestic appointments to

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He retired from the army in 1888 as a major. Two years later, he joined the

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

and was posted in 1892 as Inspector General of the Houssa Force in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria. He had been in the role for four years when he was taken ill with malaria. While sailing home to England from Lagos, he died on 7 April 1896, when the boat put into

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

in Ghana.

County cricket appearance

In late August 1884,

had just lost to

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 ...

to record their fourth loss in five matches during 1884. Most of the team travelled from

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

, where that match had been played, to Manchester to play the next day. They were due to be met in Manchester by three members of the Somerset team that had not been able to make it to Kent;

John Challen John Bonamy Challen (23 March 1863 – 5 June 1937) was a Welsh amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket and association football during the late 19th century. He played football for Corinthian F.C., and was selected to play for Wales fo ...

, Bill Roe and Herbert Fowler. Unfortunately for Somerset, Fowler was taken ill and had to withdraw from the match. Newspaper reports on the first day's play either listed ten players, omitting Fowler, or included him as 'absent'; no mention was made of Stanley. Despite these reports, Somerset had managed to get permission from Lancashire for Edward Stanley to play for them. Stanley was posted to Manchester at the time as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the 2nd Regiment of Foot, and was qualified to play for Somerset on the basis of his birth in the county. He did come out to bat in the first innings at number eleven, but had to retire hurt after being hit by the second delivery he faced. In the second innings, he once again batted eleventh, but was dismissed first ball. By the end of the second day, he was correctly listed on newspaper scorecards, though some listed him as 'absent' for the first innings. Somerset lost the match by ten wickets. Stanley did not appear in

again, meaning that his 'career' featured one match, in which he scored no runs, and took no wickets or catches. He was a keen club cricketer, and appeared for Lichfield Cricket Club amongst others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Edward 1852 births 1896 deaths Deaths from malaria English cricketers People from South Somerset (district) Colonial Service officers North Staffordshire Regiment officers People educated at Victoria College, Jersey Somerset cricketers Queen's Royal Regiment officers West India Regiment officers 19th-century British Army personnel Military personnel from Somerset Cricketers from Somerset

Life and career

County cricket appearance

See also

References