Francis Gilbertson Justice Ford (14 December 1866 – 7 February 1940) was a

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. Francis Ford was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. He played

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 officia ...

for Middlesex County Cricket Club,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

and the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

between

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

and

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

as a useful left-handed batsman and slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He also played five Test matches for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on their tour to Australia in 1894-95. Gilbert Jessop said that Ford was the most graceful of left-handed batsmen. He top scored with 191 when Cambridge University made its highest ever total of 703/9 v Sussex in 1890. His Wisden obituary said “His drives, either kept down or lifted over the bowler's head, were dazzling, and his cuts the perfection of timing. He revelled in these strokes when fast bowlers lost their length because of his punishment, and at Lord's the crowds grew enthusiastic over the way he scored from the best fast bowlers--Arthur Mold of Lancashire, Tom Richardson and Bill Lockwood of Surrey, suffered specially at his hands.” Ford, who was nicknamed "Stork" on account of his height, was part of a large cricketing family, with his father W.A., two brothers A.F.J., L.G.B.J. and W.J., a nephew Neville Ford, great-nephew John Barclay and uncle G.J.Ford all playing first-class cricket. His uncle was Horace A. Ford known as one of the greatest target archers of all time; his grandfather was

George Samuel Ford George Samuel Ford (1790–1868) was a bill discounter (money lender) and solicitor who took interest in the financial affairs of many gentlemen of the period including the Lords Lichfield, Chesterfield, Suffield and the Count d'Orsay. A passi ...

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* 1866 births 1940 deaths People educated at Repton School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Middlesex cricketers England Test cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers East of England cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Home Counties cricketers A. E. Stoddart's XI cricketers {{England-Test-cricket-bio-stub